School Mental Health: The Next Frontier

Promoting student health and well-being in school has long been a component of education. Traditionally, varsity athletics, school intramural sports programs and gym classes have stressed the importance of staying physically healthy through exercise. More recently, school-based sexual education programs have informed young people about the importance of sexual health, exposing students to issues of contraception use, gender identity, reproductive rights, and sexual behaviour. Nutrition has also made headway, with some schools banning high-caffeine/energy drinks and introducing healthier eating options into school cafeterias. But despite these advances, mental health – a fundamental part of student health and well-being – still remains largely absent from the education agenda.

According to the World Health Organization, mental disorders are the single largest health problem affecting young people. In Canada, approximately 15 to 20 percent of children and adolescents suffer from some form of mental disorder; which translates to one in five students in the “average” classroom. Furthermore, most major mental disorders onset prior to the age of twenty-five, making adolescence a critical time for the prevention and treatment of mental health problems.

Mental disorders can lead to serious consequences if untreated. They may impede a student’s emotional well-being and social development, leaving young people feeling socially isolated, stigmatized and unhappy. Mental disorders may also present significant barriers to learning. For example, students with mental disorders may have difficulty meeting academic standards or reaching their academic potential. These barriers can be so difficult to overcome that they may lead to chronic absenteeism or even school drop-out.

Early and effective treatment of mental health problems can substantially improve emotional and behavioural difficulties, thus reducing the number of days of school missed and reducing instances of contact with law enforcement. Treatment can also lead to improved social and behavioural adjustment, school performance, and enhanced learning outcomes. The earlier that mental health problems are addressed through appropriate effective interventions, the more likely that beneficial effects will be achieved in both the short and long term.

For all of these reasons, addressing the mental health of young people should be a priority for schools. (Excerpt from "Mental Health: The Next Frontier of Health Education",Education Canada, Spring 2009- by Dr. Stan Kutcher, David Venn, Magdalena Szumila

Young Minds launches youth mental health video and manifesto

Great video on youth mental health produced by YoungMinds in the UK. But good advice for any country and its leadership. "YoungMinds Very Important Kids (VIK), our national panel of young people with mental health problems, have launched a manifesto and accompanying film to highlight to politicians the changes that need to be made to improve young people’s mental health." 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NzPdo00pPrY

You download the YoungMinds children andyoung people's manifesto here "Written in their words and including their own stories it covers 11 areas where they believe things must change so that all young people with mental health problems get the support they often so desperately need." Manifesto main points

1. Stigma still affects us; its about time we were able to talk about how we feel.
2. Dealing with problems when we are young; train primary school staff
3. Growing up is difficult; support us when changes happen in our lives
4. Getting what we need at secondary school; train everyone to understand teenagers problems.
5. Waiting lists and assessments just make it harder; make them shorter and provide us with one worker for all our care.
6. Some doctors don’t listen to us; they need to understand and support us
7. Going to Accident and Emergency can be traumatic; treat us with respect, see beyond our labels
8. Some psychiatric units feel like prisons; learn from the best ones
9. Someone to speak up for us; we all need advocates
10. Lost in the system; don’t forget about us when we are 16 plus
11. We’re the experts; start listening to us

Nova Scotia Releases Report on Suicide, Attempted Suicide

Official press release

A new report will better position government and its partners to help Nova Scotians at risk of attempting suicide.

The report, Suicide and Attempted Suicide in Nova Scotia, was released today, July 15. Its purpose is to help those who work in the areas of suicide prevention, intervention and support.

"Suicide is a very complex and sensitive public health issue," said Dr. Robert Strang, Nova Scotia's chief public health officer. "We need to talk about it more and better understand it to ensure the right programs and supports are in place to help Nova Scotians."

The report describes the conditions surrounding suicide and attempted suicide in Nova Scotia. The data is based on hospital and vital statistics records of suicides and suicide attempts from 1995 to 2004. It examines demographic factors, how people attempt suicide and complete suicide, and the types of health-care services used by Nova Scotians at risk.

"This report is a baseline we can use to evaluate future efforts on this important issue, and we've made good progress since 2004," said Dr. Strang. "We've developed a suicide prevention framework to reduce suicides and attempted suicides, we're doing additional research with the medical examiner's office, and we fund our community partners who work with Nova Scotians."

Dr. Stan Kutcher, Sun Life Financial Chair in Adolescent Mental Health, a partnership with the IWK Health Centre and Dalhousie University, said that even though suicide and suicide attempt rates are decreasing, and Nova Scotia is experiencing lower suicide rates than most Canadian provinces, there is more to be done. "Improving care for people with mental disorders, enhancing the capability of health care and education professionals to identify people at risk, promoting overall good health and resiliency, and improving access to good mental health care, can all help further reduce Nova Scotia's suicide rates.

" Highlights of the report include:

• The rate of hospitalizations for suicide attempts declined by 30 per cent over the 10-year period
• 55 per cent of those hospitalized were female
• Lower income was associated with higher rates of both hospitalizations for suicide attempts and suicide deaths
• The rate of suicide death declined from 11 to nine individuals per 100,000
• Nova Scotia's suicide rate was lower than the national average, nine out of 100,000 individuals compared to 11 out of 100,000
• 84 per cent of suicide deaths were male
• 55 per cent of suicide deaths were previously diagnosed with a mental disorder

The report is available online at www.gov.ns.ca/hpp.

Mental illness ad campaings: sexy, edgy or emotional?

In the past few weeks I've come across several advertising campaigns aimed at raising awareness about mental health problems. Two in particular focusing on Autism and Eating Disorders caught my attention (you can see why below). Advertisers know what "sticks" when it comes to marketing: sex, shock and emotion. These approaches can be effective ways to sell products or promote a brand identity - but how well do they transfer into the world social awareness? Or for that matter mental health? SEXY The people at Sociological Images alerted me to this Rethinking Autism ad campaign. The RA site maintains that:

"All too often in the world of autism, celebrity and sex appeal are used to promote pseudo-science that exploits autistic people, their family members and the public. We decided to put those very same factors to work in service of the truth."

This is a clever ad. It's information is scientifically-based and it captures your attention. But is it effective? While I get the tongue-in-cheek reference that Autism has become a "sexy" topic of discussion, I question whether the core message gets buried beneath a sea of lingerie. The Rethinking Autism website claims to want to "change the conversation one video at a time", but are we changing the conversation towards Autism and debunking pseudo-science or does the ad instead meander towards a debate about the objectification of women as sex objects. If the latter then the message is lost. 

EDGY Next up is a series of ads from the Looking GlassFoundation for Eating Disorders based in Vancouver BC. The ads are edgy alright - but their message is misleading. The tagline in the ads is "Not every note is a suicide note" - which falsely implies that eating disorders are a method of suicide. We know this is not true. So while the ads are effective in shocking us, they do little to advance discourse because of their false message - in fact they may even perpetuate the myth that eating disorders are motivated by suicidal intent. 

MOTIONAL Finally an anti-stigma ad campaign from the Mental Health Foundation of Nova Scotia (see video on their homepage). The ad uses personal narratives, emotional music and dream-like backgrounds to tell a story. In under a minute the video captures the pervasive stigma that accompanies mental illnesses, touches on the scientific basis of mental disorders as brain disorders, points to the need to improved resources to meet the needs of those living with mental illnesses and challenges the viewer to talk more openly about mental illness and mental health. Effective doesn't have to be flashy and this ad is a great example of the power of emotion and story to communicate an important message

David Venn