The role of school counsellor is an increasingly important one. In addition to academic guidance, counsellors also provide social and emotional guidance. Mental health issues have been increasing among youth for decades and the COVID-19 pandemic intensified this. Not only do 75 percent of mental health disorders emerge before the age of 18, but since the pandemic, youth in Canada saw the most significant drop in self-reported mental health and report a 1.3 times higher rate of depression than adults and a 1.8 times higher rate of anxiety. These rates are even higher for gender diverse and non-binary youth, and impacts to mental health are also compounded by intersectionality, particularly identities based on the construct of race, but also related to socio-economic status.
A 2021 study by The Lancet revealed that 75 percent of children and youth said that they think the future is frightening, and nearly half of youth miss school due to anxiety with the highest absence rates among high school students. With growing uncertainty around the economy, climate, and global conflict, it’s no surprise that today’s students need even more support to guide them through unprecedented times.
Many school counsellors are supporting more students or supporting students with more complex issues. This is exacerbated by the fact that many families are unable to access community mental health supports due to chronic underfunding of mental healthcare across Canada. In fact, three in four children can’t get mental health care when they need it; the care is either unavailable or isn’t covered by public health insurance. In 2020, nearly one quarter of hospitalizations for children and youth aged 5 to 24 were for mental health conditions and in 2018, suicide was the leading cause of death for 10–19-year-olds—in Canada.
These are frightening statistics and progress towards ensuring youth can access evidence-based, culturally safe and responsive community-based mental health programs, including health promotion and mental illness prevention programs, early intervention programs, peer support, self-guided mental health skills building, and social and emotional learning, has been slow if not static. Meanwhile the connection between mental health and academic success is well-established, and upstream mental health interventions are the best way to support good mental health.
The good news is that there’s a lot of positive progress being made on upstream interventions for youth. School mental health programs are on the rise. These programs recognize the shared responsibility for mental healthcare and leverage multi-tiered systems of support and services through collaboration by a wide array of partners including government agencies and public health units down to individual mental health professionals and teachers. Mental health is also being woven into high school curriculums across Canada which will help destigmatize mental illnesses and give youth the awareness and language they need to better identify and express their struggles.
And in April, the federal government pledged $500 million for a new Youth Mental Health Fund and consultation to inform the types of activities that could be funded just closed at the end of July and included the voices of youth. That’s promising, but what supports are available in meantime?
As a school counsellor your role is demanding, and you can’t be everything to everyone, but you can leverage and point students to existing resources based on what you know about the students you support.
- The Stigma-Free Mental Health Society provides toolkits for teachers, school counsellors, parents or guardians, and students themselves. The virtual toolkits are broken down for grades 4-7 and 8-12, and include links to documentary videos, information about different mental health topics, and personal stories, and even lesson plans (aligned with B.C. school curriculum).
- MindYourMind has resources for learning about different mental illnesses and interactive tools to help students cope, de-stress, and help them build a plan for being well.
- Jack.org is youth talking to youth and offers training and empowers young leaders to revolutionize mental health across Canada. They also have a resource hub that’s infused with voices of youth.
- In Quebec, Youth in Mind/La Fondation Jeunes en Têtef offers teen, family and school toolkits. The teen toolkit includes resources that help them better understand what’s happening to them, find help when they need it, and develop their well-being every day while the family toolkit includes resources for parents or guardians to help support a young person through challenges. The school toolkit was developed with leading experts to educate students and inform teachers and are designed for teenagers aged 12 to 18.
- WalkAlong is a community where young Canadians can explore their mental health amongst their peers and offers a mental health assessment tool and provides tools to track mood, sleep, exercise; post private messages; and read or post stories of lived experience.
- If you have students that would benefit from more direct support to manage the pressures they’re feeling, the Canadian Mental Health Association’s BounceBack® coaching program may be a good fit. With the help of trained coaches, BounceBack® teaches youth 15 and up skills to improve mental health and includes coaching support as they work through self-selected program modules.
As school counsellors, you play a critical role in normalizing conversations about mental health not just among students, but also among teachers and other school staff. When we all start talking about mental health the same way we talk about physical health—without stigma, shame, or fear—we can ensure that today’s youth feel safe speaking up and are able to get the help they need when they need it. Forty years from now, the students you support will be the leaders in our society; we can teach them to lead with compassion by making it okay to talk about the hard stuff, so everyone gets help when they need it.
By: Laura Mousseau, Senior Manager, Content, CMHA National
