A new
study just reported in the Canadian Teachers Federation publication gives us
some sobering information about what teachers think about mental health in
young people and their ability to address that in the school setting.
As we would expect, teachers overwhelmingly reported that
they think addressing mental health needs of students is very important and that
poor mental health leads to many negative outcomes, including poor academic
achievement. But, there is much more!
About half the teachers surveyed (there were almost 4000 of
them), noted that at least 10% of their students needed mental health services
but were not receiving them. They also identified a number of barriers to
access of these needed services. Here is what over 80% of them said: lack
of staff training about mental health/mental illness; lack of school based
mental health services; lack of community based mental health care
providers. Seventy percent also identified that stigma was a barrier.
About two-thirds of teachers had not received professional
development on mental health, especially those who had been teaching for five
years or less! Ninety-seven percent of teachers wanted training in mental
health. I assume it was training that was relevant to their work.
So, what are we to make of this information?
First, it is not new news. But it is really good to
have it so well quantified, and kudos to the Mental Health Commission of Canada
for funding the study.
Second, it is essential that addressing school mental health
include training of teachers be widely available. However we need to make
sure that this is not done through one-off PD days or brainless general courses
but in best evidence based and contextualized training programs that fit and
make sense in the educational setting. This is where some of our unique
and validated work comes in – through the Mental Health Curriculum Guide and
its related training programs we can ensure that teachers get the mental health
literacy that they need and that this is provided in a sustainable and cost
effective manner. The models of Nova Scotia
and the Ontario Shores
lead initiative in Ontario
Third, we need to ensure that schools are seamlessly linked
to health systems that can offer mental health care to young people. This
means building the capacity for identification and interventions in the school
itself as well as enhancement of primary care competencies in diagnosis and
treatment. We have the training programs and tools to do this. In British Columbia
So, we know what the problem is. We know what to do
about it. No excuses any more!
--Stan
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