Mental health training for staff in schools gets boost
The head of the Saskatchewan School Board Association (SSBA) says more mental health training for school staff across the province is a piece in the puzzle of addressing the complex classroom needs facing staff every day.
By providing $400,000 in funding, the provincial government hopes to see at least one staff member in every Saskatchewan school receive Mental Health First Aid training by the end of 2021, according to a Thursday news release.
Shawn Davidson, president of the SSBA, said school divisions across the province have made mental health supports a priority. Davidson said this additional training will be complementary to the work divisions are already doing.
“Is it going to be the be-all and end-all? No, but mental health is a complicated issue and we do certainly need multiple approaches and multiple ways to deal with it,” he said.
“It's an area that we know is an increasing challenge for schools and for students, so divisions are doing their best to address it ... through managing these increasingly complex classroom compositions.”
Created by the Mental Health Commission of Canada, Mental Health First Aid is a training program that teaches how to recognize when a person may be experiencing a mental health crisis or declining mental well-being and then how to support that person.
The training is typically offered in-person, but the Ministry of Education is working to transition the course online by 2021 to keep staff safe during the pandemic.
“We are excited to support schools in ensuring students have access to mental health resources, and I encourage all provincial school divisions to take part to help remove the stigma around mental health,” Education Minister Dustin Duncan said in the release.
Davidson said he is pleased to hear the training will be offered online, which goes a long way in eliminating barriers for staff working in rural or remote communities.
“Saskatchewan's a big province, so if you're in Île-à-la-crosse, it's sometimes a little challenging to get to Saskatoon for a meeting, but if you can access it in your home community, it certainly does make access that much easier,” he said.
Mental Health First Aid training was one of the recommendations made to former Minister of Education Gord Wyant by the 2019-20 Youth Council, which was a group of 12 high school students that met with Wyant to discuss the issues they see in their schools.