|
|
|
|
|
 | September Welcome back to the 2022/2023 school year. We are looking forward to working together to support our children, youth, and families through shared learning and collaboration. Let's also focus on taking care of ourselves and each other while we engage in this invaluable work. Please reach out to the district team with questions, suggestions, and requests for consult/collaboration.
|
| |
|
|
|
|
One of our goals with our District Teams is to focus on Supporting School Based Teams, and aligning aspects of our support for Learning Support Teachers and Counsellors. The Town Hall meeting for SBT will be on September 14 8:45-2:45. Our theme for this school year is "Healthy Relationships through a Trauma Sensitive Lens."
Our Counsellor meetings offer an opportunity for connection, professional development, and consult and collaboration around individual students and work. We value this time to connect and have received your feedback about which resources and community agencies you would like to hear more from. Calendar invites to be sent out.
|
| |
|
|
|
|
Tuesday, October 4 9-11 am
In Person Location: Tolmie Boardroom | Thursday, November 17
1-3 pm Virtual
|
| |
|
|
Wednesday, January 18
1-3pm In Person Location: Tolmie Boardroom | Wednesday, March 1 1-3 pm Virtual
|
| |
|
|
Thursday, April 13 9-11 am
In Person Location: Tolmie Boardroom | Tuesday, May 30 1-3 pm
Virtual
|
| |
|
|
|
|
 | Updated in 2021. The Executive of the BCSCA recognized the need for an updated resource that would serve to inform school counselling roles and practices within the province, and which could serve as a quick reference guide to many of the resources that are regularly used by school counsellors. Note: School districts in BC hold the final decision regarding standards and practices of counselling in schools.
|
| |
|
|
|
|
| How can we support the emotional well-being of teachers? Sydney Jensen Teachers emotionally support our kids -- but who's supporting our teachers? In this eye-opening talk, educator Sydney Jensen explores how teachers are at risk of "secondary trauma" -- the idea that they absorb the emotional weight of their students' experiences -- and shows how schools can get creative in supporting everyone's mental health and wellness.
|
| |
|
|
|
|
School wide Assessment and Growth Plan Toolkit for Well-being and SEL The Schoolwide Assessment and Growth Plan Toolkit is one of a number of resources on the wellbeingbc.ca website. The toolkit includes a suite of tools to support school teams in assessing areas of strength and improvement around social emotional learning and well-being along with links to useful resources to assist in growth planning. This video spotlight features one of the creators of the toolkit, Jenny Williams, along with a school principal, Grace Lo-Voo, sharing their experiences both creating the toolkit as well as implementing the toolkit in a school.
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Introduction, Planning, Implementing, and Collaborating Supporting our colleagues and students with social emotional learning and mental health literacy provides a strong foundation both individually and collectively.
|
| |
|
|
|
| Middle and Secondary Teams Middle and Secondary teams have had various learning opportunities with Mental Health Literacy and the district team over the last several years. Please stay tuned for upcoming opportunities and reach out to Monique Moore and Tanya Ross if you have implementation questions.
https://mentalhealthliteracy.org/
https://pdce.educ.ubc.ca/teach-mental-health-literacy/
|
|
|
|
|
| 'Second Step' Social Emotional Learning K-8 The Second Step Digital Program is accessible for every elementary and middle school in SD61. Stay tuned for any upcoming implementation sessions and in the meantime please reach out to Monique Moore and Maureen Von Tigerstrom if you have any implementation questions.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| A wealth of recommended resources for substance use education K-12 are available on this page. Autonomy, Belonging and Competencies are important protective factors that promote youth wellbeing and positive mental health. The ABCs increase resilience and prevent, delay and reduce substance-related harms.
|
| |
|
|
|
|
| Kelty Mental Health Substance Use: Talking alcohol, vaping & other drugs with your kids A podcast for parents. Michelle and Bryn sit down with Cindy Andrew and Art Steinmann, both parents and professionals with 30+ years of experience working in the field of youth substance use within BC schools and communities, to discuss how to talk about substance use with your child, how to prevent problematic substance use, and how you can help your child develop the knowledge and skills they will need to make decisions about vaping, alcohol and other drugs as they grow.
|
| |
|
|
|
|
| The BC Children‘s Health Promotion team
and Kelty Mental Health Resource Centre
offer a variety of free services, supports and
resources specifically for school communities.
Our teams can assist professionals working to
support the mental health and well-being of
children, youth and families in BC schools.
Support with school mental health promotion
planning and implementation
Resources and support for parents and
caregivers
Support for school counsellors who are
providing mental health and substance use
care to students.
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Family Smart Events
Monthly Online Events for Parents & Caregivers. Join us to watch a video by an expert speaker and talk with other families about what helps. Online events are facilitated by FamilySmart Parent Peer Support Workers. Fall Event Topics:
September - Parenting When Anxiety Shows Up As Anger.
October - Building Connection With Our Kids When It Feels Impossible.
November - It's Never Too Late: Healing Parent-Child Relational Stress Using Emotion-Focused Family Therapy.
December - ADHD - The Real Deal.
|
| |
|
|
|
|
| Canadian Association of Mental Health - Game Changers Resources Together with Game Changers Youth Ambassadors, CAMH has created downloadable resources to help youth understand more about mental health and wellbeing, including substance use. Resources have also been developed for caregivers and supportive adults to help start a conversation with youth about these important topics.
Our tools have all been co-created with CAMH’s clinical and education team alongside Youth Ambassadors to ensure they reflect informed research with a youth perspective.
|
| |
|
|
|
|
| Child Mind Institute You Tube Channel
The Child Mind Institute is dedicated to transforming the lives of children and families struggling with mental health and learning disorders by giving them the help they need to thrive. A wide variety of videos are offered that can be shared with parents and colleagues.
|
| |
|
|
|
|
| Stigma Free Society - Student Mental Health Toolkit
An engaging online website for promoting mental wellness education to youth while providing resources for educators, school counsellors, and parents/guardians.
Here is the link to the website:
https://studentmentalhealthtoolkit.com
|
| |
|
|
|
|
| BC Children's Kelty Mental Health - Back to School: How To Promote Resilience and Set Your Kids Up For Success- Webinar Recording Guided by research in social and emotional development and resilience, this webinar offers caregivers of elementary-aged children useful information and practical strategies for supporting their own and their children's emotional resilience, that can set the stage for success and well-being in the new school year.
|
| |
|
|
|
|
BC Children's Kelty Mental Health - School Anxiety & Attendance Challenges Webinar Series Watch this webinar series to learn about anxiety and related challenges that can be a barrier to attending school, as well as practical strategies for parents and caregivers to help things go more smoothly. Helpful resource to share with staff and families.
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Collaborative & Proactive Solutions: 2-Day Virtual Training with Dr. Ross Greene, PhD In this webinar, Dr. Greene will provide an overview of the CPS model, along with more advanced coverage of the nuances of assessment and engaging kids in solving the problems that affect their lives. You don't have to participate on both days. On Day One, Dr. Greene will provide a general overview of the CPS model, including key themes, use of assessment instrumentation, and solving problems collaboratively. On Day Two he will dive deeper into various facets of the model, with extensive use of video examples and ample time for questions and discussion. So if you've already attended an introductory training with Dr. Greene, you may just want to sign up for the second day. If you're only interested in an introduction to the CPS model, just sign up for the first day. And if you want both,
sign up for both days. The recordings of both days will be available for viewing following the live webinar. (Usually within 5 days after the live webinar ends.)
|
| |
|
|
|
|
Restitution Level 1 - Virtual Training Restitution is a philosophy of discipline created by Diane Gossen and based on William Glasser‘s Choice Theory principles. Restitution focuses on how people can creatively correct their mistakes emphasizing positive solutions. Mistakes are viewed as opportunities to learn and grow. It's about learning to make things right. Our next training session is being offered over the month of October, with the zoom meetings taking place on Saturday, October 8, 15 and 22, 2022 from 11 AM – 12 PM Central Standard Time. Participants will have 3 weeks to complete the course, which on average takes participants approximately 8-12 hours in total.
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
CIRT REFRESHER - November 2 This is an opportunity for school based CIRT teams to connect with two District team CIRT staff to review the process of a CIRT response when a critical incident takes place within our school community. | VTRA REFRESHER - November 9 Violent Threat Risk Assessment (VTRA) is a comprehensive process to assess the level of threat and determine appropriate interventions. This session will review the protocol and purpose behind this important work when concerning behaviour profiles in our youth.
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
September 2022 Snapshots
Since 2018 we have worked diligently to offer parents and caregivers a quality newsletter focused on topics that support positive mental health. Our September Snapshot is a recap of our most relevant Snapshots over the past two years under the categories of mental health, relationships, connection and technology.Early Learning and Elementary -
RecapMiddle -
RecapSecondary -
Recap
|
|
|
|
|
|
Upcoming opportunities
Lindsay Johnson, Kevin Blecic, and Bonnie Alexander are always eager to collaborate and work together to connect students to opportunities. Please reach out with requests and ideas you may have for a classroom, school, or individual student.
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
District Mental Health Team Our work focusses on supporting schools and families with students who present with complex profiles that may include emotional, behavioural, mental health, and substance use concerns. We collaborate with district levelled teams and school teams for the purpose of complex problem solving and integrating supports. This also includes collaboration with community agencies (i.e Discovery, CYMH, Police) to develop consistent interventions to offer increased wrap around support to the students and families that we serve. Professional learning opportunities, snapshots, and newsletters are created to promote ongoing education and resource sharing with colleagues, students, and families. Additional work includes VTRA (Violent Threat Risk Assessment) and CIRT (Critical Incident Response Team) response when these needs arise in our school community.
|
| |
|
|
|
District Counselling Team Contact Info: Middle District Counsellor: Monique Moore mmoore@sd61.bc.ca
Elementary District Counsellor: Maureen von Tigerstrom mvontigerstrom@sd61.bc.ca
Youth & Family District Counsellor: Jen Aston jaston@sd61.bc.ca
Indigenous District Counsellors
Secondary Joanne Mitchell
jomitchell@sd61.bc.ca
Middle David Davidson ddavidson@sd61.bc.ca
Elementary Pam Russ pruss@sd61.bc.ca
|
|
|
|
Additional Members of the District Mental Health Team: District Principal: Pam Halverson phalverson@sd61.bc.ca
Deputy Superintendent: Harold Caldwell hcaldwell@sd61.bc.ca
Mental Health Resource Coordinator: Marnice Jones mjones@sd61.bc.ca
|
| |
|
