1. People for Education 16th Annual
Conference
November 2, 2012
Student Health
How can schools “build” well-rounded
well-grounded
AND
well-educated students?

2. Student Health
involves Mental Health
What role should schools play in building healthy children?
 Approx 18% of children and adolescents may be suffering
from moderate to severe mental disorders (Offord et al.
1997)
 Less than one in five receive any specialized treatment.
 For almost 40 years, Delisle Youth Services has addressed
these concerns and enhanced the prospects of such youth
by working with them directly in their schools

3. Nurture, Foster, Enhance,
Build Health
Student Health can be about how
we foster and enhance health with
our students in schools…school is
one part of their life….helping
students to feel they have worth is
critical in supporting learning
The Impact of Violence on Learning for Youth

4. Delisle Youth Services
School Based Services
Delisle operates out of 6 school
sites; Northern Secondary, North
Toronto Collegiate, Lawrence
Park, York Memorial, Vaughan
Road Academy and CALC

5. Student Health
Connecting with Students
Reducing barriers- Make it ‘normal’ to get help
“ He was involved in every aspect of the
school. Every group, he helped out with.
And everybody felt comfortable talking to
him. I know 50 people I could name that
went to go talk with him about a problem
they had”
Student – The Impact of Violence on Learning for Youth

6. Student Health
 Striking a balance between activities focused on behavior problems
and addressing mental health difficulties before they become
intensified yielded positive findings across the full range of mental
health concerns; (Prout and Prout, 1998; Rones & Hoagwood,
2000; Whinston & Sexton, 1998):
 Improvements in depression (Clarke et al., 1995)
 Substance use (Botvin et al., 1994/1995 a, b)
 Increased emotional literacy and enhanced interpersonal problem-solving
skills (Greenberg, Kusche, Cook and Quamma, 1995)
 Lower problematic behaviors at school and improved academic achievement
(Knoff and Batsche, 1995)

7. Student Health
‘Mental health’ still leads to stigmatization
(Corrigan 2004; Corrigan et al., 2000;
Socall & Holtgrave, 1992)
With the general public, and even with many
service providers, the notion of mental
health continues to signal deviation from
the norm.

8. Student Health and Mental
Health
“I’ve seen young people who I
worked with, with their
mothers, wandering from
building to building looking for
some school to take them in.
And they won’t”
Educator- The Impact of Violence on Learning for Youth

9. Student Health, Mental Health
and Schools
 In a May 17, 2007 address to the Empire club (entitled: Children’s
Mental Health is Everybody’s Business),
Senator Michael Kirby (Chair of the Mental Health Commission of
Canada), petitioned for a more expansive and less stigmatizing view of
mental health.
“we….need a major move of mental health
services from their present location in most
communities into the schools”

10. Student Health and Schools
Modifying risks for mental health problems,
there are few more important tasks than
setting interventions within the school
setting.
Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, the Centre for Health Promotion,
University of Toronto and Toronto Public Health

11. Student Health, accessing
support and Schools
 Youth are significantly
more likely to access
assistance when services are located in their
schools
 Our approach allows us to make a point about overlap between
Children’s Mental Health and Education, since we are proposing the
targeted goals of public education are concurrent with those of mental
health

12. Student Health and Schools
 We assert that education and learning becomes severely
compromised or even impossible without paying attention
to mental health
 Research has found a high degree of association between
mental health problems and poor educational and
academic functioning.
(Adelman & Taylor, 1998; Kessler, Foster, Saunders and Stang,
1995; also see Roeser, Eccles, & Strobel, 1998, for a review).

13. Delisle Youth Services
School Based outreach services

14. Student Health and Schools
There is a need for a new evolving
approach that increases students’
engagement with school, helping
them connect with school

15. Student Health, Mental Health,
DYS School Based Services
 Each of our school based programs offers students a wide
variety of mental health services; individual counseling,
psycho educational groups, social service/health referrals,
as well as consultations and assessments for school
administration and teachers
 Our goal is to keep students actively engaged in school,
and the ultimate aim is school completion.

16. Student Health, Mental Health,
DYS School Based Services
 Our collaboration with the TDSB began
with ‘dropout prevention’
 Early intervention and easy access to
supportive services were protective factors,
which increase the likelihood of successful
school completion

17. Student Health, Mental Health,
DYS School Based Services
 In the last 15 years, DYS’ school-based programs have evolved into
much more than a dropout prevention program.
 They now include targeted therapeutic groups focusing on many
relevant adolescent topics(social skills, anger management, girl talk,
healthy relationships and meditation)
 Activities such as WellNSS – Mental Health Matters and The Jack
Project collaborations focused on mental health awareness and
supports
 Referrals/advocacy
 Consultations and a formal assessment process

18. Student Health, Mental Health,
DYS School Based Services
 DYS’ school-based counselors help to develop
coping skills that are transferable and contribute to
success in various settings; community, home and
work
 These skills then act as protective factors for
various mental health problems: anxiety,
depression, anger management, social isolation,
etc (see Rones and Hoagwood, 2000; and
Whiston and Sexton, 1998; for a review)

19. Student Health, Mental Health,
DYS School Based Services
 Every new school was a unique culture unto
itself and, rather than accept this as a trite
truism, we used the knowledge to plan
strategically for our work.
 We avoid assuming that we know what the
school needs but rather fit ourselves to the
particulars of the school.

20. Student Health, Mental Health,
DYS School Based Services
We become embedded in the culture of the school thus increasing
access points and reducing stigma
 School-based counselors spend time establishing credibility in the
specific school and among students by participating in various aspects
of school life.
 Counselors have coached sports teams, joined projects with student
councils, mentored student groups, supported fund-raising efforts and
participated on advisory panels.
 Consistent with other school-based programs, our success in schools is
contingent on this ability to become an integrated and established part
of those schools we are partnered with (Gottfredson et al., 1993).

21. Student Health, Mental Health,
DYS School Based Services
 DYS is a multifaceted social service agency with a
full range of mental health services (residential
treatment, a section 23 school, art based
programming, housing support, individual and
family counseling, psychiatric consultation and
special programming for LGBTQ youth) thereby
making our school-based programs an access point
to all these services.

22. Student Health, Mental Health, DYS
School Based Services/TDSB
Partnership
 Within each school, DYS collaborates with
existing support services. Social work and
guidance services are consulted as students’
access our service and regular meetings are
held with the administration to provide
updates on client profiles, youth themes,
and suggested areas of program
development.

23. Northern Secondary School
DYS School Based Site

24. Advantages
 Easy access to service
 Full-time access in most sites
 Little overturn in staffing which supports
consistency and trust
 Workers are seen as part of the school
fabric
 DYS’ service provides confidential support

25. DYS school-based services
design activities
 Children and Youth Services Information System (CYSIS)
 Involvement in School Culture
 Regular meetings with School Administration and Support
Services
 Community Consultations
 Health Education
 Consultations
 Client Assessment
 Counselling
 Groups
 Referrals/Advocacy

26. Northern Secondary School WellNSS –
Mental Health Matters – partnership with
DYS