With some students potentially struggling with post-holiday and winter blues on top of end-of-semester stress, the Northern Gateway Public School Division (NGPSD) is reminding students and their guardians of the mental health supports available.
Every adult knows that growing up is a challenging process, and while those hurdles have looked similar for many generations, Superintendent Kevin Bird says the COVID-19 pandemic and social media have changed the game for today’s youth and the educators trying to guide them.
“With social media, you are always carrying around the ability to cause significant harm to others and also to be harmed in return,” Bird comments. “This is true of our students, but also their adults in their lives are experiencing all of these things as well, and that combined together is a very different world than the world that I grew up in, or than the world I started teaching in.”
Bird explains, the NGPSD’s key mission is ensuring students “know how to read, figure, and be good people,” with the ability to pursue any opportunity they wish. The division receives funding for mental health services that support that mission. These include supports designed to reduce classroom anxiety, help kids make friends, teach them how to regulate their responses and emotions and similar goals that support student learning and development.
All division schools are equipped with mental health workers, dedicated psychology time, a trauma-informed approach to mental health, a social worker and access to service dogs.
For students in the division who may be struggling with their mental health, Bird says, “Every door is the right door.”
The same goes for students with friends they have concerns about: Bird says it’s easy to feel like you’re betraying a friend by telling an adult how they’re feeling, but in the long run, you’re helping them out.
“They might be angry at you for a bit, but down the road, you could have done something very important,” Bird said.
For parents in the division, Bird recommends taking a mental health first aid course, which is periodically offered by the school division. He also urges parents to talk to the school as quickly as possible if they have concerns about their child, whether that’s regarding interpersonal conflict or changes you’ve noticed, as staff are trained to identify causes relating to both mental and physical health.
“Sometimes families who are struggling internally want to — and it’s a natural reaction — keep that from other people, and privacy is a good thing, but nobody should be concerned about reaching out to the school if they’re experiencing some struggles in the family because we can support people through that and keep it confidential at the same time,” Bird commented.
In the home, he asks guardians to be aware of their child’s social media habits, such as who they are speaking to, even if it feels invasive. If your child doesn’t want you to know who or what sites they’re engaging with, that can be a red flag, he added.
Other proactive strategies include encouraging community connection, whether that’s through recreation, charity, a faith-based group or otherwise.
NGPSD also monitors the email learn@ngps.ca 24 hours a day, as well as its 24-hour emergency line at 780-706-8222, which is open to any caregiver or student concerned about someone’s mental or physical well-being.
Additional resources outside the division are listed in the graphic below.
(Northern gateway Public School Division website)
