Scanning the practice landscape in school-based mental health

They suggested that educators are ill- prepared to manage the severity of mental health difficulty that they are observing in classrooms and schoolyards, and recommend a series of policy and practice changes to better attend to the emotional wellness of Ontario’s children and youth at school. [...] RECRUITMENT With assistance from the Council of Directors of Education (CODE), and the Special Education Branch of the Ministry of Education, the Directors of Education in every board in the province were informed about the SBMH Practice Scan. [...] EXTENT OF STUDENT MENTAL HEALTH ISSUES IN THE SCHOOL BOARD Degree of concern about student mental health Interview respondents were asked to indicate their degree of concern about student mental health in their board at the present time. [...] Scanning the practice landscape Serving students with identified mental health problems Though participants in the interview were clear that there are insufficient resources in schools to be able to meet the needs of students with identified mental health problems, many have found creative ways to respond, often in partnership with community mental health agencies. [...] Board-based mental health intervention team (1) Feature strategy – Substance Abuse and Youth in School coalition The Substance Abuse and Youth in School (SAYS) coalition was formed in 2006 to build the capacity of the Ottawa community to work together to develop, resource and implement comprehensive drug and alcohol abuse prevention and treatment programs for students at the Grade 7 – 12 levels in