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Alberta Coalition for Healthy School Communities Conference September, 2006 Knowledge-Sharing Session on School Mental Health Promotion

Alberta Coalition for Healthy School Communities Conference September, 2006 Knowledge-Sharing Session on School Mental Health Promotion

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Alberta Coalition for Healthy School Communities Conference

September, 2006

Knowledge-Sharing Session on School Mental Health Promotion

Who is Here?

Your name, sector, role, special interest in being

here.

Session Framework

• Dialogue-Everyone will have a valuable contribution to make.

• Present a starting point for discussion today and then see where it takes us within targeted topic areas.

• Discuss how this dialogue might encourage others like it, leading to ACTION, in Alberta.

Today’s Prevailing Principles

• Whoever is here are the right people for today’s discussion.

• Whatever results we get are the best we can achieve through today’s opportunity.

WHY?

• Should we be talking about the connection between schools and mental health?

What we know…in Canada (1)

Kirby Report• Children’s mental health most neglected

piece of Canadian health care system-Kirby

• Stigma of mental illness, esp. in children, leads to service “orphan of the orphan”.-Kirby

• There is no “voice” for people, esp. children, with mental illness

What we know…in Canada (2)

• Kirby- Service Delivery StatisticsEstimated need for child and adolescent

psychiatrists=1 per 4000 youth. (Cdn.Academy of Child and Adolescent Psych.)

Should have 2000 psychiatrists in Canada. Currently 400.

Ontario has 1 for 32,000 youth, Quebec has 1 for 11,000, other provinces similar

10 new graduates annuallyUnderfunded and underprovided community-based

and preventive services

What we know…in Canada(3)

• Canadian Alliance on Mental Illness and Mental Health:– Canada lags behind many other western

countries that are making mental health a national priority...it takes national leadership to confront the fact that now 5/10 of leading causes of disability are now due to mental illness.

What we know…in Alberta (1)

• Key Issues (Advancing the Mental Health Agenda, April 2004)Service capacity and gaps, especially for childrenStigmatization and inequity-creates significant barriers

to treatmentFunding inadequacyNeed for integrated service deliveryNeed for decentralized, multi-provider service

environmentNeed to address organizational barriers to integrating

services

What we know…in Alberta (2)

• Student Health Partnership is only current vehicle to provide school-based mental health programming to students.

• SHP funding envelope represents approx. 1% of jurisdictional educational budgets, and must meet mental health, speech-language, occupational therapy, other health needs impacting learning potential within the school setting.

• Service outcomes must be directly related to meeting academic goals.

What else do we know?

Your research and/or experience.

What is school mental health promotion?

– From your perspective, what would be the critical components to a definition of school mental health promotion?

INTERCAMHS Working Definition –(International Alliance for Child and Adolescent Mental Health in Schools)

• Whole School Approach

Mental Health PromotionInterventionTreatment

Working Definition(2)

• Supported by:

PoliciesSkills for Social Emotional LearningHealthy psycho-social school environmentAccess to services in the school or in the

broader community.

Working Definition (3)

• Full participation of teachers, students, families and community agencies

Informed dialogueCollaboration among people and programsThroughout all phases of the continuum.

Working Definition (4)

• Supported by principles that:

Value diversity and inclusivenessCreate conditions for empowermentSupport school organizational development

Working Definition (5)

• Critical Role of Evidence to guide training, policy, research and practice across:

Universal mental health promotion (resources and programs for all students)

Selective interventions (prevention programs for students presenting risk factors for problems)

Indicated interventions (early interventions to students exhibiting emotional and behavioral problems)

Treatment (more intensive services for established emotional/behavioral problems.)

Integration

-What is it?

SCHOOL BASED MENTAL HEALTHINTEGRATION-Service Continuum

Promotion Prevention Early Intervention Treatment Spec. Services

Integration-Critical Factors

• Shared Agenda• Infrastructure

• Policy• Practice

• Training/Capacity Development• Research

SCHOOL BASED MENTAL HEALTHINTEGRATION-Framework Components

Promotion Prevention Early Intervention Treatment Spec. Services

Shared Agenda Infrastructure Policy

Practice Training/Capacity Development Research

What else?

OPPORTUNITIES

CONTACTS

• Gloria Wells: [email protected]

• International Alliance for Child and Adolescent Mental Health in Schools: www.intercamhs.org

• Creating Connections Symposium: www.creatingconnections2006.org