SCHOOLS AS A SETTING FOR SCHOOLS AS A SETTING FOR POSITIVE MENTAL HEALTHPOSITIVE MENTAL HEALTH

Kathy Cassels, Kathy Cassels, DASH BCDASH BC

Schools as a setting Schools as a setting for promoting positive mental healthfor promoting positive mental health

• What is Positive Mental Health?

• Provincial Perspective• Link to Schools• Next Steps

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“This is what learning is. You suddenly understand something you’ve understood all your life, but in a

new way.”— Doris Lessing

“Health is not simply the absence of disease: it is something positive …”

—Henry Sigerist (1941)

Mental HealthMental Health

“is having a positive sense of how we feel, think and act which improves our ability to enjoy life

and respond to life’s challenges”1

1NB Wellness Culture & Sport, http://www.gnb.ca/0131/Healthy-NB-en_sante/mental_fitness-e.asp2World Health Organization

“A state of well-being in which the individual realises his or her own abilities, copes with the normal stresses of life, works productively and fruitfully and makes a contribution to his or her community”2

Positive Mental HealthPositive Mental Health

“Positive mental health and mental fitness are the foundation for optimal overall health and wellbeing. From early childhood on, positive mental health is the springboard for thinking, learning, emotional growth, resilience and self esteem – ingredients that combine to support healthy choices across the lifespan. As a dimension of overall mental health, mental fitness endows individuals with the capacity to plan, act and reflect on decisions that in turn make a positive contribution to their social, emotional, and physical development and their well-being. An emphasis on good mental health and mental fitness should parallel and complement a focus on physical health and physical fitness”

Positive Mental Health when..Positive Mental Health when..

Connected to and encouraged by our family, friends, school, community and/or workplace

Relatedness

Strengths & skills recognized by ourselves and othersCompetency

Opportunities to make choices and take action to positively impact our lives

Autonomy

Positive Mental HealthPositive Mental Health

Mental Illness• Better quality of life• Reduced &/or better

managed symptoms• Delayed onset

No Mental Illness• More able to bounce back

from adversity• Make healthier choices• Healthier• Live longer• More successful in school

& jobs• Happier in relationships• Less prone to depression

Applying Positive Mental Health

To the School Setting

Why Positive Mental Health?Why Positive Mental Health?

Students with poor mental heath:Are less likely to graduateWill have poorer healthWill have increased:• Substance abuse• Risky behaviours• Mental illness• Criminal justice involvement• Unemployment• Use of social supports

Wellness

School connectedness

Flourishing

Mental fitness

Social & emotional learning

Self-determination

ResiliencyPositive school environment

School culture

Anti-bullying

Safe and caring schools

Protective factors

Mental health promotionStrength-based approach

Positive Connections

The Favourite TeacherThe Favourite Teacher

Taking it School or System-wideTaking it School or System-wide

Taking ActionTaking Action

Connected to and encouraged by our family, friends, school, community and/or workplace

Relatedness

Strengths & skills recognized by ourselves and othersCompetency

Opportunities to make choices and take action to positively impact our lives

Autonomy

.... Replicating the Favourite Teacher

Assessment for LearningAssessment for Learning

“Focusing on Assessment for Learning has provided our students with a sense of connectedness by giving them the opportunity for ownership over their learning. When students are the owners of their learning, they feel valued, and heard.”

Personalised LearningPersonalised Learning

“When students can make connections they are engaged and take ownership for taking that next step of going deeper with their understanding and actions.”

Healthy LivingHealthy Living

“Through the garden, students are able to interact with adults in the school outside the classroom. They

are able to make connections to their community through the school and make contributions to better the school through the growing of food. Students are eager to demonstrate their learning and share their

accomplishments with their families.”

School ConnectednessSchool Connectedness

“Creating school connectedness fosters a positive environment, where teachers, parents, and children feel valued, supported, appreciated, and engaged in

the school setting.”

New Perspectives…New Perspectives…

“The kids are doing the same thing they

always did — but I see it in a different way now.”

Teacher, Penticton

Taking it School or System-wideTaking it School or System-wide

Links to Personalized Learning

Taking it School or System-wideTaking it School or System-wide

Links to Personalized Learning

Taking it School or System-wideTaking it School or System-wide

Links to Personalized Learning

Taking it School or System-wideTaking it School or System-wide

Links to Personalized Learning

Next StepsNext Steps

• School level toolkit• Support and mentor

schools• Share knowledge and

experiences

Research Base: Better

Practices and

Perspectives

Conceptual Framework:

PMH Indicactor

Framework

School-level tools: PMH

Toolkit

Capacity Building

Broad uptake

Knowledge Exhange

System change