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MUSKOKA STUDENTS TO GET HELP WITH MENTAL HEALTH ISSUES

IN SCHOOL BOARD'S CLIMATE SURVEY LAST YEAR, 51% OF GRADE 4 TO 12 STUDENTS POLLED INDICATED THEY FELT SAFE AT SCHOOL

BRENT COOPER

Trillium Lakelands District School Board staff are hoping to make all students feel more "safe and included" in their schools.

At the Feb. 28 board meeting, superintendents of learning Jay MacJanet and Kim Williams presented a mental health and well-being model, which they say aligns with the elementary and secondary panels of curriculum.

Here is what you need to know:

• Williams outlined a three-year plan designed to increase the percentage of Grade 4-12 students who indicate having a positive feeling of safety and inclusion at school. One of the steps in doing this work has been assigning the board's mental health counsellors to schools, where their time can be spent working in the classrooms and in small groups.

• "Our mental health strategy this year connects to goal two of our strategic plan, which states that we must create learning environments that foster inclusion, equity and belonging. The Ministry of Education has also stated that all students will be supported to improve their mental health, well-being and engagement, which requires boards to foster a sense of belonging and have a positive environment for students," said Williams.

• She said according to the board's climate survey from last year, 51 per cent of the Grade 4 to 12 students polled indicated they felt safe at school. "We also know that the ministry would like us to have every single one of our students feeling safe at school. We have a three-year plan to reach 100 per cent of our students feeling safe in school. The goal in year one is for 65 per cent of our students to feel safe and included ... and then we will work toward our threeyear plan of having 100 per cent of our students feeling safe and included."

• Williams added the survey indicated that 31 to 42 per cent of our students indicate that they have moderate to high levels of anxiety. "Anxiety is the number 1 referral across the province for mental health support. We also know that the best approach that we could do is to put our mental health counsellors inside schools instead of being assigned to the board office ... so they have been given home bases and groups of schools to work with," she said.

• MacJanet gave an overview of the tiered model of support available for students within the board, as well as the community support available to students who require higher levels of support.

• "Our next step for the system is we want to invite participation from our educators and administrators to participate in the mental health advisory group to help guide and respond to a model that we've instituted this year. We need their input and feedback so that we can get better at it and pivot toward the needs of our system. We want to continue our discussions with our community health services ... and how we can work together to really support the students within our board," he said.

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2023-03-23T07:00:00.0000000Z

2023-03-23T07:00:00.0000000Z

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