Mental Health: a basic human right of children and youth

I wanted to share with you an article I cited in my most recent paper.

It is cited from the Alberta Teachers' Association  January 17, 2012, and written by Dr. Stan Kutcher.

And, it is a very worthwhile read.

Mental Health: a basic human right of children and youth

Every once in a while, you hear, see or experience something that reminds you that all is not as it should be. As classroom teachers, we may be unaware of the statistics, we may get caught up in the standardization agenda, and we may sometimes lose sight of the human being that is every one of our students. We do the absolute best we can with what we have, but sometimes we’re ill-prepared to deal with a pervasive issue that has the potential to be as cataclysmic to society as any “man-made” or natural disaster. You may think this is an exaggeration, but the statistics are surprising and the impact of those statistics could be far-reaching: 1 in 5—you’ve seen or heard of this before; 1 in 5 Canadians will suffer from mental illness; 1 in 5 young people live with a mental disorder; and 70% of these disorders become symptomatic during childhood or adolescence. Suppose you’re a classroom teacher with an average of 25 students, you could potentially be dealing with five or more different mental disorders. How do you do it? How do you help? Where do you go for help? Are they really disorders or are they simply behaviour problems? Is there a difference? What’s the difference? How can I help? What can I do?

So how as a profession can we communicate together to increase awareness, share tips on resources, have access to service providers and expertise, discuss anonymous situations and brainstorm effective classroom solutions? How can we help our students, and our colleagues, who are affected by or afflicted with a mental disorder not be marginalized, de-humanized or de-professionalized. As an organization, CTF is trying to help teachers to help students. In collaboration with other organizations, we’re attempting to lay the groundwork for systemic change within our own education system. We’re speaking out on Mental Health and we’re partnering with the “Partners for Mental Health”, a not-for-profit charity whose start-up is supported financially by the Mental Health Commission of Canada.

The vision of “Partners for Mental Health” is to propel a social movement that will transform the way people think about and act towards people living with a mental illness. They aim to empower individuals and organizations to take action, leading to unprecedented improvements in mental health services, mental health research funding and the mental well-being of all ­Canadians.

In April 2012, Partners for Mental Health will launch a grassroots-based social media site that will facilitate the sharing of information, the dialogue, and the access to resources with the goal of mobilizing the public to de-stigmatize mental illness. As teachers who work and build relationships with youth on a daily basis, the Canadian Teachers’ Federation believes this social media platform focussed on mental health can be a hub where teachers go to access the tools and supports we require. Together as a profession, we can empower ourselves, help de-stigmatize mental illness and work towards systemic change that will confirm that mental health is indeed a basic human right of children and youth.

Our students—the future generation of decision-makers on matters of policy, economics and social priorities—need to be knowledgeable, understanding, empathetic, and healthy—mentally and physically. As individuals and society, we wholeheartedly invest in education, and we invest in health care. We must however increase our individual and collaborative investment in mental health; our future depends on it.

There are other initiatives in Canada that teachers should know about. If you’re looking for tools, resources, or tutorials visit:

• Centre for Addictions and Mental Health—a bilingual web site that specializes in mental health and addictions and offers educator resources and tutorials. www.camh.net
• Teen Mental Health—a web site that houses curricula that could answer many of your questions. While this web site is English only, some resources are available in both official languages. www.­teenmentalhealth.org
• The Academy in Mental Health for Educators—a new program by Teen Mental Health was offered in early July to over 200 public school educators from Manitoba to the Maritimes. Visit www.­teenmentalhealth.org for information on the Academy.
• The School-Based Mental Health and Substance Abuse Consortium will hold its 3rd National Symposium on Child and Youth Mental Health May 30-June 1, 2012 in Calgary, Alberta.

So let’s go back to the initial, perhaps perceived, exaggeration of not seeing the reality of mental illness as a potential cataclysm. While no one likes to put a dollar figure to something that is so personal and so human, sometimes the economic reality puts the issue into perspective—or at least it should. It was estimated in 2009 that $51 billion was the cost of mental illness to the Canadian economy in terms of health care and lost productivity, and that mental health was the number one cause of disability in Canada. How much do you think our country allocates to mental health? According to 2008 statistics, 5.5% of health care dollars went to support mental health. We don’t even know how many, if any, education funding supports mental health initiatives. If we don’t join together to fix this now a potential cataclysm could turn into a real one.

Mental Health Continuum Model

A number of HEALERS inquired about the Mental Health Continuum Model I used for my presentation Friday night. The linear representation provides useful criteria for all of us to gauge our own mental health. The information comes off of a Federal Government web site, Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat, Resources (n.d.). See link below

http://www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/hrh/dmi-igi/fundamentals-fondements/er-re-eng.asp

To enlarge this simply click on the diagram.

Thanks for listening and for all of your valuable feedback.

As I mentioned, mental health messages need to start somewhere and I am inspired by each of you. My  hope is you will become a part of my primary sphere of influence, while taking care of your own positive mental health.

Also, Friday night in class we spoke of different health promotion programs including Saleema Noon and the Sexual Health Education programs she leads. Her website follows

http://www.saleemanoon.com/

Pink Shirt Day

Talk About it…

This year Wednesday February 29^th is Anti-Bullying day or Pink Shirt Day all across Canada. Why a pink shirt you ask?  A student was taunted by Bullies for wearing a pink shirt to school, and fellow students decided enough was enough - it was time to stop the taunting, the teasing, the shoving, and the sneering that was occurring.

Bullying can be verbal, physical, or relational, and may include taunting, physical acts of aggression, and social isolation. It may also include threats of violence, sexual harassment, cyber bullying, destruction of property, and actions meant to humiliate or embarrass.  When up to 50% of school children in B.C. report having been bullied it is essential to create a school culture that is safe and respectful, every school day ( BC Centre for Safe Schools & Communities).

Get involved and talk to your child, teachers and school counsellors about Bullying. There are supports in place for your child and family both at school and in the community including some of the great links below.

1. . Kelty Mental Health Centre  - B.C. Children’s Hospital   http://keltymentalhealth.ca/blog/2011/12/dont-be-bully-effects-bullying-kids-mental-health
2. Bullying.org   http://www.bullying.org/
3. The Bully Circle http://www.bullyingprevention.org/repository//Best%20Practices%20PDFs/olweus%20bullying%20circle.pdf

Olweus Bullying Circle

Today is "Let's Talk" Day

February 8th is Let's Talk Day.............
and we are talking about Mental Health

Mental Illness is an illness NOT a weakness.

• One in five Canadians will become mentally ill.
• Canada has one of the highest rates of adolescent suicides.
• In a classroom of 30 students, five students will be experiencing a mental health issue.
• By 2020 Mental Health will be the #1 health-care cost for Canadians.

We need to remove the shame in Mental health.
We need to remove the stigma surrounding Mental Health.

As Healers, Teachers, Health-care and Health professionals, as Mothers, Fathers, Aunts, Uncles, Brothers, Sisters and Grandparents, as friends, colleagues, classmates, and most importantly, as caring and responsible members of society, We all need to start talking and continue talking about Mental Health.

Take a listen to the following interview with Canada's most decorated Olympic athlete, Clara Hughes. She is an amazing person providing an even more amazingly honest and candid interview, revealing her struggles with Depression.
http://www.cbc.ca/q/blog/2012/02/08/clara-hughes-on-q/

More Active Living

Part of my philosophy of Active Living means living responsibly and actively engaging in the world around me. In living responsibly I choose to be an advocate for my children and my community.

Below is a piece I submitted to the Vancouver Sun December 2, 2011. I also forwarded the same letter to George Abbott and the Premier's Office -  if you want the response(?) please let me know and I am more than happy to send it your way.

Some might suggest this letter is political, I argue I am merely a parent voicing concerns and wanting to ensure children are getting what our province deserves to provide for them.

I encourage each of you to get ACTIVE and start writing, what ever your cause is.

And a special thanks to all of you hard working, dedicated, talented  and very passionate teachers.

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A Parent’s Opinion

A response to Ghost of a premier past casts a large shadow that complicates rebranding.

If Christy Clark is trying to rebrand her name and image and set herself apart from her predecessor, Gordon Campbell, she may actually want to own up to her “Families First” campaign, and recognise that one of the strongest supports to families is a healthy school. Schools provide important connections to students and their families. Healthy schools promote healthy neighbourhoods and healthy societies.

I am a very concerned parent; for the record, I am NOT a teacher and neither is my husband. We do have good friends who are teachers, and just as many good friends who are not. We are all very concerned. This is not about the current job action and the teacher’s union but this is about the decimation of the public school system within this province. I do have family members who are teachers in other provinces and BC should be ashamed of it’s reputation and it’s record. What the government has done to public education, to educational supports, to teachers and to our children is deplorable, shameful, neglectful and in my mind, criminal.

            The stresses are evident upon walking through the school doors. Teachers are stressed, administration is stressed and students are stressed. The bare bones funding has turned schools into a form of boot camp which are rigid and unbending. There is little room or time for original thinking, creativity, contemplation, or alternative expression. And with the Ministry of Education’s new Personalised Learning Directive, if the government has it’s way, children will not have a classroom at all but  will be sitting at home with their laptops, creating greater disparity between those with the most electronic toys and those without. This is one more example of this government avoiding adequate funding for educational and technological resources, and unloading societal responsibility onto individual families.

The Personalised Learning Directive  adds a new level of understanding to the Ministry’s statement “Student progress will be reported to parents in a more meaningful, effective and consistent manner across the province, enabling parents to play a key role in shaping their children’s education.” Check out the showy presentation on the Ministry  of Education’s government website that says nothing, throws around some impressive relevant language around pedagogy and innovation, and side steps the real issue of investing in public education.

            The Action Steps identified in the BC Ministry’s Education Plan suggest  standards will remain “relevant and robust so that every graduate has every advantage to succeed in life”. That is making the false assumption that we are currently working with adequate standards. Conditions have been worsening over the past 10 years - isn’t it time the BC Liberal party started investing in BC youth. Studies show, you pay now or society pays later.

            BC is becoming a province that wants to make individuals responsible for looking after themselves, rather than a province with institutions to support one another. Don’t get me wrong, I have strong feelings supporting personal responsibility, however, in order to create that ability for autonomy and independence, a foundation must be established and educational supports must be in place.

I am tiring of BC’s promises to business taking priority over children and education and I know many other voters share this concern. Public schools and education can ameliorate inequalities and bind us together as British Columbians. 

Premier Clark, here’s your chance to really make a difference, for your child and all the other children across this province. It is time to make children and families a priority.

3 Months Later

Many of the entries I have written about in my Active Living Blog are the "moments" that I share of human connections. Those connections usually focus on the simplest things: an exchange, a glance, a smell, or a smile.  My husband asks how I remember these things, and I wonder how he retains all of those mathematical equations, but these are the things that truly breathe life into me - Revitalise me.  My days are filled with more inexpensive activities as a result of a choice I made to be working less while returning to school. These activities usually include practising volley ball with my daughter, or playing soccer at the park with my son, family walks with the dog, and my own personal dog walking (therapy) sessions.  I continue to go to Boot camp for fitness, but I am aware of that toll on my body (my knees) and my pocket book.

Roughly 70% of one's body is made up of water. Our bodies are meant to move, not to remain static; we are dynamic. We are bodies of motion and as Stephen has pointed out there is no mystery that the word emotion has motion residing within it. Much of what I have shared in this Active living blog may be seen as very ordinary examples of my life and Active Living. Seizing moments of love, laughter, and even anguish that flow from me onto the page change the ordinary to the extraordinary (there is motion and emotion in change).

I look forward to the winter break when we go away to a smaller ski village in the Interior of BC. This is a retreat for all of us as we embrace the cold and clear of mountain freshness. To be on top of a mountain and have your daughter proclaim "Mommy, it is so beautiful here" is another example of Active Living. Yes we are skiing, and exercising, and moving our bodies, but for me to hear her so "moved" in that moment, makes an ordinary moment very extraordinary. But moments such as that do NOT require an elevation of 2000 meters. They are prevalent while raking the leaves together, gardening, playing board games, or during the walk to school, running to catch the bus, tobogganing, jogging, swimming, hiking, biking, and even putting up Christmas lights. Often the simpler the activity the greater the moment. They are accessible, and plenty, and they are very affordable.

Enjoy the holidays!

InterActivity

Two weekends ago my family faced a three hour lineup at the Border so we quickly detoured into White Rock for lunch and a walk along the beach.
The wind was fierce and and as we walked out to the pier, the gusts increased. We were forced to brace ourselves to stay upright. The waves roared as the momentum of energy filled the ocean with whitecaps. The seagulls overhead were motionless - they were fixed in flight, static, taking on the wind. Even they felt nature's call to attention. The 90 km/hr winds were too much for my husband and daughter as they turned back to shore but my son and I persevered to the very end of the pier.

We could hardly catch our breath as the wind forced more and more air into our lungs. What vitality, what forces; the two of us alone with the elements. There was a precariousness that we balanced, edging nearer to exhilaration than peril.

The fierce arctic wind sprayed an icy chill over our bodies. The wind was whipping my son's hair back and his cheeks were emblazoned a bright pink from the cold. We ran and we played tag; we laughed while the wind chased the sounds of glee from our voices.  We struggled to keep our hair from our eyes and our faces. Our lips were frozen and ears aching from the bitter November cold. We zipped up our coats and snapped on our hoods. We were numb with cold and yet we were invigorated. We were carefree and so happy. The pier was abandoned, and the world was ours. The smile on his face and the sparkle in his eyes reflected my own overflowing joy. Within these moments there is a stillness, that is rich with energy,  flow,  relationality, and connections with self, my son and nature.
This is one more personal definition of active living.