The BC Children's Thriving School Communities team works collaboratively to enhance capacity for system-wide changes that improve student mental health and well-being by providing coaching, resources, and professional learning.
Our team works with BC School Communities and provincial partners to help:
- Increase effective and equitable implementation of school mental health promotion strategies and initiatives
- Increase effective use of data to inform decision-making
- Improve alignment among different approaches, language and organizations
We support school district staff and mental health champions directly through our Coaching Program to make strategies and action plans that lead to system-wide changes that support student mental health and well-being. We also support the broader school community, including public health partners, by creating provincial health literacy resources and professional learning opportunities.
Our approach to supporting schools is aligned with the BC Ministry of Education and Child Care's Mental Health in Schools Strategy and the BC Ministry of Health's Population and Public Health Framework
Mental Health & Well-being in Schools: A Model for BC School Communities
The Mental Health and Well-Being in Schools Framework provides a model for a comprehensive, whole-school approach to supporting mental health and well-being. It integrates the comprehensive school health model (social and physical environments, teaching and learning, partnerships and services, and health policy) with the tiers of support pyramid (universal health promotion, targeted prevention/early intervention, and intervention/referrals). The puzzle pieces of the framework show the many different components that contribute to health and well-being in a school community and how they align, overlap and complement one another.
Note: Some components may fit into more than one piece, but they’ve been categorized into one section to simplify the visual.
The framework and tool have been developed over several years in close collaboration with many educators and health partners. The original framework was collaboratively developed with a working group of the BC School Centered Mental Health Coalition.
The self-reflection tool is a companion to the Mental Health and Well-Being in Schools Framework. This tool provides questions to consider for each of the pieces of the Framework and can be used as a planning and assessment tool to map what your school, district, or community is doing in each area, to identify strengths and potential gaps, and to reflect on areas for action.
Supporting documents for the model also include a definitions list on the various components of the model. If you would like more information about using this model in your school community, please contact schoolmentalhealth@cw.bc.ca
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