Mental health continues to be a prominent concern – especially after nearly two years of isolating and physical distancing from loved ones. Now more than ever, it is a crucial for young learners to have the necessary tools at their disposal to support their learning and mental well-being, both inside and outside of the classroom. 

During the 2019-2020 school year, with funding from the Ministry of Education’s Mental Health in Schools Grant, mental health toolkits were provided to all elementary schools in the District. 

This school year, the District compiled mental health toolkits to support students in grades 4 to 7, in addition to learners at the secondary level. The toolkits contain a variety of resources including posters, story books, novels, and activities to promote mental health.

Each toolkit consists of 20 items, including:

• Interactive games to teach children self-regulation, kindness, mindful breathing, and positive peer-to-peer interaction.
• Fine motor activity toys to increase students’ ability to attend to tasks
• Teacher resource books to understand the philosophy behind best practised strategies and to support implementation of effective strategies in the classroom. These include practising self-regulating behaviour and emotions. 

“These toolkits will help support the work that is being done to explicitly address social emotional learning and mental health well-being for students,” says Janis Myers, district principal of learning services. 

Myers also says school counsellors are collaborating with classroom teachers and other staff throughout the District to provide a variety of small group and individual activities using resources in the toolkits.