Grand Erie Mental Health Strategy
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| Grand Erie Mental Health Strategy 2022-25 |
Build a culture of well-being to support the cognitive, social, emotional and physical needs of each learner.
Each school year, as part of its Annual Learning and Operating Plan, Grand Erie prepares and acts on a Mental Health Strategy. The Mental Health Strategy Plan lays out the following four goals and the actions to support them.
Click here to view the Grand Erie Mental Health and Addictions Annual Action Plan (2024-2025)
Goal #1
Increase the knowledge and skills of staff to better support learners in developing the capacity to tend to their own well-being.
- Senior Administration and School Administrators complete the School Mental Health Ontario Mental Health Literacy course.
- Re-establish School Wellness Champions at the Elementary and Secondary level.
- Educators participate in training at System Leaders meetings, Professional Development days, staff meetings, Guidance meetings, Learning Resource Teacher meetings, Mental Health Leadership sessions and Specialized Services (SMHO) meetings.
- Child and Youth Workers and educators work together to deliver the Social Justice series in classrooms.
- Increase the number of schools using the Shankar Self-Regulation Framework.
- Create and share a Social Emotional Learning (SEL) program chart for educators.
- Child and Youth Workers work directly in classrooms to deliver evidence-based programming and classroom lessons and activities connected to the Ontario Curriculum, co-facilitated with educators that focus on Social Emotional Learning, healthy relationships, stress management and mental health literacy.
- Build a robust and informative online presence through a lens of inclusion and accessibility for student, family and community access via the public-facing website and social media.
- Create a robust online learning platform for educators on Brightspace, including access to SMHO courses, Grand Erie’s Mental Health and Wellness Digital Resource Binder, resource guides for educator and support staff use in the areas of anxiety and depression.
Goal #2
Provide students with the knowledge, skills and resources to tend to their own mental health & well-being.
- Re-establish Student Wellness Teams at the Elementary and Secondary level. At the secondary level Wellness Teams support the establishment of small groups of students using Stress Less resources.
- Schools provide students with opportunities to develop skills in identity-affirming mental health and well-being learning and understanding pathways to care provided in a universal design approach.
- Collaborate with Public Health Nurses in the area of in-class mental health promotion for students.
- Hold a secondary-focused Mental Health Learning Event and Summit in the Spring of 2023.
Goal #3
Increase awareness and use of resources to support students at risk for suicide or non-suicidal self-injurious behaviours.
- Provide in-service and learning opportunities and resources for school-based staff to support student suicide prevention.
- Provide in-service and learning opportunities and resources for school and system staff to support student suicide intervention.
- Provide in-service and learning opportunities and resources for system staff to support student suicide postvention.
Goal #4
Align common messaging and resources with Indigenous Education, K-12 Program, Specialized Services, and Safe and Inclusive Schools.
- Mental Health and Well-Being and Indigenous Education collaborate to prepare and implement a classroom resource focused on student wellness and self-care that is inclusive of Indigenous perspectives.
- Revise, update and roll out a comprehensive Decision Support Tool to include equity and Indigenous lens as well as curriculum connections.
- Provide system-level, department-wide training and certification using The Impact Cycle Coaching Model.
- Review and align Social Emotional Learning programs amongst Program K-12 and Specialized Services teams.