Canadian School Health - Recently Updated Pages

Webinars and Web Meetings

dmccall — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 09:28:09 CST

This page contains the schedule of webinars and web meetings that are organized as part of the Canadian School Health Knowledge Network. Some of these events are provided free of charge because of grants and contracts from various partners. Others require a registration fee to a paid membership in the CSH Knowledge Network.

Access to the sponsored sessions will be available by clicking on the Participants Link noted just to the right of the session description on the day of the session. That link will be active 15 minutes prior to the start of the session.

Our archive provides links to several previous events.

Schedule of Upcoming Webinars and Web Meetings

* Click here for detailed instructions on how to access our webinars and web meetings

Date & Time	Title/Description
February 1, 2012 at 15:00 (Ottawa/Washington time)	Complexity, Constant Change & Fidelity to a Developed Program, Practice or Approach in School Health Promotion Linda Dusenbury, Researcher, Author, Consultant in Substance Abuse Prevention & Teacher Development This topic is a critical issue when adopting or adapting an existing program that has worked well in another community. Participants will discuss this brief summary of fidelity as well as the implications of being faithful to an approach or a program while recognizing the need to use an ecological and systems-based approach. Related topics such as implementation quality, dose, duration, intensity and sustainability are all likely to be discussed through this topic. Sponsored by a SMH Consortium Project funded by the Mental Health Commission of Canada	To register, add your name to this list of participants for this series of webinars. (The link will be active once we have set a date/time for the session.) To access the webinar, this Participants Link will be active about 15 minutes before the start of webinar. Come back to this page and click on the link at that time. We usually prepare background materials for each webinar and they will be posted on this web page. Subsequent to each webinar, we activate this link to the recorded webinar and/or slide presentations.
TBC	Inter-Ministry Policy, Collaboration & Leadership in School Mental Health Agreements, Joint Procedures, Joint Service Plans/Budgeting, Joint Priorities, Joint Positions and other aspects of inter-ministry cooperation, coordination and leadership will be highlighted in this session. This presentation and discussion will identify case studies, examples and models of inter-ministry cooperation, create a web-linked list and summarise the evidence, experience and examples involved. International contacts will be used to solicit participation from countries such as Australia, Scotland, United States, England and elsewhere. Sponsored by a SMH Consortium Project funded by the Mental Health Commission of Canada	To register, add your name to this list of participants for this series of webinars. (The link will be active once we have set a date/time for the session.) To access the webinar, this Participants Link will be active about 15 minutes before the start of webinar. Come back to this page and click on the link at that time. We usually prepare background materials for each webinar and they will be posted on this web page. Subsequent to each webinar, we activate this link to the recorded webinar and/or slide presentations.
TBC	System & Agency Capacities & Capacity Building in School Mental Health Promotion This session will list and discuss the various, multiple components and capacities that need to be built in ministries, agencies/school boards, schools and professionals in order for comprehensive school mental health approaches and programs to be effective. Sponsored by a SMH Consortium Project funded by the Mental Health Commission of Canada	To register, add your name to this list of participants for this series of webinars. (The link will be active once we have set a date/time for the session.) To access the webinar, this Participants Link will be active about 15 minutes before the start of webinar. Come back to this page and click on the link at that time. We usually prepare background materials for each webinar and they will be posted on this web page. Subsequent to each webinar, we activate this link to the recorded webinar and/or slide presentations.
TBC	Evidence-based Implementation Planning Models in School Health Promotion The need to select evidence-based programs has been well-discussed in the SH and SMH research literature but not so much has been done on the need to select and use an evidence-based implementation model. For example, M. Deschesnes et all have used such a model in their recent article on Factors influencing the adoption of a Health Promoting School approach in the province of Quebec, Canada. This project will identify and discuss the application of such models in SMH and SH promotion Sponsored by a SMH Consortium Project funded by the Mental Health Commission of Canada	To register, add your name to this list of participants for this series of webinars. (The link will be active once we have set a date/time for the session.) To access the webinar, this Participants Link will be active about 15 minutes before the start of webinar. Come back to this page and click on the link at that time. We usually prepare background materials for each webinar and they will be posted on this web page. Subsequent to each webinar, we activate this link to the recorded webinar and/or slide presentations.
TBC (Dec 6 at 15:00 Ottawa time)	Substance Use/Misuse and the Adolescent Brain Researchers are discovering more each day about how the development of adolescent brains can influence and is influenced by the use of substances. These new understandings can help us to develop more effective prevention and intervention programs.	To register, add your name to this list of participants for this series of webinars. (The link will be active once we have set a date/time for the session.) To access the webinar, this Participants Link will be active about 15 minutes before the start of webinar. Come back to this page and click on the link at that time. We usually prepare background materials for each webinar and they will be posted on this web page. Subsequent to each webinar, we activate this link to the recorded webinar and/or slide presentations.
TBC (December 13 at 15;00 Ottawa/Washington time)	School and Community Prevention Specialists: Roles, Knowledge, Skills and Training The Council on Drug Abuse has expanded the number and scope of its online training program for youth addictions prevention counselors. The Canadian Addiction Counsellors Certification Federation (CACCF) has awarded the CODA Certified Education (CCE) program with the approval of providing training towards the ICPS (International Certified Prevention Specialist) certification designation and the ICADC (International Certified Alcohol and Drug Counsellor) certification designation. This session will describe the role that police officers, social workers, addictions workers and others can play in schools and communities as well as the skills and knowledge required.	To register, add your name to this list of participants for this series of webinars. (The link will be active once we have set a date/time for the session.) To access the webinar, this Participants Link will be active about 15 minutes before the start of webinar. Come back to this page and click on the link at that time. We usually prepare background materials for each webinar and they will be posted on this web page. Subsequent to each webinar, we activate this link to the recorded webinar and/or slide presentations.

Archive of Webinars and Web Meetings

dmccall — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 09:27:19 CST

This page contains links to the several webinars and web meetings thta have been organized by the Canadian Association for School Health as part of its facilitation of the CSH Knowledge Network. Our Association thanks the many speakers and contributors who have donated their time and expertise as well as our many funders and partners.

Date	Title/Speakers/Description	Access
February 1, 2012 15;00 (Ottawa/Washington time)	Complexity, Constant Change & Fidelity to a Developed Program, Practice or Approach in School Health Promotion Linda Dusenbury, Researcher, Author, Consultant in Substance Abuse Prevention & Teacher Development This topic is a critical issue when adopting or adapting an existing program that has worked well in another community. Participants will discuss thisbrief summary of fidelityas well as the implications of being faithful to an approach or a program while recognizing the need to usean ecological and systems-based approach. Related topics such as implementation quality, teacher development, the duration and intensity of the intervention, sustainability and others are likely to be discussed in this session. Sponsored by a SMH Consortium Project funded by the Mental Health Commission of Canada	Please register for this series of webinars/web meetings, even for viewing the recorded session. Add your name to thislist of participants Subsequent to each webinar, we activate this link to the recorded webinarand/or slide presentations.
December 8, 2011	Inter-agency Policies, Collaboration & Leadership in School Mental Health Debra Lean, Chief Psychologist, Dufferin-Peel Catholic School Board, Ontario Vincent Colucci, Dufferin-Peel Catholic School Board, Ontario An research-based model from Ontario, Canada will be presented. This unique School-based Integrated Student Support Model (SISSM), which, within the context of exceptional school leadership and instruction, provides a framework for timely and evidence-based integrated and collaborative services to reduce, manage, and prevent barriers to learning for all students. Specific aspects such as Inter-agency agreements, joint procedures and service plans and other will be discussed by participants in this session. Important pitfalls will be also identified, described and discussed in the instant message feature of the session. Following the session, Canadian success stories will subsequently be invited to present and discuss their experiences and to pool their collective experiences in the wiki-based summary that will be prepared as a follow up to the session. Sponsored by a SMH Consortium Project funded by the Mental Health Commission of Canada	To register, even for viewing the recorded session, please add your name to this list of participants for this series of webinars so that we can include you in future discussions. Subsequent to each webinar, we activate this link to the recorded webinar and/or slide presentation.
November 22, 2011	A Systems-based Approach and Systems Thinking in School Health Promotion: A Prerequisite for Integration with and within Education Systems Colleen Stanton, Consultant, Health Sustainable Systems, Ontario, Canada Bob Harper, Retired Superintendent of Education, York Region District School Ontario, Canada This session will begin with a presentation and discussion about a systems-based approach and proposed model for revising our basic strategies in promoting health and social development in schools. This model was developed through research and interviews with SH leaders from around the world. It suggests that there are three powerful influences on systems that enable ecological and systems-based approaches. They are empowering, shared and distributed styles of leadership, a culture of continuous learning and a recognition of the inter-relatedness of work and life. The second part of the session will provide an opportunity for participants to discuss a list of proposed topics for an International Discussion Group on integration with and within education systems.	To register, even for the recorded version, please add your name to this list of participants for this series of webinars so that we can include you in future discussions. Subsequent to each webinar, we activate this link to the recorded webinar and/or slide presentation
November 21, 2011	Capacity and Capacity Building in School Health Promotion: An Overview Carmen Aldinger, Education Development Center, Boston, USA Tena Hoyle, Superintendent, Des Moines Municipal Schools, New Mexico, USA This discussion discussed a definition of organizational capacity in SH promotion and then applied an eight-part WHO model of organizational capacity to define and discuss different types of operational capacities required at different levels in school, mental health and health promotion systems and agencies in order to sustain school mental health programs. Participants are asked to comment on a draft summary prepared for the World Encyclopedia on School Health, Safety, Equity, Social and Sustainable Development. Sponsored by a SMH Consortium Project funded by the Mental Health Commission of Canada	To register, even for the recorded version, add your name to this list of participants for this series of webinars so that we can include you in future discussions. Subsequent to each webinar, we activate this link to the recorded webinar and/or slide presentations. For this webinar, we recorded a separate interview with Dr. Aldinger. (Note: The interview is contained within the recording of the November 21 session and when viewing the recording, you will automatically be switched into that interview. However, we forgot to turn off the recorded in the larger meeting room, so there is no activity between the 56:55 and 1:23:55 minute times. Use the slider bar at the bottom of the page to advance the recording past the silent time and pick up the remainder of the session.)
September 29, 2011	Pre-Conference Webinar: *The Many Approaches to Human Development through Schools* This webinar was part of several sessions leading up to the Quebec, Canada and international school health conference held in Montreal on November 28-29, 2011 Web Tour: - Representatives of the many approaches to school health, safety, equity, social & social development will briefly identify their work and their planned webinar. (Go to the ISHN listing of approaches and synthesis of common success strategies) - Discussion of implications of ecological and systems-based approaches to working with schools including multi-level systems thinking, systems change, etc Introductions to conference themes and online discussions: - Integrating health & social development within education systems led by Peter Paulus (Leuphana University, Germany) and Ian Young (IUHPE) (Go to the online discussion of integration within education systems) - Addressing indigenous cultures and contexts led by Shirley Tagalik (National Collaborating Centre on Aboriginal Health, Canada) (Go to the Indigenous School Health framework)	Click here to access the digital recording of the session
September 15, 2011	Pre-conference Webinar: Social Media, Implementation/Capacity, Nutrition, Physical Activity, Teacher Education This webinar was part of several sessions leading up to the Quebec, Canada and international school health conference held in Montreal on November 28-29, 2011 Keynote: The Implications of Social Media on Youth, Schools & Health Promotion - Lawrence St. Leger (Honorary Professor, Deakin University, Australia) Introductions to conference themes and online discussions: - Implementation, Capacity, Sustainability & Systems Change led by Marthe Deschenes (Institut national de santé publigue du Québec) and Louise Rowling (University of Sydney, Australia) (Go to the invitation to online discussions about ICSSC)) - Promoting Equity, Addressing Disadvantage led by Dr. Michel Janosz (University of Montreal) and Dwayne Provo (Government of Nova Scotia, Canada) (See the invitation to online discussions on disadvantaged communities in high income countries) Applications in selected groupings of conference workshops - Nutrition & schools led by Mary McKenna (University of New Brunswick) (Go to the invitation to online discussions about nutrition and schools) - Physical Activity and Schools led by Trevor Shilton (Global Advocacy for Physical Activity) & Claire Blanchard (IUHPE) (Go to the invitation to online discussions on Physical Activity and Schools) - Teacher Education & Development led by Didier Jourdan (l’Institut universitaire de formation des maîtres d’Auvergne), Patricia Mannix McNamara(University of Limerick) and Helen Butler (Australian Catholic University) (Go to the invitation to online discussions on Teacher Education & Development in Health & Social Development)	Go this sub-page for links to the digital recording, slide presentations, on-line discussion and other resources suggested by the speakers and participants)
July 7, 2011	Towards an Applied Knowledge Development Agenda in School Substance Abuse Prevention Lesley Whyte, Council on Drug Abuse Douglas McCall, International School Health Network This session will review and discuss an extensive list of topics in school-based and school-linked substance abuse pre3vention with a view to selecting the items of more urgent or important concern. This discussion will be used by the Canadian SAP Community of Practice in organizing a workshop in November 2011 and in the development of an international series of webinars, web meetings and web-based summaries of evidence, experience and examples. The starting point will be thecall for contributorsto the World Encyclopedia on School Health, Safety & Social Development and the relatedBibliography/Toolbox of SAP research, reports and resources Free Access, Sponsored by a Health Canada project led by the Council on Drug Abuse	Click here to access thedigital recordingor slides of this web meeting discussion Click here to access thisweb page listing background and discussion materialsfor this webinar or web meeting.
July 6, 7:00 am (ET)	Teacher Education & Development in Health, Personal and Social Development Education (Including Sexual Health) Patricia Mannix McNamara, Faculty of Education and Health Sciences, University of Limerick, Ireland Sharon Moyihan, Graduate Student, University of Limerick, Ireland Fred Renihan, Centre for the Study of Educational Leadership & Policy, SFU Helen Butler,Australian Catholic University in Melbourne, Australia Health Promoting Schools Association This session will discuss how teachers can be better prepared to teach health education through their pre-service education in universities as well as in their induction into teaching and in-service training programs. Previous work funded by HC/PHAC in articulating the required competencies of health education teachers as well asa life-long teacher development modelas well as updated work currently underway will be used to develop the web-based summaries. This first session will discuss in the structures and processes by which teachers are trained in developed countries. Subsequent sessions will examine studies documenting teacher practices/ perceptions/concerns and the competencies relevant to teaching health and sexual health.	Click here to access these web pages listing background and discussion materials for this webinar or web meeting: Teacher Education & Development(Glossary Term) Stages & Structures in Teacher Education & Development: High Income Countries(Glossary Term) Models & Approaches to Teacher Education & Development(Glossary Term) Teacher Education & Development(Bibliography & Toolbox) Click here to access the digital recording or presentation slides of this web meeting discussion. This recording of our web meeting includes a recorded interviewwith Dr. Fred Renihan, retired school administrator, education faculty Dean and Assistant Deputy Minister, discussing how teacher education and development works in school systems. Note:Once you are "in" the recorded interview with Dr Renihan, your browser will keep you there until you exit that web page. The two recordings overlap at the beginning and you will hear two sets of voices. Simply stop or start one session or the other using the sliding bar controls at the bottom of the page to eliminate the overlap.(Sorry, we are still learning how to use this technology)
June 30, 9:00 am (PT)	Principles and Contextually/Culturally Relevant Programs/Practices to Prevent Substance Abuse among Aboriginal Youth This session will discuss how school-based and school-linked substance abuse programs can be developed and implemented in culturally relevant ways with the leadership and involvement of aboriginal students, schools and communities. Panel members will draw from several sources, including the Indigenous School Health framework developed by CASH in partnership with the NCC on Aboriginal School Health with leadership provided by indigenous nations, tribes and communities from around the world as well similar documents on empowering aboriginal youthandsupporting aboriginal families. Discussants will identify the key aspects of indigenous contexts and cultures that should be addressed in school substance abuse prevention programs. Free Access, Sponsored by a Health Canada project led by the Council on Drug Abuse	Click here to access the digital recording of the session. Click here to access this web page listing background and discussion materials for this webinar or web meeting.
June 21, 2011	Towards an Updated Comprehensive Model of School Sexual Health Promotion Jenny Owen, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK (Author of 2010 Health Technology Assessment ofschool-based and school-linked sexual health services) Jenny Walsh, Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society La Trobe University on the Australianwhole school framework This session will explore the different features of various statements, guidelines, models of comprehensive, coordinated and whole school frameworks for multiple interventions to promote sexual health. Although there are several recent international statements and guidelines on school sexual health education, there are few such descriptions of comprehensive, multi-intervention programs since they were first published in Canada and elsewhere in the 1990’s. Subsequent sessions will examine the evidence supporting multi-intervention programs in school sexual health promotion. Free Access, Sponsored by the Sexual Health & STI Section, Public Health Agency of Canada	Click here to access this web page listingbackground and discussion materialsfor this webinar or web meeting. Click here to access thedigital recordingor slides of this web meeting discussion
May 26, 2011	Understanding the Nature of Sexual Health of Canadian Youth Alex McKay, Sex Information and Education Council of Canada Jane Gauthier, Executive Director, Canadian Federation for Sexual Health Catherine Taylor (Author of LGBT Study for Egale Canada) TBD, Public Health Agency of Canada This session will discuss the need for a holistic understanding of sexual health and how we can work towards developing a portrait of the sexual health of Canadian youth. While recognizing that there will be gaps in our knowledge, the discussants in this webinar will respond to a draft written summary of the data and analyses of different aspects, factors and explanations of youth sexual health. Subsequent sessions will examine the needs of various sub-populations and determinants of sexual health. Free Access, Sponsored by the Sexual Health & STI Section, Public Health Agency of Canada	Click here to access this web page listing background and discussion materials for this webinar or web meeting. Click here to access the digital recording or slides of this web meeting discussion.
December 3, 2009	Establishing and Maintaining Effective Partnerships to Empower Aboriginal Youth Effective partnerships are considered to be a vital factor in providing enhanced services for Aboriginal youth. This webinar presentation will share many of the lessons learned along this often challenging pathway. Dr. Clare Crooks, CAMH Centre for Prevention Science and University of Western Ontario Helenka Jedrzejowski, Vancouver Coastal Health	Click here to access this web page listing background and discussion materials for this webinar or web meeting. Click here to access the digital recording or slides of this web meeting discussion.
November 26, 2009	Fostering Aboriginal Youth Empowerment to Make a Difference This session will describe youth empowerment and explain how it is fostered and then introduce a guest presenter from the Native Women's Association of Canada. Dr. Clare Crooks, CAMH Centre for Prevention Science and University of Western Ontario Pauline Huppie-Parsons, Native Women's Association of Canada	Click here to access this web page listing background and discussion materials for this webinar or web meeting. Click here to access the digital recording or slides of this web meeting discussion.
November 19, 2009	Increasing and Broadening Aboriginal Youth Engagement This session will focus on this principle and orient participants to this section of the toolkit for more information and strategies. Guest presenters from CRU (Connections and Resources for U) and from TERF (Transition and Education Resources for Females) share their successes and challenges. Claire Crooks, CAMH, University of Western Ontario Charlene Camillo, CAMH Centre for Prevention Science Tenille Thomson, CRU or Youth Launch/The Centre of Excellence for Youth Engagement CRU or Youth Kesha Laroque, CRU or Youth Launch/The Centre of Excellence for Youth Engagement Christy Mcdonald, TERF Program, New Directions	Click here to access this web page listing background and discussion materials for this webinar or web meeting. Click here to access the digital recording or slides of this web meeting discussion.
November 12, 2009	Integrating Cultural Identity into Aboriginal Youth Programs This session will introduce participants to strategies which encourage and facilitate the integration of cultural identity with aboriginal youth. Dr. Crooks will introduce the topic and the guest presenter, Shelley Cardinal will provide a Case Study approach sharing successes and challenges of the program: "Walking the Prevention Circle" Dr. Claire Crooks, CAMH Centre for Prevention Science and University of Western Ontario Shelley Cardinal, Aboriginal Consultant, RespectEd, Violence and Abuse Prevention, Canadian Red Cross	Click here to access this web page listing background and discussion materials for this webinar or web meeting. Click here to access the digital recording or slides of this web meeting discussion.
November 3, 2009	Using Strength-based Approaches with Aboriginal Youth A strength based approach is critical for Aboriginal youth. The Canadian historical context is taken into account in a way that necessitates shifting perceived deficits away from youth and the focus instead is on the resilience many of these youth have demonstrated. An overall orientation to the webinar series will be provided. Dr. Claire Crooks, CAMH Centre for Prevention Science and University of Western Ontario Shirley Tagalik, Educational Consultant, Inukpaulaq Consulting and Chair of the Canadian Association for School Health Aboriginal Community of Practice.	Click here to access this web page listing background and discussion materials for this webinar or web meeting. Click here to access the digital recording or slides of this web meeting discussion.
November 3, 2009	Kids and Drugs: Critical Connections which Count! The Fourth R program and "Kids and Drugs: A Parent's Guide to Prevention" program Tami Reid, Provincial Prevention Consultant, Addiction Prevention, Alberta S.Sgt. Ian Anderson, RCMP Shanna Burns, Research Assistant and Educational Coordinator, CAMH Centre for Prevention Science This Webinar will provide information on two programs which look beyond the classroom for those connections which profoundly impact risk behaviours: The Fourth R (Relationships) from CAMH- Centre for Prevention Science, and Kids and Drugs: A Parent’s Guide to Prevention created as a joint project of Alberta Health Services-AADAC and the RCMP Drugs and Organized Crime Awareness Service.	Click here to access this web page listing background and discussion materials for this webinar or web meeting. This webinar was part of a series of SAP webinars and papers on implementation and capacity issues. Click here to access the digital recording or slides of this web meeting discussion.
October 27, 2009	A Question of Influence: Challenges and Successes of a Nova Scotia School-based Substance Abuse Prevention Program and the Revised DARE Program James Shedden, Prevention Coordinator, Addiction Services, Nova Scotia Health Promotion & Protection S.Sgt. Bob Hall, Drug & Organized Crime Awareness Service Provincial Coordinator "E" Division Office, RCMP This Webinar will provide information on both the programs and the challenges of and preparation for implementation of the RCMP DARE “Keeping it Real” program as well as Nova Scotia’s Substance Abuse prevention program: “A Question of Influence”. A Question of Influence is being evaluated as it is being implemented and James will share information about how implementation is going. This Curriculum is available on-line and downloadable free for educators.	Click here to access this web page listing background and discussion materials for this webinar or web meeting. This webinar was part of a series of SAP webinars and papers on implementation and capacity issues. Click here to access the digital recording or slides of this web meeting discussion.
October 22, 2009	Strengthening Families and Families and Schools Together (FAST) Susan Lalonde Rankin, RN, BScN, MHSc, Program Consultant, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Penetanguishene, ON Bonnie Polych, Program Consultant, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Niagara Region Patricia Jones, MSW, RSW, Director of Operations, Catholic Family Service, Calgary, AB Lisa Harris, Supervisor, F&ST and F&STWORKS, Catholic Family Service of Calgary, AB Strengthening Families Program is a nationally and internationally recognized parenting and family strengthening program for high risk families. SFP is an evidence-based family skills training program found to significantly reduce problem behaviors, delinquency, and alcohol and drug abuse in children and to improve social competencies and school performance. Families and Schools Together (F&ST) is a multi-family group intervention designed to build protective factors for children (4 to 12 years old) and empower parents to be the primary prevention agents for their own children. This presentation will share both information from the programs and also the challenges and successes of implementation.	Click here to access this web page listing background and discussion materials for this webinar or web meeting. This webinar was part of a series of SAP webinars and papers on implementation and capacity issues. Click here to access the digital recording or slides of this web meeting discussion.
April 28, 2009	Roots of Empathy & a Safe and Caring Schools Related Initiative from Newfoundland: This webinar featured the national program Roots of Empathy, an evidence-based classroom program that has shown dramatic effect in reducing levels of aggression among school children by raising social/emotional competence and increasing empathy and ii) from the Government of Newfoundland, Meeting Behavioural Challenges - Creating Safe and Caring Learning Environments developed to support implementation of positive behaviour support. Information to be addressed on this webinar include: their respective research base and ongoing evaluation efforts, factors for successful implementation and the organizations' future plans for supporting these programs. Fiona Scott, Director of Research, Roots of Empathy Bernie Ottenheimer, Safe and Caring Schools Coordinator, NF Department of Education	Click here to access this web page listing background and discussion materials for this webinar or web meeting. This webinar was part of a series of SAP webinars and papers on implementation and capacity issues. Click here to access the digital recording or slides of this web meeting discussion.
April 22nd, 2009	Instructional SAP Programs: Take Action & Skills for Adolescence Katie Glover, Projects Leader, The Ontario Physical and Health Education Association (OPHEA) Lindsay Davies, Project coordinator (OPHEA) Joanne McQuiggan, Executive Director “Thrive! The Canadian Centre for Positive Youth Development” (home of Lions Quest Programs in Canada) This webinar features Take Action (from the Ontario Physical and Health Education Association in partnership with the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health) and Skills for Adolescence (from Thrive! The Canadian Centre for Positive Youth Development and Lion's Quest). Information to be addressed on this webinar include: the program’s research base and ongoing evaluation efforts, factors for successful implementation and the organizations' future plans for supporting these programs.	Click here to access this web page listing background and discussion materials for this webinar or web meeting. This webinar was part of a series of SAP webinars and papers on implementation and capacity issues. Click here to access the digital recording or slides of this web meeting discussion.
April 2008	Understanding Sexually Transmitted Infections: The Canadian Context Alex McKay, Sex Education and Information Council of Canada This webinar presented an overview of STI's among young people in Canada. Sponsored by the Society of Obstetricians & Gynaecologists of Canada as part of their Contraception Awareness Program.	Click here to access a copy of the slide presentation.
	Rethinking Drug Education Dan Reist, Centre for Addictions Research of BC, University of Victoria Participants in this workshop will increase their understanding of evidence-informed approaches to alcohol and other drug education in schools, as well as increase their faith in the utility of addressing alcohol and other drug education through schools. A constructivist education program promoting mental health literacy and social and emotional competence is currently being piloted in 8 B.C. school districts, and early information on this project will be shared.	Click here to access this web page listing background and discussion materials for this webinar or web meeting. Click here to access the digital recording or slides of this web meeting discussion.
	What's With Weed?: A Program to Reduce Problematic Marijuana Use in Secondary School Pat Sanagan, Health Promotion Consultant for Parent Action on Drugs Diane Buhler, Parent Action on Drugs (PAD). The two presenters will compare youth perceptions of marijuana risks to scientific data on risks and from there look at current research which highlights ways to address these risks. One positive response is the “What’s With Weed” program. Lessons learned along the way of implementation of this program will be shared. Information will also be presented about the What’s With Weed? Sponsoring organization called Parent Action on Drugs (PAD).	Click here to access this web page listing background and discussion materials for this webinar or web meeting. Click here to access the digital recording or slides of this web meeting discussion.
March 4, 2008	Beyond “the talk” - Ingredients for Quality Sexual Health Education Jennifer Gibson, Island Sexual Health Society, and Kelli Dilworth from the Canadian Federation for Sexual Health Sponsored by the Society of Obstetricians & Gynaecologists of Canada as part of their Contraception Awareness Program.	Click here to access a copy of the slide presentation
	Beyond Suspension: Changing student behaviour through an alternative to Drug and Alcohol suspensions Angela Lawrence, District Behaviour Consultant, Child & Youth Counsellor, School District # 73, B.C. The evidence is clear that "punishment" often entrenches student behaviour and doesn't change it. Programs which provide support with consequences have a much increased success rate at producing positive change. Participants in this Webinar will learn about success rates occurring through the "Directed Suspension Program" of School District # 73, Thompson-Kamloops through the use of an off-site program which includes community service work and brief interventions-brief assessments. A theoretical underpinning of a "model of change" is the basis of this program and will be reviewed as part of the presentation.	Click here to access this web page listing background and discussion materials for this webinar or web meeting. Click here to access the digital recording or slides of this web meeting discussion.
	Brief Interventions in Substance Abuse Prevention: Working with Aboriginal and Bi-Cultural Youth Dr. Nancy Comeau, Dalhousie University, N.S. Brian McLeod, Strongheart Teaching Lodge, Winnipeg, MAN Evidence indicates that effective approaches to problematic substance abuse prevention for Aboriginal students should use a bi-cultural competence approach to equip students with skills to cope effectively in mainstream and Aboriginal cultures. This approach calls for ongoing trust-building and collaboration between schools, public health, and Elders, and other respected Aboriginal leaders. Drawing on the range of factors affecting program effectiveness, this webinar situates the themes of cultural identity and culture and diversity as core understandings central to school-based and school-linked prevention of problematic substance use among Aboriginal youth.	Click here to access this web page listing background and discussion materials for this webinar or web meeting. Click here to access the digital recording or slides of this web meeting discussion. Please note, we had audio difficulties between 8 min.to 11 minutes. You can move the recording forward past that time by using the slider at the bottom of the screen.To access the recording click on the URL :
February 28, 2008	Handling Controversy & Dispelling Myths in Sexual Health Education Roselle Paulsen, Sexuality Education Resource Centre, Winnipeg, Manitoba Cathi Johnston, Family Life Teacher, School District 83, BC Sponsored by the Society of Obstetricians & Gynaecologists of Canada as part of their Contraception Awareness Program	Click here to access a copy of the slide presentation Click here to access a list of background materials and resources.
February 27, 2008	Strengthening Families for the Future”: A Prevention Program for At-Risk Children 7 to 11 and their Parents Jane Fjeld, Centre for Addiction & Mental Health	Click here to access this web page listing background and discussion materials for this webinar or web meeting. Click here to access the digital recording or slides of this web meeting discussion.
February 27/08	Unheard Voices: Ethno-Racial Minority Youth Speak Out about Sexuality Sara Stephens, MaNITOBA Sexuality Education Resource Centre	Click here to access this web page listing background and discussion materials for this webinar or web meeting. Click here to access the digital recording or slides of this web meeting discussion.
February 21, 2008	Mental Health and Secondary Students Catherine Willinsky, Project Manager, “Mental Health in High School Project”, Canadian Mental Health Association Dr. Stan Kutcher, Professor of Psychiatry and Associate Dean of International Medicine, Dalhousie University	Click here to access this web page listing background and discussion materials for this webinar or web meeting. Click here to access the digital recording or slides of this web meeting discussion.
February 19, 2008	School Based Health Clinics: Supporting the Health of Our Kids Professor Donald B. Langille, Community Health & Epidemiology Faculty of Medicine, Dalhousie University	Click here to access this web page listing background and discussion materials for this webinar or web meeting. Click here to access the digital recording or slides of this web meeting discussion.
February 14, 2008	Policy to Prevent: Recommended School & District Policy for Substance Abuse Prevention Doug McCall, Executive Director, Canadian Association School Health, Dr. Fred Renihan, Simon Fraser University, former School District Superintendent The presenters made these key points. See the attached slide presentation for details. Policy is both an analytical tool, indicating progress being made by an organization toward a braod goal, as well as an action tool that can redirect resources, redefine staff priorities and roles and create new expectations for the organization Policy by itself, can have a positive impact, but it is far more effective to combine policy changes withy other elements of a comprehensive approach and coordinated programs in areas such as instruction, health/police/mental health services, soical environment and physical environment/resources Policies on substance abuse and other addictions are directly related to a variety of policy issues for schools and other agencies. (eg schools need to consider their policies on topics such as mental health, tobacco use, youth crime, student health services, parent involvement, youth engagement, etc. Police agencies need to consider issues such as community policing, youth engagement, restorative justice, youth criminal procedures etc) School Health policies are established noy onl;y by schools but also by other agencies. They are also established as three levels within those systems including professional roles/assignments, local agencies/police departments and government ministries Policy making is not simply adopting a policy on paper. It is a cyclical process that includes consultations, adoption, implementation, evaluation and evolution (The presentation has several suggestions for each of these stages) There are several preconditions for successful policy-making. These include a shared vision, attainable objectives, skills among staff, incentives, resources and an action plan There are four cornerstones to school health policy-making including having a policy on policy-making, a policy on Comprehensive School Health, poliices on the different elements of a comprehensive approach such as health education to be provided by schools or health services provided by agencies, and polices on several aspects of the health problem There are several specific aspects of substance abuse that need to be covered in policy (See the presentation) There are some key inter-agency policy issues to be considered. For example, ensuiring that there are alternatives to simply suspending students from school requires action from social services, police, mental health agencies and police as well as the school system.	Click here to access this web page listing background and discussion materials for this webinar or web meeting. Click here to access the digital recording or slides of this web meeting discussion.
February 12, 2008	What Works in School-based Substance Abuse Prevention: A Review of the Evidence Gary Roberts, Consultant, Author of CASH Knowledge Summary on School Substance Abuse Prevention	Click here to access this web page listing background and discussion materials for this webinar or web meeting. Click here to access the digital recording or slides of this web meeting discussion.
February 7, 2008	Talking to Youth about Mental Illness?: The TAMI (Talking about Mental Illness) Program Helps Bob Heeney, Chair, Durham TAMI Coalition, Community Education Consultant, Whitby Mental Health Centre, Christina Papadopoulo, B.Sc. Hon.(Pysch) Coordinator - Community Health Promotion & Public Relations Canadian Mental Health Association – Durham, John Dick, TAMI Speaker Coordinator and Speaker.	Click here to access this web page listing background and discussion materials for this webinar or web meeting. Click here to access the digital recording or slides of this web meeting discussion.
	The New Mentality -- Ready...Set...Engage! How to create a dynamic and sustainable network to raise awareness of child and youth mental health issues and reduce the stigma associated with them Erin Smith, Youth Engagement Coordinator, The Provincial Centre of Excellence for Child and Youth Mental Health at CHEO Nancy Pereira, Communications and Events Coordinator, The New Mentality (Joint Program of Children's Mental Health Ontario and The Provincial Centre of Excellence for Child and Youth Mental Health at CHEO). The question of “why” engage youth is easily understood in relation to “how”. In this webinar, participants will be introduced to the principles of youth engagement and learn effective strategies for getting youth engaged and keeping them interested. In addition, you will learn about The New Mentality project and the process that was taken to create a provincial network of youth. Effective strategies and lessons learned by the team will be discussed in an attempt to assist other professionals in starting their own youth engagement initiatives.	Click here to access this web page listing background and discussion materials for this webinar or web meeting. Click here to access the digital recording or slides of this web meeting discussion.

CSH Updates, News & Research Blog, CSH Conferences, Events Calendar

dmccall — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 13:23:02 CST

This page acts as a focal point for Canadian school health news. It includes blog, news from the CSH Knowledge Network, announcements about our and other conferences, a customized search engine and more.

Our Blog:

The blog is used for announcements sent to the 2500 members of the CSH Knowledge Network. It is updated weekly (see below) and new pages are created each month, while storing the previous months in our archive. We track Canadian news and research and post brief references on this page with web links. All of these items are published in our quarterly newsletter, Knowledge Matters. The blog is also fed by a Twitter-based newsfeed that can be embedded in your web site. Find the code and instructions for your tech person in this attached document. Contact info@cash-aces.ca to learn how this feature can be be used to attract visitors to your web site.

We encourage visitors to this page to post news items in a one sentence format (see below for examples). Use the "Easy Edit" tool at the top of the page to open up the page for editing. Don't worry, all previous versions of the page are stored, so we can't lose anything if you have any trouble. (We reserve the right to edit the posts.) Please keep your announcements as brief as possible and create links to other web sites so that wiki members can go there for more information.

CSH Events Calendar

We also encourage visitors to this web site and CSH Network members to post their events in our CSH Events Calendar. Simply go to that page to learn how to post your announcements..

CSH Knowledge Network News

Don't forget to read the latest news from the CSH Knowledge Network. The postings provide updates from our several Communities of Practice as well as various national projects and conferences. See our our CASH Conferences section for news about upcoming conferences as well as an archive of our previous annual conferences.

Customized Search Engine for Canadian CSH News

Use our Google customized search engine for Canadian newspapers.

Announcements

New Features on www.canadianschoolhealth.ca In our continuing effort to use technology effectively, we have added a couple of features to the web site. These include:

Enabling the chairs of our Communities of Practice to communicate with CoP members through designated “friends” lists within the membership of the web site
Adding Instant Message boxes onto a “Drop-In - Office Hours” page in the web site. During next school year, we will designate times, topics and resource people that will be available to answer questions through private or public IM messages or to drop into an informal “web meeting” using our webinar platform. And, yes, we will also be available by telephone during those “office hours”. Indeed, the page also includes links to a VOIP-based telephone system where anyone can call us free from anywhere in Canada.
Designated Twitter account tracking a topic. In cooperation with the International School Health Network, we have established a web page within the Mental Health CoP section of the web site that posts the very latest research on schools & mental health. If you would like to access the information more frequently than that, you can follow the ISHN Twitter Newsfeed on School Mental Health from your own Twitter account.

How to Use the Tools in this Wiki

Learn how to "watch" and "unwatch" pages in this wiki by viewing this brief video. (Or, read these detailed instructions on managing your account from Wetpaint
Learn more about how to edit, add and move pages as well as make comments within this wiki in our video/web tour. (Or, read these detailed instructions on using "Easy Edit" to change the text on pages, or how to create, move or work with pages.)

Canadian SH News and Research from January 2012

Follow us on Twitter at: shinsider_canad. Want to display the latest CSH tweets on your web site by using our "widget" (see what it looks like in this example). To publish it on your web site, simply have your web person copy and paste the code from this attached document into a frame on your web page. If you want to customize the colour and size of this widget, then contact dmccall@cash-aces.ca

Canadian News and News in Canadian Media, Announcements, Reports	Canadian Research & Resources
News Story (Jan 31-12) Nunavut had near record-high suicides in 2011 http://ow.ly/1FlNll News Release (Jan 31-12) Can Cochrane & NAHO sign agreement http://ow.ly/1FlGrj News Story (Jan 30-12) Extreme tuberculosis raises alarms in Canada http://ow.ly/1FlMyE News Story (Jan 30-12) Study confirms value of close friendships to health http://ow.ly/1FlLWc News Story (Jan 30-12) Parents need to talk more to kids about drugs: Survey http://ow.ly/1FlLAP News Story (Jan 30-12) Yukon youth want more support for drugs, alcohol addiction http://ow.ly/1FlJ1V News Release (Jan 30-12) International Development Week (Canada) http://ow.ly/1FlGXf News Story (Jan 29-12) Student’s anti-bullying video receives rave reviews from Lady Gaga http://ow.ly/1FlFoc News Story (Jan 27-12) Ontario Catholic trustees prefer ‘Respecting Differences’ clubs to gay-straight alliances http://ow.ly/1FjyTP News Story (Jan 28-12) Ontario Catholic Trustees compromise on gay clubs http://ow.ly/1FjxP3 News Story (Jan 28-12) Ontario Catholic Schools: 'Respecting differences' guidelines just don't respect differences http://ow.ly/1Fjxtl News Story (Jan 26-12) Gay-straight alliances become Respecting Differences clubs in Ontario Catholic Schools http://ow.ly/1Fjusb News Story (Jan 26-11) Do overweight kids need protection? http://ow.ly/1Fjsyd News Story (Jan 22-12) Newfoundland Education resource to support gay-straight alliances in schools http://ow.ly/1Fjq9m News Story (Jan 20-12) Community Service Group Hillel starts new group for gay students in Toronto http://ow.ly/1FjmZS News Story (Jan 20-12) Encouraging gay-straight groups not enough, says Newfoundland teen http://ow.ly/1FjoBE News Story (Jan 19-12) Newfoundland Education department promoting gay-straight alliances http://ow.ly/1FjkP3 News Story (Jan 15-12) In Canada, unlike the U.S., the American dream on economic mobility lives on http://ow.ly/1Fo30J Conference 15th Annual Safe Schools Conference Toronto Feb 16, 2012 http://ow.ly/1Fjk1Z News Story (Jan 23-12) First Nations gathering to grapple with education gap http://ow.ly/1EHTvb News Story (Jan 23-12) Obese teen girls more likely to be bullies: StudyOverweight boys often victimized http://ow.ly/1EHSQv News Story (Jan 18-12) Yukon Liquor corporation pours money into teen safety program http://www.whitehorsestar.com/archive/story/liquor-corporation-pours-money-into-teen-safety-program/ News Story (Jan 18-12) Students take aim at two Vancouver school trustees in Facebook fight over LGBT student rights http://ow.ly/1FjiT0 Editorial (Jan 18-12) Hamiltoon Catholic Board Gay-straight alliance position is wrong http://ow.ly/1Fji2s News Story (Jan 17-12) Toronto specialized schools reignites debate http://ow.ly/1Fjell News Story (Jan 17-12) Hamiltion Catholic Board says no to so-called ‘gay-straight alliances’ http://ow.ly/1FjaE3 Ed Resource A Parent's Guide to Immunization (Canada) http://ow.ly/1EHRhK Web Site Canadian Network for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health http://ow.ly/1EHxh4 News Story (Jan 17-12) Three Nova Scotia schools on lock down after weapons report http://ow.ly/1Ebu8C News Story (Jan 16-12) PM urges premiers to put health funding issue aside http://ow.ly/1EbjeW News Story (Jan 17-12) Postponing parenthood could have serious consequences, warns new study http://ow.ly/1EbiWj News Story (Jan 17-12) IWK Dalhousie to hold Sessions to support grieving kids, teens http://ow.ly/1EbhgU News Story (Jan 17-12) US obesity epidemic shows no signs of reversing course, reports on kids and adults show http://ow.ly/1Ebh5T News Story (Jan 17-12) De jeunes Innus drogués à 7 ans http://www.cyberpresse.ca/actualites/quebec-canada/national/201201/16/01-4486516-de-jeunes-innus-drogues-a-7-ans.php News Story (Jan 17-12) Premiers announce health innovation working group http://ow.ly/1Ebgjw News Story (Jan 16-12) Windsor Ontario Catholic board absenteeism costs millionshttp://ow.ly/1EbfXu News Story (Jan 15-12) Substance Abuse Prevention Program puts youth back on track http://www.vernonmorningstar.com/community/137318033.html Editorial (Jan 15-12) The crusade against cupcakes – and common sense http://ow.ly/1Eb7MB News Story (Jan 17-12) First Nations to raise 'bread and butter issues' with Crown http://ow.ly/1Eb7wv News Story (Jan 17-12) Junk food in schools not making kids fat: Study http://ow.ly/1Eb79Q News Story (Jan 12-12) Dangerous mould levels displace students at Montreal elementary school http://ow.ly/1Eb6OW Conference Safe Schools Saskatoon Mar 22-23, 2012 http://ow.ly/1E7AoB News Story (Jan 12-12) Two Vancouver school trustees want to be removed from campaign against gay marriage http://ow.ly/1E7yuv News Story (Jan 9-12) Manitoba schools awarded safety grants http://ow.ly/1E7vfw News Story (Jan 6-12) Lions screen kids’ hearing, vision in Whidbey, Ontario http://ow.ly/1E7up9 News Story (Jan 5-12) Gay-straight clubs at NDCHS (Ontario High School) on hold pending bully bill passage http://ow.ly/1E7sVu News Story (Jan 12-12) Ottawa urged to play bigger Health Accord role http://ow.ly/1E6aqu News Story (Jan 12-12) Internet addiction becomes more than a buzzword http://ow.ly/1E60S3 News Story (Jan 11-12) Toronto Mayor to start public fitness challenge, target Calgary mayor http://ow.ly/1E5Z81 News Story (Jan 11-12) Treating depression can help economy: Study http://ow.ly/1E5Uhb Report Canadian public policy and child and youth health (CPA) http://ow.ly/1DSTRx News Story (Jan 5-12) Student health affected by location http://ow.ly/1DSTmj News Story (Jan 11-12) Cyberbullying a problem around the globe: Poll http://ow.ly/1Ebii3 Report Early Years Study Three (Canada) http://ow.ly/1DSOdN Research Report Interventions for Substance Abuse Treatment, Harm Reduction, Prevention (Health Canada) http://ow.ly/1DRmWg Policy Doc Honouring Our Strengths – A Renewed Framework to Address Substance Use in First Nations People in Canada http://ow.ly/1DRm9V News Story (Jan 9-12) 'Obesity' a dirty word when discussing body weight: Study http://ow.ly/1DHZSY News Story (Jan 9-12) Medical report cards go to 10th graders in New Brunswick High School http://ow.ly/1DHZfG News Release (Jan 5-12) Canada has committed to the Millennium Development Goals through a number of major initiatives http://ow.ly/1DHHYR News Story (Jan 6-12) Ontario moving ahead with $50-billion tobacco suit http://ow.ly/1DHF5Z News Story (Jan 6-12) Canadian MDs push for national standards in health reformRead more: http://ow.ly/1DHusx http://ow.ly/1DHusC	Xiu Yun Wu,Arto Ohinmaaand Paul J Veugelers (2012) Diet quality, physical activity, body weight and health related quality of life among grade 5 students in Canada Public Health Nutrition/Volume 15/Issue 01, pp 75 - 81 Jeffrey Q.Bostic, Alexa L.Bagnell (2012) Evidence-Based School Psychiatry Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Clinics of North America Volume 21, Issue 1, Pages xiii-xvi, Yifeng Wei, Stan Kutcher (2012) International School Mental Health: Global Approaches, Global Challenges, and Global Opportunities Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Clinics of North America Volume 21, Issue 1, 11-27 Darcy A. Santor, Alexa L. Bagnell (2012) Maximizing the Uptake and Sustainability of School-Based Mental Health Programs: Commercializing Knowledge, Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Clinics of North America Volume 21, Issue 1, 81-92 Articles in Issue #1, 2012 of Canadian Journal of Psychiatry Obesity and Mental Health—A Complicated and Complex Relation Beyond Pharmacotherapy: Understanding the Links Between Obesity and Chronic Mental Illness Ten Years of Antipsychotic Prescribing to Children: A Canadian Population-Based Study Patricia G. Erickson,Lana Harrison,Steven Cook,Marie-Marthe Cousineau,Edward M Adlaf (2012) A comparative study of the influence of collective efficacy on substance use among adolescent students in Philadelphia, Toronto, and Montreal Addiction Research & Theory Feb 2012, Vol. 20, No. 1: 11–20. Sarah E. Browning (2012) Neighborhood, School, and Family Effects on the Frequency of Alcohol Use Among Toronto Youth Substance Use & Misuse Jan 2012, Vol. 47, No. 1: 31–43. Articles in Issue #1, 2012 of Paediatrics & Child Health Evaluation and management of children and adolescents with sports-related concussion Skiing and snowboarding injury prevention Boxing participation by children and adolescents Cardiovascular risk factors, diet and lifestyle among European, South Asian and Chinese adolescents in Canada Rachel Heydon, Rosamund Stooke (2012) Border work: Teachers’ expressions of their literacy-related professional development needs in a First Nations school Teaching & teacher Education Volume 28, Issue 1 11-20 Freedman KS, Nelson NM, Feldman LL. (2012) Smoking initiation among young adults in the United States and Canada, 1998-2010: a systematic review. Prev Chronic Dis2012;9:110037. Web Site Safe Schools Hamiltion Ontario http://ow.ly/1E7poK Webinar Blackboard Collaborate (TM) for Speakers http://ow.ly/1E6q30 Ed Resource A Parent's Guide to Immunization (Canada) http://ow.ly/1EHRhK Policy and Ed Resources - Tobacco-Canada http://www.hpclearinghouse.ca/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/TobaccoControl1.pdf

Canadian News and News in Canadian Media, Announcements, Reports

Canadian Research & Resources

News Story (Jan 31-12) Nunavut had near record-high suicides in 2011 http://ow.ly/1FlNll

News Release (Jan 31-12) Can Cochrane & NAHO sign agreement http://ow.ly/1FlGrj

News Story (Jan 30-12) Extreme tuberculosis raises alarms in Canada http://ow.ly/1FlMyE

News Story (Jan 30-12) Study confirms value of close friendships to health http://ow.ly/1FlLWc

News Story (Jan 30-12) Parents need to talk more to kids about drugs: Survey http://ow.ly/1FlLAP

News Story (Jan 30-12) Yukon youth want more support for drugs, alcohol addiction http://ow.ly/1FlJ1V

News Release (Jan 30-12) International Development Week (Canada) http://ow.ly/1FlGXf

News Story (Jan 29-12) Student’s anti-bullying video receives rave reviews from Lady Gaga http://ow.ly/1FlFoc

News Story (Jan 27-12) Ontario Catholic trustees prefer ‘Respecting Differences’ clubs to gay-straight alliances http://ow.ly/1FjyTP

News Story (Jan 28-12) Ontario Catholic Trustees compromise on gay clubs http://ow.ly/1FjxP3

News Story (Jan 28-12) Ontario Catholic Schools: 'Respecting differences' guidelines just don't respect differences http://ow.ly/1Fjxtl

News Story (Jan 26-12) Gay-straight alliances become Respecting Differences clubs in Ontario Catholic Schools http://ow.ly/1Fjusb

News Story (Jan 26-11) Do overweight kids need protection? http://ow.ly/1Fjsyd

News Story (Jan 22-12) Newfoundland Education resource to support gay-straight alliances in schools http://ow.ly/1Fjq9m

News Story (Jan 20-12) Community Service Group Hillel starts new group for gay students in Toronto http://ow.ly/1FjmZS

News Story (Jan 20-12) Encouraging gay-straight groups not enough, says Newfoundland teen http://ow.ly/1FjoBE

News Story (Jan 19-12) Newfoundland Education department promoting gay-straight alliances http://ow.ly/1FjkP3

News Story (Jan 15-12) In Canada, unlike the U.S., the American dream on economic mobility lives on http://ow.ly/1Fo30J

Conference 15th Annual Safe Schools Conference Toronto Feb 16, 2012 http://ow.ly/1Fjk1Z

News Story (Jan 23-12) First Nations gathering to grapple with education gap http://ow.ly/1EHTvb

News Story (Jan 23-12) Obese teen girls more likely to be bullies: StudyOverweight boys often victimized http://ow.ly/1EHSQv

News Story (Jan 18-12) Yukon Liquor corporation pours money into teen safety program http://www.whitehorsestar.com/archive/story/liquor-corporation-pours-money-into-teen-safety-program/

News Story (Jan 18-12) Students take aim at two Vancouver school trustees in Facebook fight over LGBT student rights http://ow.ly/1FjiT0

Editorial (Jan 18-12) Hamiltoon Catholic Board Gay-straight alliance position is wrong http://ow.ly/1Fji2s

News Story (Jan 17-12) Toronto specialized schools reignites debate http://ow.ly/1Fjell

News Story (Jan 17-12) Hamiltion Catholic Board says no to so-called ‘gay-straight alliances’ http://ow.ly/1FjaE3

Ed Resource A Parent's Guide to Immunization (Canada) http://ow.ly/1EHRhK

Web Site Canadian Network for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health http://ow.ly/1EHxh4

News Story (Jan 17-12) Three Nova Scotia schools on lock down after weapons report http://ow.ly/1Ebu8C

News Story (Jan 16-12) PM urges premiers to put health funding issue aside http://ow.ly/1EbjeW

News Story (Jan 17-12) Postponing parenthood could have serious consequences, warns new study http://ow.ly/1EbiWj

News Story (Jan 17-12) IWK Dalhousie to hold Sessions to support grieving kids, teens http://ow.ly/1EbhgU

News Story (Jan 17-12) US obesity epidemic shows no signs of reversing course, reports on kids and adults show http://ow.ly/1Ebh5T

News Story (Jan 17-12) De jeunes Innus drogués à 7 ans http://www.cyberpresse.ca/actualites/quebec-canada/national/201201/16/01-4486516-de-jeunes-innus-drogues-a-7-ans.php

News Story (Jan 17-12) Premiers announce health innovation working group http://ow.ly/1Ebgjw

News Story (Jan 16-12) Windsor Ontario Catholic board absenteeism costs millionshttp://ow.ly/1EbfXu

News Story (Jan 15-12) Substance Abuse Prevention Program puts youth back on track http://www.vernonmorningstar.com/community/137318033.html

Editorial (Jan 15-12) The crusade against cupcakes – and common sense http://ow.ly/1Eb7MB

News Story (Jan 17-12) First Nations to raise 'bread and butter issues' with Crown http://ow.ly/1Eb7wv

News Story (Jan 17-12) Junk food in schools not making kids fat: Study http://ow.ly/1Eb79Q

News Story (Jan 12-12) Dangerous mould levels displace students at Montreal elementary school http://ow.ly/1Eb6OW

Conference Safe Schools Saskatoon Mar 22-23, 2012 http://ow.ly/1E7AoB

News Story (Jan 12-12) Two Vancouver school trustees want to be removed from campaign against gay marriage http://ow.ly/1E7yuv

News Story (Jan 9-12) Manitoba schools awarded safety grants http://ow.ly/1E7vfw

News Story (Jan 6-12) Lions screen kids’ hearing, vision in Whidbey, Ontario http://ow.ly/1E7up9

News Story (Jan 5-12) Gay-straight clubs at NDCHS (Ontario High School) on hold pending bully bill passage http://ow.ly/1E7sVu

News Story (Jan 12-12) Ottawa urged to play bigger Health Accord role http://ow.ly/1E6aqu

News Story (Jan 12-12) Internet addiction becomes more than a buzzword http://ow.ly/1E60S3

News Story (Jan 11-12) Toronto Mayor to start public fitness challenge, target Calgary mayor http://ow.ly/1E5Z81

News Story (Jan 11-12) Treating depression can help economy: Study http://ow.ly/1E5Uhb

Report Canadian public policy and child and youth health (CPA) http://ow.ly/1DSTRx

News Story (Jan 5-12) Student health affected by location http://ow.ly/1DSTmj

News Story (Jan 11-12) Cyberbullying a problem around the globe: Poll http://ow.ly/1Ebii3

Report Early Years Study Three (Canada) http://ow.ly/1DSOdN

Research Report Interventions for Substance Abuse Treatment, Harm Reduction, Prevention (Health Canada) http://ow.ly/1DRmWg

Policy Doc Honouring Our Strengths – A Renewed Framework to Address Substance Use in First Nations People in Canada http://ow.ly/1DRm9V

News Story (Jan 9-12) 'Obesity' a dirty word when discussing body weight: Study http://ow.ly/1DHZSY

News Story (Jan 9-12) Medical report cards go to 10th graders in New Brunswick High School http://ow.ly/1DHZfG

News Release (Jan 5-12) Canada has committed to the Millennium Development Goals through a number of major initiatives http://ow.ly/1DHHYR

News Story (Jan 6-12) Ontario moving ahead with $50-billion tobacco suit http://ow.ly/1DHF5Z

News Story (Jan 6-12) Canadian MDs push for national standards in health reformRead more: http://ow.ly/1DHusx http://ow.ly/1DHusC

Xiu Yun Wu,Arto Ohinmaaand Paul J Veugelers (2012) Diet quality, physical activity, body weight and health related quality of life among grade 5 students in Canada Public Health Nutrition/Volume 15/Issue 01, pp 75 - 81

Jeffrey Q.Bostic, Alexa L.Bagnell (2012) Evidence-Based School Psychiatry Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Clinics of North America Volume 21, Issue 1, Pages xiii-xvi,

Yifeng Wei, Stan Kutcher (2012) International School Mental Health: Global Approaches, Global Challenges, and Global Opportunities Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Clinics of North America Volume 21, Issue 1, 11-27

Darcy A. Santor, Alexa L. Bagnell (2012) Maximizing the Uptake and Sustainability of School-Based Mental Health Programs: Commercializing Knowledge, Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Clinics of North America Volume 21, Issue 1, 81-92

Articles in Issue #1, 2012 of Canadian Journal of Psychiatry

Obesity and Mental Health—A Complicated and Complex Relation
Beyond Pharmacotherapy: Understanding the Links Between Obesity and Chronic Mental Illness
Ten Years of Antipsychotic Prescribing to Children: A Canadian Population-Based Study

Patricia G. Erickson,Lana Harrison,Steven Cook,Marie-Marthe Cousineau,Edward M Adlaf (2012) A comparative study of the influence of collective efficacy on substance use among adolescent students in Philadelphia, Toronto, and Montreal Addiction Research & Theory Feb 2012, Vol. 20, No. 1: 11–20.

Sarah E. Browning (2012) Neighborhood, School, and Family Effects on the Frequency of Alcohol Use Among Toronto Youth Substance Use & Misuse Jan 2012, Vol. 47, No. 1: 31–43.

Articles in Issue #1, 2012 of Paediatrics & Child Health

Evaluation and management of children and adolescents with sports-related concussion
Skiing and snowboarding injury prevention
Boxing participation by children and adolescents
Cardiovascular risk factors, diet and lifestyle among European, South Asian and Chinese adolescents in Canada

Rachel Heydon, Rosamund Stooke (2012) Border work: Teachers’ expressions of their literacy-related professional development needs in a First Nations school Teaching & teacher Education Volume 28, Issue 1 11-20

Freedman KS, Nelson NM, Feldman LL. (2012) Smoking initiation among young adults in the United States and Canada, 1998-2010: a systematic review. Prev Chronic Dis2012;9:110037.

Web Site Safe Schools Hamiltion Ontario http://ow.ly/1E7poK

Webinar Blackboard Collaborate (TM) for Speakers http://ow.ly/1E6q30

Ed Resource A Parent's Guide to Immunization (Canada) http://ow.ly/1EHRhK

Policy and Ed Resources - Tobacco-Canada http://www.hpclearinghouse.ca/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/TobaccoControl1.pdf

December 2011

dmccall — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 09:40:39 CST

Canadian SH News and Research from December 2011

Follow us on Twitter at: shinsider_canad. Want to display the latest CSH tweets on your web site by using our "widget" (see what it looks like in this example). To publish it on your web site, simply have your web person copy and paste the code from this attached document into a frame on your web page. If you want to customize the colour and size of this widget, then contact dmccall@cash-aces.ca

Canadian News and News in Canadian Media, Announcements, Reports	Canadian Research & Resources
Article Health promotion in Canada: 25 years of unfulfilled promise (Health Promotion International) http://ow.ly/1DSaWT News Story (Dec 31-11) Canadian Minister fights back on crime bill proposed law not as depicted, Nicholson says http://ow.ly/1DRZ53 News Story (Dec 27-11) Ten thousand dead and counting: Ciudad Juarez, the Mexican city that’s deadlier than Afghanistan http://ow.ly/1DRZvv Webinar Series on Green Schools (Jan-March, 2012) http://ow.ly/1t0Kh3 Blog Post (Dec 28-11) 52 REASONS TO BE ACTIVE THROUGHOUT 2012 http://ow.ly/1D9xrG News Story (Dec 23-11) Why the wealthy are fat http://ow.ly/1D9pCV News Story (Dec 21-11) BC School has an appetite for lunch program http://ow.ly/1CQmDK News Story (Dec 23-11) Teen, mom debates may help resist peer pressure http://ow.ly/1CQlWw News Story (Dec 21-11) Lead in kids' jewelry prompts recall http://ow.ly/1CQesA News Story (Dec 16-11) Nasal flu vaccine better for kids than shot http://ow.ly/1CmBWr News Story (Dec 16-11) New public health campus coming to downtown Montreal http://ow.ly/1CmBOg News Story (Dec 16-11) N.W.T. issues stomach flu warning http://ow.ly/1CmArO Policy Doc CIDA (Canada) Children and Youth Strategy http://ow.ly/1CmxU6 News Story (Dec 16-11) Antibiotic doses for kids need review http://ow.ly/1Cmxje Report Canadian Physician supply increasing twice as quickly as Canadian population http://ow.ly/1CmsCi News Release (Dec 15-11) UN issues first report on human rights of gay and lesbian people http://ow.ly/1Cmslb News Story (Dec 15-11) Anti-tanning youth bill proposed again http://ow.ly/1CkUgK Report Diabetes in Canada: Facts and figures from a public health perspective http://ow.ly/1CkU3E News Release (Dec 15-11) CIHR and its partners announce the December 2011 Funding Opportunities http://ow.ly/1CkTPR News Release (Dec 9-11) Government of Canada supports drug abuse prevention for Northern and Prairie vulnerable youth http://ow.ly/1BV5Ov News Story (Dec 9-11) Iqaluit students take stand against bullying http://ow.ly/1BV4iJ News Release (Dec 9-11) Collaborative Directory of Educational Activities Promoting a Culture of Peace in Canada http://ow.ly/1BV3ww News Story (Dec 9-11) Dating violence common among teens in the ER: Study http://ow.ly/1BV2ZL News Story (Dec 8-11) New aboriginal database highlights health, poverty issues http://ow.ly/1BV2rC News Story (Dec 8-11) High school principal told not to use breathalyzer to test students http://ow.ly/1Cq38c Report Reducing Disaster Risk and Building Resilience, UN-DESA http://ow.ly/1BV1kh News Release (Dec 8-11) Canada remains committed to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria http://ow.ly/1BUZP3 Research Review Interventions for preventing obesity in children (Cochrane, Dec 2011) http://ow.ly/1BUVIw News Release (Dec 8-11) CIHR Response to the International Review Panel Recommendations http://ow.ly/1BTuQ2 News Story (Dec 6-11) Putting the community back into community schools in Nelson BC http://ow.ly/1Dll0W News Story (Dec 7-11) Students begin study of anti-drinking campaign http://ow.ly/1Cq2xj Web Site Organizations Taking Action on Social Determinants http://ow.ly/1BTuxy Blog Post (Dec 7-11) A Long Overdue Policy Change to Recognize the Sovereignty of Tribal Governments http://ow.ly/1BTu8d Policy Doc UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights http://ow.ly/1BTtXU News Story (Dec 7-11) Ontario Religious groups oppose required gay-straight alliances in schools http://ow.ly/1DljBb News Story (Dec 7-11) Grieving parents urge passage anti-bullying bill http://ow.ly/1Dlkpg News Story (Dec 7-11) FDA eyes stronger warning on popular birth control http://ow.ly/1BTtqG Policy Doc Food Policy Councils http://ow.ly/1BAzz4 News Story (Dec 6-11) Binge drinking among Ontario teens a concern: survey http://ow.ly/1BAzis News Story (Dec 1-11) Ontario students can demand clubs on homophobia, but don’t have to call “gay-straight alliances http://ow.ly/1Dlfjw Web Site Ontario Government Safe School Programs & Policies http://ow.ly/1DlgHJ News Story (Dec 2-11) Guelph school boards welcome even tougher anti-bullying legislation http://ow.ly/1Dlg0I News Story (Dec 2-11) Canadian Schools see rise in student mental health issues http://ow.ly/1DlfJU News Story (Dec 1-11) Grieving dad says expelling bullies not 'final answer' http://ow.ly/1Dlb05 News Story (Dec 1-11) ETFO Welcomes Provincial Anti-Bullying Bill http://ow.ly/1DleFb	Articles in December 2012 Issue of Canadian Journal of Diabetes Obesity and metabolic syndrome in football players Prevalence of metabolic syndrome among college football linemen Articles in December 2011 Issue of Canadian Journal of Psychiatry Enculturation and Alcohol Use Problems Among Aboriginal University Students Carey Doberstein (2011) INSTITUTIONAL CREATION AND DEATH: URBAN DEVELOPMENT AGREEMENTS IN CANADA(pages 529–548) Journal of Urban Affairs, Vol 33, 529-548 Trevor Hancock (2011) Health promotion in Canada: 25 years of unfulfilled promise Health Promot. Int. (2011) 26(suppl 2): ii263-ii26 Articles in Issue #4, 2011 of Canadian journal of Infectious Diseases and Microbiology Antimicrobial resistance surveillance systems: Are potential biases taken into account? Articles in December 13, 2011 Issue of the Canadian medical Association Journal Could parenting programs lead to lower health care costs in future generations? Articles in Issue #1, 2011 of Chronic Diseases and Injuries in Canada Research methods of the Youth Smoking Survey (YSS) Articles from Issue #4, 2011 of the Canadian Journal of School Psychology Beautiful From the Inside Out:A School-Based Programme Designed to Increase Self-Esteem and Positive Body Image Among Preadolescents A Mixed-Method Evaluation of a Strength-Based Bullying Prevention Program Social Correlates of Bullying in Adolescents With Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder

Canadian News and News in Canadian Media, Announcements, Reports

Canadian Research & Resources

Article Health promotion in Canada: 25 years of unfulfilled promise (Health Promotion International) http://ow.ly/1DSaWT

News Story (Dec 31-11) Canadian Minister fights back on crime bill proposed law not as depicted, Nicholson says http://ow.ly/1DRZ53

News Story (Dec 27-11) Ten thousand dead and counting: Ciudad Juarez, the Mexican city that’s deadlier than Afghanistan http://ow.ly/1DRZvv

Webinar Series on Green Schools (Jan-March, 2012) http://ow.ly/1t0Kh3

Blog Post (Dec 28-11) 52 REASONS TO BE ACTIVE THROUGHOUT 2012 http://ow.ly/1D9xrG

News Story (Dec 23-11) Why the wealthy are fat http://ow.ly/1D9pCV

News Story (Dec 21-11) BC School has an appetite for lunch program http://ow.ly/1CQmDK

News Story (Dec 23-11) Teen, mom debates may help resist peer pressure http://ow.ly/1CQlWw

News Story (Dec 21-11) Lead in kids' jewelry prompts recall http://ow.ly/1CQesA

News Story (Dec 16-11) Nasal flu vaccine better for kids than shot http://ow.ly/1CmBWr

News Story (Dec 16-11) New public health campus coming to downtown Montreal http://ow.ly/1CmBOg

News Story (Dec 16-11) N.W.T. issues stomach flu warning http://ow.ly/1CmArO

Policy Doc CIDA (Canada) Children and Youth Strategy http://ow.ly/1CmxU6

News Story (Dec 16-11) Antibiotic doses for kids need review http://ow.ly/1Cmxje

Report Canadian Physician supply increasing twice as quickly as Canadian population http://ow.ly/1CmsCi

News Release (Dec 15-11) UN issues first report on human rights of gay and lesbian people http://ow.ly/1Cmslb

News Story (Dec 15-11) Anti-tanning youth bill proposed again http://ow.ly/1CkUgK

Report Diabetes in Canada: Facts and figures from a public health perspective http://ow.ly/1CkU3E

News Release (Dec 15-11) CIHR and its partners announce the December 2011 Funding Opportunities http://ow.ly/1CkTPR

News Release (Dec 9-11) Government of Canada supports drug abuse prevention for Northern and Prairie vulnerable youth http://ow.ly/1BV5Ov

News Story (Dec 9-11) Iqaluit students take stand against bullying http://ow.ly/1BV4iJ

News Release (Dec 9-11) Collaborative Directory of Educational Activities Promoting a Culture of Peace in Canada http://ow.ly/1BV3ww

News Story (Dec 9-11) Dating violence common among teens in the ER: Study http://ow.ly/1BV2ZL

News Story (Dec 8-11) New aboriginal database highlights health, poverty issues http://ow.ly/1BV2rC

News Story (Dec 8-11) High school principal told not to use breathalyzer to test students http://ow.ly/1Cq38c

Report Reducing Disaster Risk and Building Resilience, UN-DESA http://ow.ly/1BV1kh

News Release (Dec 8-11) Canada remains committed to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria http://ow.ly/1BUZP3

Research Review Interventions for preventing obesity in children (Cochrane, Dec 2011) http://ow.ly/1BUVIw

News Release (Dec 8-11) CIHR Response to the International Review Panel Recommendations http://ow.ly/1BTuQ2

News Story (Dec 6-11) Putting the community back into community schools in Nelson BC http://ow.ly/1Dll0W

News Story (Dec 7-11) Students begin study of anti-drinking campaign http://ow.ly/1Cq2xj

Web Site Organizations Taking Action on Social Determinants http://ow.ly/1BTuxy

Blog Post (Dec 7-11) A Long Overdue Policy Change to Recognize the Sovereignty of Tribal Governments http://ow.ly/1BTu8d

Policy Doc UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights http://ow.ly/1BTtXU

News Story (Dec 7-11) Ontario Religious groups oppose required gay-straight alliances in schools http://ow.ly/1DljBb

News Story (Dec 7-11) Grieving parents urge passage anti-bullying bill http://ow.ly/1Dlkpg

News Story (Dec 7-11) FDA eyes stronger warning on popular birth control http://ow.ly/1BTtqG

Policy Doc Food Policy Councils http://ow.ly/1BAzz4

News Story (Dec 6-11) Binge drinking among Ontario teens a concern: survey http://ow.ly/1BAzis

News Story (Dec 1-11) Ontario students can demand clubs on homophobia, but don’t have to call “gay-straight alliances http://ow.ly/1Dlfjw

Web Site Ontario Government Safe School Programs & Policies http://ow.ly/1DlgHJ

News Story (Dec 2-11) Guelph school boards welcome even tougher anti-bullying legislation http://ow.ly/1Dlg0I

News Story (Dec 2-11) Canadian Schools see rise in student mental health issues http://ow.ly/1DlfJU

News Story (Dec 1-11) Grieving dad says expelling bullies not 'final answer' http://ow.ly/1Dlb05

News Story (Dec 1-11) ETFO Welcomes Provincial Anti-Bullying Bill http://ow.ly/1DleFb

Articles in December 2012 Issue of Canadian Journal of Diabetes

Obesity and metabolic syndrome in football players
Prevalence of metabolic syndrome among college football linemen

Articles in December 2011 Issue of Canadian Journal of Psychiatry

Enculturation and Alcohol Use Problems Among Aboriginal University Students

Carey Doberstein (2011) INSTITUTIONAL CREATION AND DEATH: URBAN DEVELOPMENT AGREEMENTS IN CANADA(pages 529–548) Journal of Urban Affairs, Vol 33, 529-548

Trevor Hancock (2011) Health promotion in Canada: 25 years of unfulfilled promise Health Promot. Int. (2011) 26(suppl 2): ii263-ii26

Articles in Issue #4, 2011 of Canadian journal of Infectious Diseases and Microbiology

Antimicrobial resistance surveillance systems: Are potential biases taken into account?

Articles in December 13, 2011 Issue of the Canadian medical Association Journal

Could parenting programs lead to lower health care costs in future generations?

Articles in Issue #1, 2011 of Chronic Diseases and Injuries in Canada

Research methods of the Youth Smoking Survey (YSS)

Articles from Issue #4, 2011 of the Canadian Journal of School Psychology

Beautiful From the Inside Out:A School-Based Programme Designed to Increase Self-Esteem and Positive Body Image Among Preadolescents
A Mixed-Method Evaluation of a Strength-Based Bullying Prevention Program
Social Correlates of Bullying in Adolescents With Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder

Webinar Materials: New Mentality Against Stigma

dmccall — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 15:55:54 CST

The New Mentality -- Ready...Set...Engage! How to create a dynamic and sustainable network to raise awareness of child and youth mental health issues and reduce the stigma associated with them
Presenters:Erin Smith, Youth Engagement Coordinator, The Provincial Centre of Excellence for Child and Youth Mental Health at CHEO andNancy Pereira, Communications and Events Coordinator, The New Mentality (Joint Program of Children's Mental Health Ontario and The Provincial Centre of Excellence for Child and Youth Mental Health at CHEO).
Description: The question of “why” engage youth is easily understood in relation to “how”. In this webinar, participants will be introduced to the principles of youth engagement and learn effective strategies for getting youth engaged and keeping them interested. In addition, you will learn about The New Mentality project and the process that was taken to create a provincial network of youth. Effective strategies and lessons learned by the team will be discussed in an attempt to assist other professionals in starting their own youth engagement initiatives.
Contact information:
Erin Smith:ersmith@cheo.on.ca
Nancy Pereira:nancy@cmho.org

Questions for Presenters:
The following are some questions which were asked of our presenters:

Question 1: A question for Nancy and Erin - what type of incentives do you use with youth?
During the Pilot Phase of The New Mentality, youth leaders (2 in each community) were paid an honorarium of $700 for their commitment. As well they attended youth retreats and provincial mental health conferences free of charge. These were designed to enhance their leadership skills and showcase their hard work.

Question 2: Where are the 7 regions you mentioned located?
There were actually eight communities that completed public awareness initiatives, however only seven were included in the evaluation because one got started towrads the end of the Pilot Phase. Nevertheless, these communities included: London, Burlington, Hamilton, Toronto, Barrie, Thunder Bay, Kingston and Ottawa. For further information about these projects please visitwww.thenewmentality.ca

Question 3: How many of the youth participants had previously accessed the mental health system?
We do not have an exact number of consumers or former consumers because we didn't ask youth to disclose whether or not they had accessed service when applying to be part of the project.

Question 4: Did any schools get involved?
No. For the pilot phase we focused on partnering youth with community agencies. We recognize the need to do outreach in schools in the future, but are still brainstorming what that might look like.

Question 5: When you refer to the mental health system, are you also referring to addiction services? Do the youth identify drug use issues what they would like to address in some way?
Some CYMH agencies do have addiction services. One of the young ladies we workd with did identify wanting to address addictions in her public awareness initiative. Unfortunately, this group had to withdraw from the pilot early-on so the project never came to be.

Question 6: On adverage, how many youth were involved in each region?
On average there was about 6 group members actively engaged in each region in the planning, development and implementation of these projects.

Question 7: Is the Barrie region group still active?
Yes, currently they are operating out of New Path Youth and Family Services, Cookstown Residential Program.

Question 8.The last question asked was "How should we start???
Use the "Making It Happen" five-step model and begin with Step 1 "Analyze your current position".
Look for opportunities for youth to become involved with your program. Ask yourself what role(s) you envision youth taking on. Each step of the model is explained in detail in the report "Ready..Set...Engage!" which is available for free download onwww.thenewmentality.ca
In addition, The New Mentality hosts monthly teleconferences (on the first Monday of every month). Each teleconference call touches on one of the five steps of the model. If you are interested in becoming part of this Community of Practice, and learning about the stesp from the TNM staff, as well as professionals who are actively doing this in the field, please e-mail Nancy Pereiranancy@cmho.orgwho will link you with this opportunity.

Recommended Resources:

Our presenters recommend the following on-line resources:

www.onthepoint.ca:The Provincial Centre of Excellence for Child and Youth Mental Health at CHEO, along with other leaders, working towards an integrated system that truly meets the mental health care needs of children, youth and their parents and caregivers

www.kidsmentalhealth.ca:Children's Mental Health Ontario(CMHO) works to improve the mental health and well-being of children and youth and their families

www.thenewmentality.ca

The New Mentalityis a network of people ages 13 to 25 who are engaged as partners in addressing the many systemic issues associated with child and youth mental health in Ontario. Youth are directly affected and should be listened to issues being addressed include the availability of services, the effectiveness of services being provided, and the suitability of the method/style of service delivery for youth as consumers.

www.daretodreamprogram.caThe Dare to Dream Programprovides an opportunity for Ontario youth (18 years of age and under) to get involved in mental health awareness activities. Successful applicants are awarded up to $1000 (for individuals) and $5000 (for groups) to do a project that promotes mental health awareness.

Attachments:

1. nmback.jpg (JPEG Image - 136k)
posted byDawnadrena Apr 8 2009, 12:16 PM EDT
Brochure (Back page) The New Mentality
2. nmfront.jpg (JPEG Image - 192k)
posted byDawnadrena Apr 8 2009, 12:15 PM EDT
Brochure on The New Mentality
3. Youth-Adult Partnerships Self-Assessment Tool.doc (Word Document - 50k)
posted byDawnadrena Apr 8 2009, 12:14 PM EDT
Self Assessment Tool for working with young people
4. Working With Young People.doc (Word Document - 26k)
posted byDawnadrena Apr 8 2009, 12:13 PM EDT
Information for working with Young People
Recording:Please cllick on the link below to access the archived recording of this Webinar

The New Mentality: Reducing Mental Health Stigma through Youth Engagement

November 2011

Anonymous — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 12:50:11 CST

Canadian SH News and Research from November 2011

Follow us on Twitter at: shinsider_canad. Want to display the latest CSH tweets on your web site by using our "widget" (see what it looks like in this example). To publish it on your web site, simply have your web person copy and paste the code from this attached document into a frame on your web page. If you want to customize the colour and size of this widget, then contact dmccall@cash-aces.ca

Canadian News and News in Canadian Media, Announcements, Reports	Canadian Research & Resources
News Story (Nov 30-11) Bullying’s rising toll of suicides has Canadian political leaders taking action http://ow.ly/1BjQSn News Release (Nov 30-11) Ontario's Accepting Schools Act http://ow.ly/1Dl9l4 News Story (Nov 30-11) Ontario Anti-bullying bill allows gay-straight clubs in schools http://ow.ly/1Dl91O News Story (Nov 30-11) Expelling bullies a good first step, families say http://ow.ly/1Dl8P4 News Release (Nov 29-11) New Coalition calls for a public health approach to alcohol, tobacco and drug controls http://ow.ly/1BAyOf News Story (Nov 29-11) Teen driving while under the influence a concern: Report http://ow.ly/1BAyEY News Story (Nov 25-11) Lady Gaga sends Toronto school a personal message of tolerance http://ow.ly/1BjRtl News Story (Nov 30-11) Canada's Ontario Premier gets tough on bullying with new legislation http://ow.ly/1BjRgC News Story (Nov 30-11) Catholic Schools’ 'Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell' policy bad for gay students http://ow.ly/1BjR3H News Story (Nov 30-11) Bullying’s rising toll of suicides has Canadian political leaders taking action http://ow.ly/1BjQSn News Story (Nov 30-11) L'Amoreaux students share their anti-bullying message with premier http://ow.ly/1Dl8AZ News Story (Nov 28-11) BC's Government youth advocate calls for anti-homophobia policy http://ow.ly/1Diksz News Story (Nov 28-11) Bullied kids urged to 'tell somebody' by former PEI Victim http://ow.ly/1Dikf0 News Story )Nov 27-11) Community Schools celebrate 50 years in PEI http://ow.ly/1Dij61 News Story (Nov 26-11) Pioneering study finds GSAs prevent depression, bullying and suicide http://ow.ly/1DiifM News Release (Nov 22-11) 2011 Ontario Student Drug Use and Health Survey (OSDUHS) report http://ow.ly/1ASDHF News Story (Nov 26-11) Lady Gaga voices support for Toronto school fighting bullies, homophobia http://ow.ly/1DihQU News Story (Nov 25-11) Northern students more likely to binge drink http://ow.ly/1DRUl4 News Story (Nov 25-11) Alcohol drinking guide stresses moderation http://ow.ly/1DRU3F News Story (Nov 24-11) BC Premier Clark on verge of province-wide anti-bullying plan http://ow.ly/1DigdV News Story (Nov 23-11) Ottawa Students take a stand, together, in Almonte for inclusion http://ow.ly/1Difxn News Release (Nov 22-11) UNESCO leads new anti-bullying LGBT students initiative http://ow.ly/1AYMKn News Story (Nov 22-11) Vaccination campaign will fight measles epidemic in Montreal http://ow.ly/1ASKV3 News Story (Nov 15-11) Fort McMurray schools get healthy action plans http://ow.ly/1ASGRi News Story (Nov 22-11) One in four Canadian children is considered overweight http://ow.ly/1ASGfj News Release (Nov 23-11) Memorial Dr. James Fraser Mustard, 1927-2011 http://ow.ly/1ASFtR News Release (Nov 22-11) 2011 Ontario Student Drug Use and Health Survey (OSDUHS) report release http://ow.ly/1ASDHF News Release (Nov 22-11) Get involved in the OECD Global Youth Video Competition 2012 http://ow.ly/1ASCOE News Story (Nov 21-11) National institute for men's health proposed http://ow.ly/1ASCxT Report Improving STD Testing Behavior Among High-risk Young Adults by Offering STD Testing at Vocational School http://ow.ly/1ASAG4 News Release (Nov 23-11) National Dialogue on What Works in Aboriginal Education (Winnipeg, Canada) http://ow.ly/1AStyi News Release (Nov 16-11) International Tobacco Control CIHR Knowledge Translation Award http://ow.ly/1AKNEG Video http://TheJackProject.org - Mental Health First Aid Canada - Youth Course http://ow.ly/1AKtFT News Story (Nov 10-11) Ontario Minister gives Niagara students award for speaking out against bullying http://ow.ly/1DicPV Webinar Making the Grade: Integration Through Education in Toronto and Zurich http://ow.ly/1AmGis Blog Post (nd) Taking the Swedish National Diversity Plan to School http://ow.ly/1AmG7b Web Site Cities of Migration (Welcoming new immigrants) http://ow.ly/1AmFWD News Story (Nov 22-11) Better testing needed to diagnose fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, Canadian expert says http://ow.ly/1DRSA9 News Story (Nov 20-11) The age of vulnerability: ‘Most girls drink to fit in’ http://ow.ly/1DRRKe News Story (Nov 15-11) Nova Scotia Report says kids bear brunt of town's 'culture of alcohol' http://ow.ly/1DRuRE News Story (Nov 10-11) Study links religious services to optimism http://ow.ly/1AiQli News Story (Nov 7-11) Why polio persists http://ow.ly/1AiPXl News Story (Nov 10-11) MADD film depicts consequences of impaired driving http://ow.ly/1DRntD News Story (Nov 9-11) Dinner a 'low tech' way to create healthy families http://ow.ly/1AiPPn News Story (Nov 10-11) Abortion stigma brings real harm: researcher http://ow.ly/1AiOTz News Story (Nov 10-11) Durham Police and DDSB focus on safe schools http://ow.ly/1Did9o News Story (Nov 14-11) Feds fund study to determinecost of fetal alcohol disorders http://ow.ly/1DRui0 Ed Resource Fact Sheet Radon http://ow.ly/1AiHuf Blog Post (Nov 1-11) Social Media in Public Health: What’s Not to ‘Like’? http://ow.ly/1AiFDh News Story (Nov 8-11) Upstander, Ontario students get involved in bullying prevention http://ow.ly/1A5vJI News Story (Nov 7-11) Youth learn healthy living in Brampton, Ontario http://ow.ly/1A5uBd Blog Post (Nov 4-11) The safe schools guide for parents http://ow.ly/1A5tCi News Story (Nov 4-11) Setting education priorities in Ontario http://ow.ly/1A5teY News Story (Nov 3-11) Bullying takes health toll among reserve youth http://ow.ly/1A5sQW News Story (Nov 1-11) New community school approach featured in New Brunswick http://ow.ly/1A5rPJ News Story (Nov 4-11) Stopping polio on track in India http://ow.ly/1A2WhR Report Social-Economic Vulnerability in an Influenza Pandemic (Canada, 2010) http://ow.ly/1zFiS3 News Story (Oct 31-11) Has binge drinking become normal?Recent incidents at Atlantic universities http://ow.ly/1zCsDm	Articles in Issue #2, 2011 of McGill Journal of Education INFLUENCING COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT IN SCHOOL: A SCHOOL COMMUNITY COUNCIL COMPREHENSIVE SCHOOL MENTAL HEALTH: AN INTEGRATED “SCHOOL-BASED PATHWAY TO CARE” MODEL FOR CANADIAN SECONDARY SCHOOLS THE ABSENTEE MINISTER OF EDUCATION OF CANADA: THE CANADIAN FEDERAL GOVERNMENT'S CONSTITUTIONAL ROLE IN FIRST NATIONS EDUCATION Articles in Issue #4, 2011 of Canadian Journal of Counselling and Psychotherapy The Northern Experience of Street Involved Youth: A Narrative Inquiry Pre-Service Teacher Perceptions of School Counsellor Responsibilities An Interpretive Account of Counsellor Development Adrienne D Danyliwa1, Hassanali Vatanparasta1, Nooshin Nikpartowa1and Susan J Whitinga (2011) Beverage intake patterns of Canadian children and adolescents Public Health NutritionNovember 2011 14 : pp 1961-1969 Articles in Issue #6, 2011 of the Canadian Journal of Public Health Public Health and the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms The Ottawa Charter at 25 Costs of Implementing and Maintaining Comprehensive School Health: The Case of the Annapolis Valley Health Promoting Schools Program Advancing Our Understanding of Mothers’ Safety Rules for School-age Children Prevalence, Risk Indicators and Outcomes of Bullying Among On-Reserve First Nations Youth Health Promotion as Practiced by Public Health Inspectors: The BC Experience Health in All Policies – All Talk and Little Action? Child Maltreatment in Canada: An Understudied Public Health Problem Ronald C.Plotnikoff.David R.Lubans, Sarah A.Costigan (2011) A Test of the Theory of Planned Behavior to Explain Physical Activity in a Large Population Sample of Adolescents From Alberta, Canada Journal of Adolescent Health Volume 49, Issue 5, Pages 547-549, November 2011 Articles from Issue #9, 2011 of Paediatrics and Child Health Antidepressant use in children and adolescents: Practice touch points to guide paediatricians Influenza vaccine recommendations for children and youth for the 2011/2012 season Articles in November 2011 Issue of Addictions Planned quit attempts among Ontario smokers: impact on abstinence(pages 2005–2013) WHAT DO WE KNOW ABOUT UNPLANNED QUIT ATTEMPTS? PRACTICALLY NOTHING OR NOTHING PRACTICAL?(pages 2014–2015) A RESPONSE TO PROCHASKA: LIFE DOES NOT ALWAYS GO ACCORDING TO PLAN; YOUR QUITTING MIGHT NOT EITHER(pages 2015–2016) M.H. Issa, J.H. Rankin, M. Attalla, andA.J. Christian (2011) Absenteeism, Performance and Occupant Satisfaction with the Indoor Environment of Green Toronto Schools, Indoor and Built EnvironmentOctober 201120:511-523 Articles in Issue #11, 2011 of Canadian Journal of Psychiatry Disseminating Motivational Interviewing in Psychiatric and Adolescent Populations: Optimism and a Few Worries Trends in Primary Methamphetamine-Related Admissions to Youth Residential Substance Abuse Treatment Facilities in Canada, 2005–2006 and 2009–2010 Articles in November 22, 20011 Issue of the Canadian Medical Association Journal First aid for psychoses BC First Nations to run own health system European nations launch tax attack on unhealthy foods Tobacco control measures under industry assault Suicide and suicide attempts in children and adolescents in the child welfare system The role of physicians in advocating for a national strategy for suicide prevention Susan Bennett, Michelle Ward, Katherine Moreau, Gilles Fortin, Jim King, Morag MacKay, Amy Plin (2011) Head injury secondary to suspected child maltreatment: Results of a prospective Canadian national surveillance program Child Abuse & Neglect Volume 35, Issue 11, November 2011, Pages 930-936 Nico Trocmé, Barbara Fallon, Bruce MacLaurin, Claire Chamberland, Martin Chabot, Tonino Esposito (2011) Shifting definitions of emotional maltreatment: An analysis child welfare investigation laws and practices in Canada Child Abuse & Neglect Volume 35, Issue 10, October 2011, Pages 831-840 Claire Chamberland, Barbara Fallon, Tara Black, Nico Trocmé (2011) Emotional maltreatment in Canada: Prevalence, reporting and child welfare responses (CIS2) Child Abuse & Neglect Volume 35, Issue 10, October 2011, Pages 841-854 Ed Resource Video Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder http://ow.ly/1ASBHg Ed Resource CDC Youth Risk Behavior Survey Widget http://ow.ly/1ASJOn

Canadian News and News in Canadian Media, Announcements, Reports

Canadian Research & Resources

News Story (Nov 30-11) Bullying’s rising toll of suicides has Canadian political leaders taking action http://ow.ly/1BjQSn

News Release (Nov 30-11) Ontario's Accepting Schools Act http://ow.ly/1Dl9l4

News Story (Nov 30-11) Ontario Anti-bullying bill allows gay-straight clubs in schools http://ow.ly/1Dl91O

News Story (Nov 30-11) Expelling bullies a good first step, families say http://ow.ly/1Dl8P4

News Release (Nov 29-11) New Coalition calls for a public health approach to alcohol, tobacco and drug controls http://ow.ly/1BAyOf

News Story (Nov 29-11) Teen driving while under the influence a concern: Report http://ow.ly/1BAyEY

News Story (Nov 25-11) Lady Gaga sends Toronto school a personal message of tolerance http://ow.ly/1BjRtl

News Story (Nov 30-11) Canada's Ontario Premier gets tough on bullying with new legislation http://ow.ly/1BjRgC

News Story (Nov 30-11) Catholic Schools’ 'Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell' policy bad for gay students http://ow.ly/1BjR3H

News Story (Nov 30-11) Bullying’s rising toll of suicides has Canadian political leaders taking action http://ow.ly/1BjQSn

News Story (Nov 30-11) L'Amoreaux students share their anti-bullying message with premier http://ow.ly/1Dl8AZ

News Story (Nov 28-11) BC's Government youth advocate calls for anti-homophobia policy http://ow.ly/1Diksz

News Story (Nov 28-11) Bullied kids urged to 'tell somebody' by former PEI Victim http://ow.ly/1Dikf0

News Story )Nov 27-11) Community Schools celebrate 50 years in PEI http://ow.ly/1Dij61

News Story (Nov 26-11) Pioneering study finds GSAs prevent depression, bullying and suicide http://ow.ly/1DiifM

News Release (Nov 22-11) 2011 Ontario Student Drug Use and Health Survey (OSDUHS) report http://ow.ly/1ASDHF

News Story (Nov 26-11) Lady Gaga voices support for Toronto school fighting bullies, homophobia http://ow.ly/1DihQU

News Story (Nov 25-11) Northern students more likely to binge drink http://ow.ly/1DRUl4

News Story (Nov 25-11) Alcohol drinking guide stresses moderation http://ow.ly/1DRU3F

News Story (Nov 24-11) BC Premier Clark on verge of province-wide anti-bullying plan http://ow.ly/1DigdV

News Story (Nov 23-11) Ottawa Students take a stand, together, in Almonte for inclusion http://ow.ly/1Difxn

News Release (Nov 22-11) UNESCO leads new anti-bullying LGBT students initiative http://ow.ly/1AYMKn

News Story (Nov 22-11) Vaccination campaign will fight measles epidemic in Montreal http://ow.ly/1ASKV3

News Story (Nov 15-11) Fort McMurray schools get healthy action plans http://ow.ly/1ASGRi

News Story (Nov 22-11) One in four Canadian children is considered overweight http://ow.ly/1ASGfj

News Release (Nov 23-11) Memorial Dr. James Fraser Mustard, 1927-2011 http://ow.ly/1ASFtR

News Release (Nov 22-11) 2011 Ontario Student Drug Use and Health Survey (OSDUHS) report release http://ow.ly/1ASDHF

News Release (Nov 22-11) Get involved in the OECD Global Youth Video Competition 2012 http://ow.ly/1ASCOE

News Story (Nov 21-11) National institute for men's health proposed http://ow.ly/1ASCxT

Report Improving STD Testing Behavior Among High-risk Young Adults by Offering STD Testing at Vocational School http://ow.ly/1ASAG4

News Release (Nov 23-11) National Dialogue on What Works in Aboriginal Education (Winnipeg, Canada) http://ow.ly/1AStyi

News Release (Nov 16-11) International Tobacco Control CIHR Knowledge Translation Award http://ow.ly/1AKNEG

Video http://TheJackProject.org - Mental Health First Aid Canada - Youth Course http://ow.ly/1AKtFT

News Story (Nov 10-11) Ontario Minister gives Niagara students award for speaking out against bullying http://ow.ly/1DicPV

Webinar Making the Grade: Integration Through Education in Toronto and Zurich http://ow.ly/1AmGis

Blog Post (nd) Taking the Swedish National Diversity Plan to School http://ow.ly/1AmG7b

Web Site Cities of Migration (Welcoming new immigrants) http://ow.ly/1AmFWD

News Story (Nov 22-11) Better testing needed to diagnose fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, Canadian expert says http://ow.ly/1DRSA9

News Story (Nov 20-11) The age of vulnerability: ‘Most girls drink to fit in’ http://ow.ly/1DRRKe

News Story (Nov 15-11) Nova Scotia Report says kids bear brunt of town's 'culture of alcohol' http://ow.ly/1DRuRE

News Story (Nov 10-11) Study links religious services to optimism http://ow.ly/1AiQli

News Story (Nov 7-11) Why polio persists http://ow.ly/1AiPXl

News Story (Nov 10-11) MADD film depicts consequences of impaired driving http://ow.ly/1DRntD

News Story (Nov 9-11) Dinner a 'low tech' way to create healthy families http://ow.ly/1AiPPn

News Story (Nov 10-11) Abortion stigma brings real harm: researcher http://ow.ly/1AiOTz

News Story (Nov 10-11) Durham Police and DDSB focus on safe schools http://ow.ly/1Did9o

News Story (Nov 14-11) Feds fund study to determinecost of fetal alcohol disorders http://ow.ly/1DRui0

Ed Resource Fact Sheet Radon http://ow.ly/1AiHuf

Blog Post (Nov 1-11) Social Media in Public Health: What’s Not to ‘Like’? http://ow.ly/1AiFDh

News Story (Nov 8-11) Upstander, Ontario students get involved in bullying prevention http://ow.ly/1A5vJI

News Story (Nov 7-11) Youth learn healthy living in Brampton, Ontario http://ow.ly/1A5uBd

Blog Post (Nov 4-11) The safe schools guide for parents http://ow.ly/1A5tCi

News Story (Nov 4-11) Setting education priorities in Ontario http://ow.ly/1A5teY

News Story (Nov 3-11) Bullying takes health toll among reserve youth http://ow.ly/1A5sQW

News Story (Nov 1-11) New community school approach featured in New Brunswick http://ow.ly/1A5rPJ

News Story (Nov 4-11) Stopping polio on track in India http://ow.ly/1A2WhR

Report Social-Economic Vulnerability in an Influenza Pandemic (Canada, 2010) http://ow.ly/1zFiS3

News Story (Oct 31-11) Has binge drinking become normal?Recent incidents at Atlantic universities http://ow.ly/1zCsDm

Articles in Issue #2, 2011 of McGill Journal of Education

INFLUENCING COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT IN SCHOOL: A SCHOOL COMMUNITY COUNCIL
COMPREHENSIVE SCHOOL MENTAL HEALTH: AN INTEGRATED “SCHOOL-BASED PATHWAY TO CARE” MODEL FOR CANADIAN SECONDARY SCHOOLS
THE ABSENTEE MINISTER OF EDUCATION OF CANADA: THE CANADIAN FEDERAL GOVERNMENT'S CONSTITUTIONAL ROLE IN FIRST NATIONS EDUCATION

Articles in Issue #4, 2011 of Canadian Journal of Counselling and Psychotherapy

The Northern Experience of Street Involved Youth: A Narrative Inquiry
Pre-Service Teacher Perceptions of School Counsellor Responsibilities An Interpretive Account of Counsellor Development

Adrienne D Danyliwa1, Hassanali Vatanparasta1, Nooshin Nikpartowa1and Susan J Whitinga (2011) Beverage intake patterns of Canadian children and adolescents Public Health NutritionNovember 2011 14 : pp 1961-1969

Articles in Issue #6, 2011 of the Canadian Journal of Public Health

Public Health and the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms

The Ottawa Charter at 25

Costs of Implementing and Maintaining Comprehensive School Health: The Case of the Annapolis Valley Health Promoting Schools Program

Advancing Our Understanding of Mothers’ Safety Rules for School-age Children

Prevalence, Risk Indicators and Outcomes of Bullying Among On-Reserve First Nations Youth

Health Promotion as Practiced by Public Health Inspectors: The BC Experience

Health in All Policies – All Talk and Little Action?

Child Maltreatment in Canada: An Understudied Public Health Problem

Ronald C.Plotnikoff.David R.Lubans, Sarah A.Costigan (2011) A Test of the Theory of Planned Behavior to Explain Physical Activity in a Large Population Sample of Adolescents From Alberta, Canada Journal of Adolescent Health Volume 49, Issue 5, Pages 547-549, November 2011

Articles from Issue #9, 2011 of Paediatrics and Child Health

Antidepressant use in children and adolescents: Practice touch points to guide paediatricians
Influenza vaccine recommendations for children and youth for the 2011/2012 season

Articles in November 2011 Issue of Addictions

Planned quit attempts among Ontario smokers: impact on abstinence(pages 2005–2013)
WHAT DO WE KNOW ABOUT UNPLANNED QUIT ATTEMPTS? PRACTICALLY NOTHING OR NOTHING PRACTICAL?(pages 2014–2015)
A RESPONSE TO PROCHASKA: LIFE DOES NOT ALWAYS GO ACCORDING TO PLAN; YOUR QUITTING MIGHT NOT EITHER(pages 2015–2016)

M.H. Issa, J.H. Rankin, M. Attalla, andA.J. Christian (2011) Absenteeism, Performance and Occupant Satisfaction with the Indoor Environment of Green Toronto Schools, Indoor and Built EnvironmentOctober 201120:511-523

Articles in Issue #11, 2011 of Canadian Journal of Psychiatry

Disseminating Motivational Interviewing in Psychiatric and Adolescent Populations: Optimism and a Few Worries
Trends in Primary Methamphetamine-Related Admissions to Youth Residential Substance Abuse Treatment Facilities in Canada, 2005–2006 and 2009–2010

Articles in November 22, 20011 Issue of the Canadian Medical Association Journal

First aid for psychoses
BC First Nations to run own health system
European nations launch tax attack on unhealthy foods
Tobacco control measures under industry assault
Suicide and suicide attempts in children and adolescents in the child welfare system
The role of physicians in advocating for a national strategy for suicide prevention

Susan Bennett, Michelle Ward, Katherine Moreau, Gilles Fortin, Jim King, Morag MacKay, Amy Plin (2011) Head injury secondary to suspected child maltreatment: Results of a prospective Canadian national surveillance program Child Abuse & Neglect Volume 35, Issue 11, November 2011, Pages 930-936

Nico Trocmé, Barbara Fallon, Bruce MacLaurin, Claire Chamberland, Martin Chabot, Tonino Esposito (2011) Shifting definitions of emotional maltreatment: An analysis child welfare investigation laws and practices in Canada Child Abuse & Neglect Volume 35, Issue 10, October 2011, Pages 831-840

Claire Chamberland, Barbara Fallon, Tara Black, Nico Trocmé (2011) Emotional maltreatment in Canada: Prevalence, reporting and child welfare responses (CIS2) Child Abuse & Neglect Volume 35, Issue 10, October 2011, Pages 841-854

Ed Resource Video Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder http://ow.ly/1ASBHg

Ed Resource CDC Youth Risk Behavior Survey Widget http://ow.ly/1ASJOn

Knowledge Matters July-Sept, 2011

dmccall — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 11:40:07 CST

Canada's monthly school health report from the Canadian Association for School Health
Volume 6 Issue 1 (July-September, 2011)

___________________________________________________________________________________________________

(Download to print version)

Featuring: Walking the Talk about New Approaches to School Health Promotion: A Review of the CCSA Standards for School-based Youth Substance Abuse Prevention:

As we move towards the eighth Canadian school health conference being held in Montreal on November 28-29, 2011, we continue our discussion of ecological and systems-based approaches to school health promotion that we had in the Apr-0June edition of this newsletter. This theme is one of the major ones being addressed in the conference and we use that lens to analyze the Standards for School-based Youth Substance Abuse Prevention recently published by the Canadian Centre for Substance Abuse.
We urge you to register for that exciting Canadian and international conference, which is being organized by CASH and three other partners; the Institut nationale de santé publique du Québec (INSPQ), the International Union for Health Promotion and Education (IUHPE) and the International School Health Network (ISHN). Over 500 people from around the world have already registered at the event.

CASH and ISHN members will benefit from a reduced registration fee for the Montreal conference. As ISHN launches it membership drive worldwide, it will be partnering with CASH and similar SH associations in other countries. To save $60.00 and also benefit from CASH and ISHN memberships, go to this web page, join ISHN, designate CASH as the partner and you will receive a code to use in registering for the Montreal conference. Go to the ISHN web site for more information; http://www.internationalschoolhealth.org/
Two pre-conference webinars have already been held to discuss the themes of the conference and more are planned. Go to the ISHN Webinar archive to access the digital recordings.

Changed Frequency of this Report, Call for Papers for this magazine Knowledge Matters,

Our 2500+ readers will note that we are continuing our move to a quarterly format for the publication of this report. We have struggled to produce a monthly version without the funding that we we used to receive from the Canadian Council on Learning. People who are interested in receiving the news on a monthly basis can still do so by “watching” the archives page in our web site, www.canadianschoolhealth.ca. When you are watching a selected page, the web site automatically sends you an email alert when that page is changed, which we will do each month. (You will need to be a member of that wiki-based web site (no cost, no spam) and you will need to adjust the controls in your profile once you have signed into the site so that you are watching that page.) We send out an email to everyone when we post the issues of Knowledge Matters in the web site, but the quarterly review of Canadian news, research and reports will now be more retrospective. If you are a real newshound and like instant gratification, you can follow us on Twitter at: http://www.twitter.com/shinsider_canad. We post Canadian items in that account several times a week. We are also posting international news, research and resource items on the welcome pages for some of our Communities of Practice. Go to these pages for the latest on these selected topics: sexual health, mental health and substance abuse prevention.
Our readers may have also noticed that we are now calling for papers to be included in this newsletter. We hope to move gradually to more of a magazine format. In 2011, CASH will be opening up this feature article space in the monthly report to others who wish to communicate with the over 2500 professionals and organizations who are on this email list. We will be looking for articles of about 1200-1500 words. We are hoping to receive submissions that include; fact-based commentaries on different issues in or aspects of school health, safety, social development, summaries of what we know and need to know about those issues and aspects or case studies or practice-based stories in local agencies and communities. Send your submissions to info@cash-aces.ca

Canadian School Health Knowledge Network News

Webinars/Web Meetings on Sexual Health Promotion
Last spring, the Community of Practice on School Sexual Health promotion hosted three webinars, (Theseweb meetings will continue this fall, featuring panel discussions among experts from Canada and other countries as they answer participants questions and engage everyone in discussions). For more information and to register for these free web activities, go to: http://www.canadianschoolhealth.ca/page/Webinars+and+Web+Meetings

Five Webinars/Web Meetings on Implementation Issues in School Mental Health
A similar series of panel-based web meetings will be held on implementation and capacity issues in school-based and school-linked mental health promotion. Inter-ministry cooperation and leadership, inter-agency coordination, capacities & capacity-building, Evidence-based Implementation Models and Maintaining Fidelity to Evidence-based Programs or Approaches in the face of Complexity and Other Challenges. This series will start in June. Watch for the dates and times at: http://www.canadianschoolhealth.ca/page/Webinars+and+Web+Meetings

Four Year Knowledge Exchange Program in Substance Abuse Prevention
CASH is pleased to be working with the Council on Drug Abuse and the International School Health Network in providing knowledge development and exchange associated with a national peer-based program being developed and expanded in schools in three jurisdictions. The first CoP meeting and webinar for this CoP will be held on November 15, 2011 at noon (ET). This project has already hosted a recorded web meeting discussion on adapting substance abuse prevention programs to serve aboriginal students and schools. Go to the webinar archive to access the recording.

Thanks in advance to our CoP Chairs
Once again, CASH is grateful for the time devoted by the Chairs of our Communities of Practice. Here is a list of some great people; Eileen Antone (Aboriginal School Health), Judy Hills (Mental Health), Lesley Whyte (Substance Abuse), Mary McKenna (Nutrition), Delphine Melchert & Dwayne Provo (Disadvantaged Schools) and Roselle Paulsen (Sexual Health).

Sign Up & Sign In: We are continuing to transfer the email contacts lists over to our professional networking web site at www.canadianschoolhealth.ca Agencies, organizations and individuals will be able to control the email they receive from this wiki-based web site through their own profiles. (This occurs by "watching" or "unwatching" selected pages).

CASH-ISHN Membership Drive
The International School Health Network is partnering with CASH and similar organizations in the US, Australia and the UK to offer membership services that include:

- access to the extensive ISHN research/news/resources clipping service monitoring over 150 journals, over 75 media outlets and over 75 social media sources to bring a constant stream of brief info items with web links.
- reduced conference registration fees
- access to CASH and ISHN webinars
- access to updated web pages on SH in all 200 countries and their respective states/provinces including recent reports and articles, key contacts, web sites and policy, planning and educational resources
- customized search engines going only to government web sites around the world and access to shared collections of bookmarks, documents, videos and more

Organizational memberships provide access to SH events for up to 15 employees. Provincial and territorial memberships are also available.

CASH: The Next Generation
As many will already know, CASH Executive Director Doug McCall is planning to semi-retire this fall and has been working with several chairs of the Communities of Practice so that they can continue their work using a variety of web tools. If you are interested in being involved in the evolution of CASH in the future, contact Doug at Dmccall@cash-aces.ca or 250.483.6988

Highlights of Canadian Research & News Stories from July-September 2011

With our change to a quarterly format for this newsletter, we will be highlighting selected events over the past three months. Go to the archive of monthly postings for all of the items.

Highlights From July 2011

News Story (Jul 1-11) Residential school survivors: improve mental health care http://ow.ly/1v0RRE
News Story (Jul 7-11) Canada's Chief public health officer reappointedhttp://ow.ly/1uwoEA
Report. Country Reports on Smoke-free Policies in Canadahttp://ow.ly/1uwoQ2
News Story (Jul 7-11) Canadian teen designs new vaccine in pill formhttp://ow.ly/1uwqom
News Story (Jul 21-11) Ontario Requires Gay-Straight Alliances http://ow.ly/1v0b09
News Story (Jul 26-11) Case Studies of Quebec Community Learning Centreshttp://ow.ly/1v0RYU
News Release (Jul 21-11) Canadian Premiers Emphasize Early Childhood and Youth Health in their Meetinghttp://ow.ly/1v12zI
Online Training Critical Appraisal of Intervention Studies http://ow.ly/1vMG6R
Video Presentation Social Determinants of Health: The Canadian Factshttp://ow.ly/1vR6Uf
Web Site Canadian International Development Agency funded Project Databasehttp://ow.ly/1vAJk5
Pre-service teachers’ knowledge and attitudes regarding school-based bullying

See all of the postings for July-August here

Highlights from August 2011

Report of Honouring Our Strengths: A Renewed Framework to Address Substance Use in First Nations People in Canadahttp://ow.ly/1v511a
Ed Resource Web Site Vaccine Basicshttp://ow.ly/1vABj1
News Story (Aug 5-11) School phys-ed grants cut in Nova Scotiahttp://ow.ly/1vAC70
Report International Review Panel Report, Canadian Institutes for Health Research 2005-2010http://ow.ly/1vAGwF
News Story (Aug 8-11) 300,000 children in danger of starvation in Africahttp://ow.ly/1vAI3J
Daniel Fuller, Catherine Sabiston, Igor Karp, Tracie Barnett and Jennifer O'Loughlin (2011) ·
School Sports Opportunities Influence Physical Activity in Secondary School and Beyond
Journal of School Health Volume 81, Issue 8, pages 449–454, August 2011
Policy Doc Draft Physical Activity Strategy and Change Agenda for Canadahttp://ow.ly/1vR6xb
News Release (Aug 18-11) CASH Conference Speaker NYC Prof Basch Meets with U.S. Education Secretary on School Health Disparity Strategieshttp://ow.ly/1x46qF

See all of the postings for July-August here.

Highlights from September 2011

News Release (Sep 30-11) Autism Awareness Month in Canadahttp://ow.ly/1y2v8r
News Story (Sep 29-11) Benefits of tobacco control outweigh lost taxes http://ow.ly/1y2sNp
Report. Return on Investment: Mental Health Promotion and Mental Illness Prevention (CIHI, Canada, http://ow.ly/1xT2KV
News Story (Sep 28-11) Fighting poverty pays off, report sayshttp://ow.ly/1xQjFN
News Story (Sep 22-11) Canadians consume 26 teaspoons of sugar daily: StatsCan http://ow.ly/1xx3fg
News Release (Sep 19-11) Canada Signs UN Declaration on Preventing and Controlling Chronic Diseases http://ow.ly/1xuKTX
News Story (Sep 15-11) On World Suicide Prevention Day, Inuit leaders talk about the lack of support http://ow.ly/1xcjlb
News Story (Sep 16-11) Mental health presents dilemmas for N.W.T. http://ow.ly/1xcj2G
News Story (Sep 12-11) Nunavut unwraps anti-suicide action plan http://ow.ly/1x9YFr
Report Education Indicators in Canada http://ow.ly/1x37Of
Web Site Youth Drug Prevention for Parents (Health Canada)http://ow.ly/1y2vls

See all of the postings for September here

Feature Article: Walking the Talk about New Understandings in School Health Promotion: A Review of the CCSA Standards for School-based Youth Substance Abuse Prevention: Version 2.0 By Doug McCall, Canadian Association for School health

This article discusses the recent revised version of a guidance document published by the para-governmental organization, the Canadian Centre of Substance Abuse (CCSA), on school-based substance abuse prevention (SAP). This discussion focuses on the Version 2.0 of the document, which was revised quickly in response to several commentaries after the first version in the spring of 2009.

The intent of this discussion is to illustrate how new and emerging understandings and approaches to school-based and school-linked health promotion can easily be misunderstood or misapplied despite an abundance of financial resources. We also examine the knowledge exchange strategy and activities undertaken as part of this ten million dollar project managed by CCSA. Further, we briefly analyze the inventory of web-based resources and collection/analysis of local “initiatives” that were part of the original plan for the project. We also briefly examined the two other standards documents (on families and communities that were also published by CCSA). This five year project presents a significant learning opportunity for Canadian practitioners, researchers and officials and is presented as such in this commentary.

The CCSA standards document reflects others that have been adopted over the years as advocates, decision-makers and researchers working on various health issues have learned that multi-intervention approaches and programs on their respective issues is more effective and indeed necessary. Our Association is proud to have worked with many organizations, departments and ministries, including CCSA, to encourage that basic understanding of CSH. (We were not involved in the development of this document except for submitting an unsolicited commentary on Version 1.0 which led to a broader consultation and subsequent revisions published in Version 2.0. CASH was involved in the overall project advisory committee which did not discuss the content of the standards document except on two brief occasions.)

But it is time to go beyond that simple traditional understanding of SH promotion and truly address the issues identified in our new understanding and approaches. These include attention to issues of capacity, adapting to different local contexts, learning how to use evidence/experience-based implementation models as well as evidence-based programs, addressing educator concerns and pre-occupations directly and more. As well, this analysis will show that the CCSA document and project failed to walk the talk in respect to new understandings about school health promotion and effective knowledge exchange. With a budget of ten million and a five year mandate, this project should have delivered a far better product and a far more extensive diffusion process.

The school guidance document is one of three such “standards” documents published by CCSA as part of a project that also included the operation of a national youth substance abuse advisory committee and a web-based television project. Work on version 2.0 of the document was undertaken soon after its initial release in May 2009 and was subsequently concluded with a revised version about a year later.

The Canadian Association for School Health gathered feedback from the members of its Community of Practice (CoP) in school SAP programs and was among several organizations and individuals who submitted far-reaching comments and suggestions to the CCSA School Standards Task Force at that time. That CoP feedback as well as our two decades of work in school health promotion provides the basis for this analysis. In particular, we were very interested in examining whether the revised CCSA school standards reflect new understandings and emerging approaches to prevention and promotion in schools. An academic version of this analysis is being submitted to appropriate Canadian and addictions journals.

The Basis of New Understandings about School Health Promotion: An Ecological and Systems-based Approach

In recent years, several prominent researchers in school health promotion have realized that the traditional strategies used in advocating for comprehensive approaches, coordinated programs and whole school strategies to promote health or prevent problems have a fundamental flaw. While the research evidence underlying many individual interventions as well as the value of coordinated multiple intervention approaches is solid, the capacity of health, educational and other systems to implement, coordinate and sustain these programs is not sufficient. Further, the linear logic underlying most prevention efforts fails to take into account the complexities of school-family-neighbourhood interactions as well as the differing needs of specific communities such as disadvantaged communities, indigenous communities, faith-based schools, rural schools and affluent schools.

As a result, health advocates constantly compete among each other to persuade educators and others of the importance of their disease, seek, obtain and then lose their short term funding as public, political and professional attention waxes and wanes. The front lines of open, adaptive, loosely-coupled, professional bureaucracies of education, public health and other systems are quick to adopt small-scale innovations such as new instructional programs or new procedures but are resistant to long-term shifts in their core priorities and equally quick to respond to the next new demand being placed on them.

Researchers in Canada, like many others around the world, (See this summary) have articulated this new "ecological" understanding that health and social behaviours and status are the result of multiple, complex interactions between the traits of the individual, the family and the neighbourhood. In Canada, the ecological model has been paired with a “systems” approach that tries to understand and influence multi-level systems such as education, public health, social services and addictions to work more effectively in and with schools. This action focus on systems working within the inter-twined ecologies of schools, families and neighbourhoods is to take the new perspective from an ecological understanding to action based on ecological strategies and models.

The CCSA document provides the first part of this ecological discussion by presenting the risk and protective factors associated with problem substance use in an ecological framework in the Appendix. The individual school, family and community factors are described quite well in presenting this understanding of how the various factors interact with each other. The problem is that the CCSA document does not then move towards re-orienting our logic models, program and policy development and selection and organizing our interventions in an ecological, rather than traditional, linear, program-focused manner.

The lessons learned from this new understanding are now being published by many researchers working on several issues as well as on overall health, safety, equity and social development. The implications of this new, basically different approach are quite profound and go beyond the traditional call multiple intervention approaches and programs which we have all promoted for the past twenty years. Here are the some of the new strategies, logic models, and ways of identifying issues and programs that are emerging from this ecological and systems-based approach.

Promote not only multiple interventions but also promote actions at multiple levels in multiple systems
Use different program logic models than the traditional, linear, medical model, where a priority issue is selected based on medical grounds, a short term (2-3 years)intervention is selected and tested for dose, duration and intensity in controlled conditions and then the experimental results are applied in controlled conditions elsewhere with expectations of life long impacts. Instead we can:

Start with the health/social needs of a population and local context, then help them identify priority issues and clusters of issues, then select synergistic combinations of programs drawn from several models of school-based and school-linked work (Rather than selecting an issue at a provincial/national level, setting general goals, then adapting it to local circumstances
Start from a capacity/community development model and seek improvements whenever and wherever possible based on local strengths, needs and opportunities (Rather than seeking changes on one issue on all communities)
Choose from among behavioural, community and organizational development theories and models and then build that framework over time. (Rather than inventing a new framework and infrastructure each time a new issue arises)

Ecological systems are open and adaptable to emerging changes and new demands in their environments but system stasis, boundaries, changes in the environment and system-environment interactions will ultimately determine the long-term response to any specific demand/innovation.
Open, loosely-coupled systems are adaptive to small scale changes (innovations) but often resist large scale change (reforms). Consequently, school systems will adopt new specific health issues/programs and drop older health programs very quickly. They will also resist demands for a shift away from their primary literacy, custody, vocational and accreditation roles to focus on life-long healthy lifestyles
Loosely coupled systems are more dependent on professional and social consensus for their decision-making and will therefore be influenced more effectively by addressing adopter concerns directly, identifying policy levers and incentives that system managers can use and acquiring a deep understanding of the roles and preoccupations of front line staff, middle managers and senior staff as well as organizational readiness for change.
Education, public health, welfare, police services, social service, addictions and other government systems are operated by "professional bureaucracies" that are multi-level, are dependent on structures, job descriptions, routines and procedures, have formal and informal communications channels and internal social networks, make decisions based on non-rational grounds and are led by individuals with perceived, specialized forms of knowledge, have their own professional norms, sociology, work life/career patterns and cultures.
Systems management, normally complex in large systems, becomes even more so when we realize that school human development programs must work across several systems which often have competing priorities and scarce resources and at multiple levels within those systems. Consequently, we need to clearly define what we need in regard to the degree, forms and nature of cooperation needed at the school/professional, school board/agency and inter-ministry levels.

A helpful analogy to understand this ecological approach is a wetland where swamps, meadows and forests converge. The habitat changes during different seasons, with different flora, insects and animals dominating at different times in response to changing conditions yet still remaining stable and enduring. Later in this analysis, we will illustrate key points using this analogy. Two key points will suffice here. The first is that a small change, in the form of a controlled trial or externally funded program can be introduced into the complex, open and adaptive system quite quickly but it won’t survive after the external supports are removed unless it is in tune with the ecology. The second pint is that we cannot expect the inhabitants of the wetland, the birds, insects and frogs, to be the ones modifying or protecting their habitat. That is up to the decision-makers responsible for the system.

A System is more than the Front Line Workers

Several critics of the first published version of the school standards noted a lack of clarity in regards to the intended audience and use of the “standards”. Most of the document implied that the document was to be used by local schools in improving the SA prevention efforts. However, many of the actions suggested were and are well beyond the scope of school-based personnel. In version 2.0, CCSA clearly states that the document is intended for use by "prevention resource persons" who have a mandate to help school groups take action to prevent substance but not necessarily lead a school-based planning group that would be composed primarily by educators with others from the community serving as advisors. The expectation is that these planning groups in each school would assess their current activities in the light of the standards, select resources from the CCSA inventory and submit their initiatives to CCSA for review.

This clarification exposes the basic misunderstanding about ecological and system-based approaches, despite the references to such in the introduction to the document. Ecological mean multi-level action, not just hoping that front line educators will take up the challenge despite all of the other demands of their jobs. The document is void of suggestions for education ministries, school boards or other agencies. If we are using a systems approach, then discuss the entire system, not just the front line.

Further, the document notes that there isn’t yet a defined “prevention worker” or “professional” designation or training path for individuals whose work involves the prevention of substance abuse. We also know that very few, if any schools, have substance abuse prevention committees and that if there are school health committees in schools, they are likely supported by nurses and are more than likely focused on nutrition, physical activity and similar issues.

The non-existing audience selected for the CCSA standards reflects its continuing use of an out-dated, front-end loaded model (WHO, 1997) of school health promotion, a problem that was cited in earlier criticisms of the first published version. The revised version continues to refer to the WHO model but also refers to a similar, simple CSH model developed by provincial/territorial government officials and published by the Joint Consortium for School Health. The JCSH model also uses a standard and basic description of four types of programs (social and physical environment, instruction, services and policy) but also avoids any discussion of ministry or school board/addictions agency or health authority roles.

A key element of the new ecological and systems-based approach is that it is multi-level, multi-system in nature. Education, health and other ministries as well as other agencies must meet certain standards of policy, coordination and program support if local schools and professionals are to be successful. How can we ask a committee of educators and other front-line professionals to plan and implement ongoing and sustainable prevention initiatives if these kinds of system changes and structures are not in place?

Social service agencies, addiction treatment centres need to have services in place so that educators can refer troubled students to help from mandated professionals
Police officers and youth courts need to have procedures and supports available to divert students from further confrontations with the law
Education ministries need to design their curricula so that there is adequate teaching time and materials available for SAP specific learning as well as overall health/development
School boards need to allocate funds for professional development to health teacher skill development and education faculties/ministries and teacher colleges need to provide better preparation in pre-service programs
Social service agencies need to fund local community-based organizations to provide after- school programs for youth and those organizations need to establish protocols with local school boards to working with schools.

Linear Logic Models are less than useful in complex, ecological, multi-level systems

The emerging literature on ecological-based approaches to health promotion clearly recognises that linear logic models are not appropriate to the complex, ever-changing reality of schools and communities (Burns, 2011; Lohrmann, 2010; Poland et al, 2009; Rowling & Jeffreys, 2006; Whipple, 2010; Wiium & Wold, 2009). Unless there is an ongoing and significant amount of external funding or staff support, it is nearly impossible to “control” the various factors except in an experiment.

Yet, Version 2.0 of the CCSA document spends increased time explaining linear logic models in its section on evaluation. The controlled process suggested in both the output-oriented process evaluation standard and the outcome-focused outcome evaluation fits well with on-paper thinking, evaluation of specific projects and programs and with the random controlled trials made possible through research grants but is far beyond the reality of local schools and far beyond the time available to local school teams.

The CCSA document vaguely suggests a process whereby local school teams gradually adopt better practices over time and no one can argue against that basic idea. But the document needs to add detail and precision as well as suggest evaluation criteria that are more in tune with an ecological approach. Most researchers working from the new approach to SH promotion suggest a monitoring and reporting system that tracks the changes to a variety of inputs, processes and outputs at different levels in the relevant systems. In other words, we should be looking for gradual, multiple and coordinated improvements in the overall ecology and not be solely focused on specific behavioural outcomes until we can say that the “system” has truly changed.

Standards or Aspirational Goals?

As an aside, we suggest that the use of the word “standards” is actually misused in the CCSA document. The term is defined in the CCSA document as “pointing to a destination” and a “roadmap” of where we want schools to go. Most dictionaries define standards as “something considered by an authority or by consent as a normal or reasonable requirement in terms of quality, quantity, level or grade”.

But, of course, if CCSA were to develop standards as defined conventionally above, they would have needed to describe the what is normal or average level of activity in the various practices suggested in the document. This would have to be established either through a national survey or through a well-documented and explicit research strategy.

In fact, the CCSA did not conduct any such survey to determine the current state of practice and instead chose to consult with national and provincial intermediaries about guidelines, standards and other goals. If CCSA had conducted such a survey, they would have been a reasonable basis for setting realistic standards in the true sense. The results of the survey, when used with a similar survey at the end of the project, would also have been an excellent way to evaluate the impact of the five year CCSA project.

Another way to determine if a “standard” is reasonable is to have an extensive research program that can delve into other studies and then track down their related materials and reports to determine if they could be applied to Canadian schools. The Best Practices portal of the Public Health Agency of Canada uses this methodology in selecting programs to include in the portal.

Unfortunately, there is no description of the search methodology used to gather evidence for the project contained in the CCSA document. Normally, the search words, databases, publishing dates and other steps are described. Three Canadian documents (two of which were older than eight years) and 13 international reviews (all but one was older than five years) were cited as the primary sources. Our association was involved in the writing of two of those documents, both of which used a rapid review methodology and both of which were limited in their scope and application. With a budget of ten million over five years, it is reasonable to expect something better and different than the previous documents.

A cursory look into the research in preparing this commentary, using only the databases maintained by Health Evidence Canada and the International School Health Network alone, found 94 systematic reviews and major articles that were not listed either in the major bibliographic or specific references in the CCSA document. Normally, there are always differences between various reviews but the gap is far too large in this case to ensure confidence in the CCSA search strategy, particularly since it is not described in their document.

Returning to the discussion about the use of the term “standards”, if the criteria and better practices suggested in the CCSA document are indeed aspirational goals as developed by a small group of experts and advocates working alone and based solely on the limited number of research and other materials that they are currently using in their work, then the “standards” should be described as goals. Having lofty goals is a good thing, but it can be a discouraging or cynical exercise if we then ask schools to measure their performance against such aspirations instead of having a reasonable set of achievable objectives.

More than Just Talk about Capacity

Much of the criticism of the first published version of the CCSA document was focused on the issue of capacity and capacity-building. This focus on system, organizational and professional capacity is consistent with new models and frameworks for school health promotion (World Health Organization, 2007, Canadian Association for School Health, 2007). The revised version includes theoretical and general discussions about capacity building but unfortunately, the document does not follow through with specifics when setting standards for operations and practices.

First, it should be noted that there are some established frameworks for describing system and school capacities (World Health Organization, 2003) and these have been adapted here in Canada by a network of researchers (School Health Research Network, 2005); over 25 national organizations in their CSH Consensus statement (Canadian Association for School Health et al, 2007) and on the web site of the Joint Consortium for School Health, ND) but the CCSA document does not use these well-established Canadian models. An amalgam of these Canadian definitions of operational capacity is as follows:

comprehensive and coordinated ministry, agency/school board and school/professional protocols/mandates on school health, health issues and the elements of school health promotion that are actively supported by senior managers should include financing, administration and organization. These explicit, comprehensive policy and managerial supports for inter-ministry, interagency and inter-disciplinary coordination and cooperation should include procedures in policy-making, program planning, and budget preparation to align responses to health and social issues undertaken through and with the school systems. As well, an overarching policy should favour inter-sectorial approaches and it should be reflected in guidance and directives to school, public health, police, social service and other local authorities and agencies

formal and informal mechanisms for inter-ministry, inter-agency and inter-professional coordination and cooperation; these mechanisms help to manage the implementation process, avoid confusion, and capitalize on synergistic action. Mechanisms may include joint committees, job descriptions, written policy statements, joint in-service programs, joint planning, shared budget allocations, joint vision development and consensus building.

assigned staffing and infrastructure to support inter-ministry, inter-agency and interdisciplinary coordination and cooperation at all levels; Assigned staffing and infrastructure, such as provincial/territorial and district school health coordinators, help to facilitate and support interdisciplinary coordination and cooperation in school health promotion. These staff assignments should include time for actively supporting voluntary cooperation and alignment of activities, programs, policies and practices. They should be based on explicit intergovernmental, inter-ministry, inter-agency and inter-disciplinary agreements and should ensure that the voices of youth, parents, professionals and volunteers are heard in the decision-making about policies and programs.

ongoing workforce development of health, social service, police, education and other professionals through professional preparation programs and staff development includes explicit and sustained programs and processes to develop ministry and local agency workforces, through studies of current professional practices, guidance and support for the development of university and college pre-service preparation programs, and development of guidelines, models and materials for sustained staff development programs.

Ongoing and active knowledge transfer and exchange within and across sectors includes mechanisms and processes to sharing evidence as well as local solutions and ideas for implementation, funding and evaluation with decision-makers and practitioners to describe lessons learned and promote promising practices. This would include evidence-based knowledge summaries published by a variety of sources, guidelines for policy, programs and practice from provincial, territorial and professional sources and tools and models that enable decision-makers and practitioners to reflect on their situation and their practice and to locate materials and models that can be adapted to their circumstance.

Regular monitoring and reporting on system, organizational (agency and school board), school and professional performance and capacities uses carefully selected indicators based on reliable data sources to produce regular reports on system/organizational performance over time as a tool to focus system reform and improvement. Effective M&R systems record changes over time in the local context, inputs, processes (programs, policies, practices) and outputs (short term health/social status, behaviours, knowledge, skills, attitudes). Specific surveys and reports on aspects of health, selected sub-populations or program evaluations can be done within the context of this overall reporting system but are not a substitute for such a system. M&R systems are similar but different than program evaluation, self-assessments, one-time or ongoing surveys or cohort studies of children. M&R systems report regularly and publicly on the overall characteristics, results and capacity of the school and other systems, agencies and professionals as well as the healthy development and health related learning of children and youth.

Early identification and strategic management of emerging issues and joint priorities; health and education systems need to have clearly identified priority issues. But they also need to identify emerging issues and address those issues; otherwise they will go outside the established process and push their way into the open, loosely coupled system in another way.

An explicit sustainability plan that includes long-term planning and sustained fundingensure the continuance of programs that demonstrate effectiveness, based on regular evaluations that shed light on program process, context and outcomes. Financial resources are needed for staff, personnel training, infrastructure changes, coordination, intersect oral participation and dissemination to support continued implementation and school health promotion action and evaluation plans.

In examining the CCSA document in regard to capacities, we find that the section of guiding principles, document refers briefly to the “shared responsibility and capacity” of various actors but it is “ultimately school staff and students who will bring positive change” but others “need to perceive a shared role – particularly the Ministry of Education, school board, regional health authorities, parents and the local community”.

In the next paragraph, CCSA states that “there are many ways of viewing capacity but it can be seen as the potential of a school or a team to take action”. The document goes on to say that the school team “critically reflect on school, team and partner capacities on an ongoing basis” and make adjustments if necessary.

In these few words, the CCSA document up-ends the whole concept of capacity and capacity building to once again place the burden on the school and front-line staff rather than looking at the various, multi-level systems that need to be involved. As well, the glaring omission of the Ministry of Health or provincial, local addiction or police agencies from the list of partners who might “perceive” that they share some responsibility for school substance abuse prevention places the entire discussion of capacity in a bad light.

The discussion of capacity in Standard Number 5 in the CCSA document is equally revealing. The obvious rationale for this standard is stated by noting that “it will be difficult to sustain initiatives whose goals and activities exceed the available resources” and then reiterating that it is up to the school-based team to assess the different types of leadership, collaborative, technical, cultural and financial capacities available to them and then manage them effectively. A brief sub-section is added to this standard that examines how school staff (i.e. teachers) can “introduce innovations to overcome some of the barriers.

Standard 8 of the CCSA document suggests that schools strengthen their links with parents and communities by engaging parents and working with community-based organizations to offer youth programs, after school programs, truancy prevention services, youth employment programs, better access to health care services and coordinated case management systems. What happens if those organizations are not funded, mandated or willing to work with schools?

Standard 9 of the CCSA document suggests ongoing professional development for teachers, both to improve their teaching as well as their enforcement of school SAP policies. This is true but it is not possible if the school board, education ministry or another part of government or agency provides the funding for this ongoing teacher development.

Standard 10 of the CCSA document suggests three keys to sustainability; active and ongoing support from the school principal, linking substance abuse prevention to the core educational mandate of the school and having a good implementation plan. While these three things are important, these items are not usually included in the evidenced-based definitions of capacity described above.

The workbook section of the CCSA document also refers to capacity, with a similar glossing over of its meaning and substance. In the “20 Minute Reflection” version of the Handbook, CCSA suggests that the local school teams ask if they are “strengthening the links with parents and other partners” and if they do professional development on an ongoing basis. In the In-Depth Review section under Standard 5 (Planning & Capacity), the CCSA document suggests that school teams ask themselves if they have:

learned about and applied a comprehensive school health framework to their prevention efforts
examined whether their prevention activities were effective
assessed their readiness to begin a new innovation
learned what community agencies are available to support their school’s efforts

In the In-Depth Review section under Standard 8, the CCSA document suggests that school staff look for evidence that they have:

incorporated their efforts within a broader school health framework,
ensured representation of the different community partners on their school team
included a family component to their efforts
linked their school efforts with community initiatives

In the In-Depth Review section relating to Standard 9 (Professional Development), the CCSA document asks school staffs to determine if they have:

prepared teachers and health promotion/prevention staff in student centered and interactive instruction
coached teachers and other staff in addressing sensitive issues
prepared teachers and staff in the use of participatory methods and in engaging youth effectively
addressed staff health and wellness

In the In-Depth Review section relating to Standard 10 (Sustainability), the CCSA document asks school staff to determine if they have:

created an evidence-based argument that substance abuse prevention should be part of the core school mandate
educated staff and parents about substance abuse issues
sought long-term funding for their initiative
embedded prevention and health promotion into school statements of core values or core mission

In other words, the onus on developing capacity for prevention is always placed on the school staff rather than the entire school system and other systems, agencies and professionals.

In our examination of this CCSA standard on capacity, we looked for some evidence that the general idea of capacity had actually been applied in a meaningful way, such that there can be a determination whether that a “standard” being met by the school was a normal or reasonable requirement in terms of quality, quantity, level or grade and/or that the ministries, local school board or health authorities or professional capacity was being added or provided.

The various parts of the CCSA document noted above are all good descriptions of a desirable or aspirational future and legitimate goals, but they are hardly any definition or description of the capacity required so that the school staff can determine if they have the capacity to achieve their plans. To use an example, ensuring that community agency representatives are sitting on a school team advising teachers can do in their work is one thing. Negotiating an agreement with those community agencies that they will deliver personnel or services to specified levels in the school is quite a different matter.

Using the eight point capacity model discussed above, CCSA could have suggested that school teams ask these kinds of measurable and specific questions about their capacity:

Do the health ministry and education ministry have a coordinated set policies and guidelines for school-based substance abuse prevention?
Have their school board, local health authority and addictions agency adopted or adapted those policies and assigned funds and personnel accordingly?
Are police officers mandated to work with schools and assigned to work with schools as school resource officers?
Are the addictions workers in local clinics mandated to work with schools and does the school have an agreement with those professionals about how they will serve their school?
Is there a person (police officer, public health nurse, addictions worker, vice-principal, etc.) that has been assigned to coordinate the school’s efforts in prevention? Has time been allocated in their job assignment or job description?
Do the school board, health authority, police department and addictions agency have a written agreement covering responses to incidents, support when working with parents, help for troubled students etc.? Has this inter-agency policy/procedure been discussed with the local school psychologists, social workers, nurses etc.?
Is there instructional adequate time available to cover the suggested learning objectives in the CCSA standards?
Has the school incorporated various monitoring and reporting items related to substance abuse into its annual school planning such as reporting on the number of incidents, referrals to various child and family support services, number and types of school activities, meeting s with individual parents and with groups of parents?

There could be several more similar questions that schools could be considering if they were truly examining their capacity to reduce or prevent substance abuse but, the point has been made here with these few examples.

Baseline Capacity (minimum staffing, curriculum time minimum service levels)

Another part of the consideration of capacity and capacity-building is defining the minimum resources required to achieve the minimum objectives that have been described and documented through research. (Most descriptions of the various levels and ingredients required test only one level of intervention(s) with no interventions used as the control group. Or, the description is based on assertions made or collated by advocates for that type of intervention and therefore are more likely describing the optimal level of intervention.)

With a budget of ten million dollars it might have been possible for CCSA to answer some baseline questions about minimal system and organizational capacity such as minimum learning outcomes for students, the teaching time required to reach those outcomes, minimum staffing ratios for school resource officers, school social workers, school psychologists but this was not attempted, nor discussed.

Different Local Neighbourhood Contexts as well as Different Types of Students

The CCSA document does a good job in helping us to understand the normal developmental pathways and various types of students who may be more at risk of substance abuse. These include aboriginal students, disengaged students, LGBT students, students from immigrant families and students with mental health issues. However, the CCSA document does not subsequently describe an appropriate approach or even refer to successful examples of programs that could address those different needs. In setting standards or benchmarks, we need to go beyond simply noting that diverse types of students require tailored types of responses and programs to provide some practical guidance to schools and other agencies about what is feasible for schools.

Further, the CCSA document does not mention, let alone address one of the major implications of an ecological understanding and approach to school health promotion. The local neighbourhood context matters very much in determining the needs of the school as well as their capacity to respond to their needs. The issues we choose to address, the nature and clustering of those issues with others, the types of programs and services that are feasible and acceptable to the community, the synergies of combining programs in different ways can all be derived and developed differently for different types of schools and neighbourhoods. Educational systems and educators have long recognized this and correspondingly discussed the delivery of educational programs in these kinds of schools/neighbourhoods:
· Rural, isolated schools
· Urban schools in disadvantaged communities
· Religious schools
· Band schools or schools serving large proportions of aboriginal students
· Affluent and private schools

The CCSA is not alone in failing to differentiate program needs and possibilities in different types of schools in this education-driven way, but it is still yet another example of how the CCSA document does not walk the talk about ecological, systems-based approaches to program planning and delivery.

Integrating within, not just with, education mandates, pre-occupations and constraints

The CCSA document suggests that substance abuse prevention be embedded within the core mandates of the school and repeats that advice in different formats throughout the document. Like many other health and social issues, the argument is made that substance abuse interferes with student learning and schools will be more effective if they work harder at their prevention efforts. While these assertions are true and useful, they fail to take into account the core mandates of schooling and the constraints imposed on educators in a way that will lead to sustainable change. Going back to our ecological analysis and wetlands analogy, we have to examine the true nature of the ecology of schools to truly understand their core functions, structures and boundaries.

The five core functions that schools play for society are noted below in their order of importance (with an emphasis or elaboration provided in italics)

Schools provide safe custody for children during the school day (and will act quickly to eliminate any threats or disruptions to that safe environment)
Schools ensure that all students leave schools with basic literacy, numeracy, scientific and technological knowledge and skills, a basic knowledge about history, geography, and obligatory exposure health, physical activity and the arts and selected other subjects with options to learn more in elective courses(with the emphasis clearly on literacy, numeracy, science and technology)
Schools accredit students with a basic level of literacy skills for graduation and will select some students for higher levels of education at university, college or training (and will fail a gradually increasing number of students at each grade level as part of the selection process in order that they meet the standards imposed by government or higher education institutions)
Schools provide basic training in work habits and provide some opportunities for students to learn about and explore various jobs and careers (with a bias towards careers requiring university preparation or jobs that encourage young people to seek employment/jobs provided by others rather than creating work for themselves).
Schools socialize students into the dominant ideology, norms, practices and cultures of their society (and help to reproduce the next generation of leaders and followers of these traditions)

Schools are open, adaptive and loosely coupled systems that can and do easily adopt small changes and innovations quickly and easily. But they are highly resistant to any substantive changes that require a shift in priorities among these five functions. So, teachers can bring in new lesson plans, can hold special theme days, hold parent nights, community groups can do campaigns and a variety of other activities can occur quite easily. But it is very difficult to change the provincial curriculum, increase the teaching time available for health, change the way that teachers are recruited into and trained in education faculties, not punish or exclude troubled students who are disrupting the learning for others and so on.
In particular, health advocates have ignored the implications of the school’s role in accrediting/failing students and in social control measures to protect the learning of all students.

The CCSA document suggests four basic interventions for schools to use in developing a substance prevention abuse “initiative”. They are:

Cultivating a positive school climate for all
Delivering developmentally appropriate classroom instruction at all levels
Implementing "targeted activities' (ie support services provided by educators, not health or addictions services professionals) within a comprehensive continuum of services
Preparing, implementing and maintaining school board and school policies

Let’s see how these four interventions fit with the explicit and implicit mandate of schools as described above.

First, let’s examine the notion of improving the school climate for all in the school. Recent research on school climate is documenting how different students perceive and interact with the climates in their schools. Booren et al (2011), Wan et al (2011) and Connor et al (2011) are among the researchers who are now differentiating among different types of students and between teachers and students in regard to how they perceive the climate of their schools and how that perception affects (or not), their use of substances . Increasingly, we are learning that some students, usually those who are having trouble with their school work and with their families or peers, perceive the climate of their schools differently than other students. We now know that as early as grade one, we can predict social and emotional problems among students who experience problems at school. Trying to have all students “connect” better with their schools is not the panacea that many would have us believe.

When we look at the imperatives for schools imposed by the five functions of schooling, where safety/orderliness for all students, accreditation/sorting/selecting students and a bias towards academic achievements are paramount, we can question the effectiveness of expecting that efforts to improve the overall school climate for everyone will also meet the needs of students who are already being pushed out of the system. Instead, the CCSA document could have suggested multi-intervention programs such as the wide spread Effective Behaviour Support (EBS) program (Sadler & Sugai, 2009) or the Response to Intervention Model (McIntosh et al, 2011) , which identify, track and support troubled students. These evidence-based programs that focus on the adaptation of students at risk within the overall school climate and operations will be more effective than generalized attempts to increase student and staff morale in preventing substance abuse, albeit that such morale is a good thing.

Similarly, the suggestions related to developing and implementing a “developmentally appropriate classroom instruction at all levels” shows both an ignorance of how school systems operate as well as a lack of understanding of how crowded and controlled the core curriculum is for school systems (especially when understood in the light of the description of the core mandates of schools above).

The advice provided in regard to instruction is all well and good even if it is somewhat redundant to most health curricula already in place in Canada. However, if the target audience for the CCSA Standards are teams of local school professionals, it does not make sense to advise them on curriculum design issues. Teachers, schools and school boards make decisions about the selection, purchase or development of lesson pans and teaching/learning materials. They do not develop curricula, which are statements or prescriptions about required or recommended learning objectives that are often accompanied by recommended teaching/learning and student assessment strategies. It would have been more productive and appropriate for CCSA to set some specific standards or provided advice about selecting or adapting instructional programs to school level teams. Another strategy that might have been used is for the CCSA document to assess the various lesson plans and instructional programs available and then published that list for school-based educators.

Most provinces and territories review and revise their curricula at very infrequent intervals, and then it takes several years to develop, pilot and then gradually introduce the curricula. So providing curriculum design advice to teachers in schools is irrelevant. Further, given the constraints identified in the section of core mandates of schools, it is not likely that the amount of teaching time available for substance abuse topics in the health curricula will change very much at all. So, suggesting that a K-12 scope and sequence for the substance abuse component of the health curriculum to members of school-based teams, when it already has been done by the provinces or won’t be done in the near future by the provinces, does not make much sense in the reality of school systems today.

Similarly, the third type of intervention recommended by CCSA (educators implementing targeted in-school actions to support students at risk) is all well and good except that it begs the more important question about who will provide health, addictions services and supports to these students when they are outside of the school. The actions suggested by CCSA include teachers being alert to student problems, having peer helper programs in place, mandating the guidance counsellors to identify and support students experiencing personal difficulties, stipulating referral procedures for teachers, and so on are all good. But these actions by educators will be in vain if they are not backed up and supported by police officers willing to intervene and divert troubled youth away from the courts towards support, by family and youth counsellors who are available and mandated to intervene with educators, by social workers who respond quickly to teacher reports of neglected children and youth, by youth addiction centres who work closely with schools, then many of the in-school, educator actions will only be providing band aids for more serious problems driving the youth consumption of drugs, alcohol and tobacco.

The same mistake is made when CCSA recommends policy-based action but refers only to school boards and schools in that section. Education, health, law enforcement, social services and other ministries all establish policies and procedures that affect the delivery of school-based and school-linked programs and services. As per our discussion of systems capacity, these inter-ministry, inter-agency and inter-professional policies and professional mandates need to be coordinated as part of a whole of government approach. The schools are part of the fabric of their communities and cannot be singled out in such as artificial manner. To use our wetlands analogy, it is like asking and expecting the birds to stay and flourish in the marsh after developers have diverted the water flow and used massive amounts of pesticides.

Addressing Adopter Concerns

The space available for this article is limited, so we cannot cover all of the points we would like to make about the CCSA document but we will close with two that relate to the “systems” approach that we have advocated throughout. We suggest that that the new, more successful and sustainable approaches to school health will be based on deeper understandings of how the educational system truly functions. Addressing adopter concerns and understanding teacher work life and professional norms is another.

Educators, as part of their professional norms, are focused equally on all students; their learning needs and potential to achieve their best are all equal. Therefore when one student disrupts the class, the tendency to exclude that student in order to to protect the rights of others is very strong. There is a reason why the term “orderly” often appears in the educational discussions about effective schools. Consequently, in regard to substance abuse, school staff will first want help from addictions services and police to manage troubled kids. The research on implementation calls this responding to adopter concerns in order to secure their involvement in the innovation.

Many educational jurisdictions have worked their way through immediate, reactive, poorly thought out responses to drug related disruptive students such as “zero tolerance” policies but the enlightened alternatives to school suspensions requires policies and programs from addictions services (treatment, rehab support, reintegration support etc.) as well as from police in regards to diversion and restorative justice programs. However, the CCSA standards document specifically excludes discussion of role of treatment clinics and addictions workers. As well, other procedures such as locker searches, responding to incidents, working with troubled families are all missing from this document. Thus, the immediate and priority concerns of the primary adopters are not being met. Further, the exclusion of these urgent concerns defies our new understanding about school health promotion and prevention that suggests that many agencies and professionals are required to be in schools delivering ongoing service in some designated ways.

Teacher Work Lives: No time for Meetings, Less Willing to Collaborate

In his landmark study of teachers, sociologist Dan Lortie (1975, 2002) described an occupation that may be a hesitant partner in school health promotion. He noted that teachers:

are often isolated by the workplace structures
often did not have an active career plan and are in an occupation that does not have a strong career trajectory to reward experience and skill
teaching careers are “un-staged” and front-end loaded in terms of financial rewards
becoming an administrator is not seen as a rewarding change
often come across as conservative and even ambivalent in their attitudes,
were often selected to teach in communities that held the same values as those that they grew up with
found their chief motivation and inspiration in the daily satisfactions of reaching and changing kids
work in an occupation that is governed by non-teachers rather than their peers, where entry requirements are kept loose because of periodic teacher shortages, where the work place does not promote inquiry

Ziechner & Gore (1999) reviewed much of the research on teacher socialization that followed Lortie’s work. They discuss the different approaches to teacher socialization (functionalist, interpretative and critical) as well as examine the different stages of socialization (prior to formal teacher training, during pre-service teacher education, during in-service). They concur with Lortie’s assessment that the pre-training stages of socialization are the most powerful and explain why teaching practice is so stable and resistant to change. Teachers have learned how to teach from their parents as well as from their own teachers and they will seek to reproduce those patterns. This means an emphasis on knowledge, facts and didactic methods. They also suggest that the teaching practicum component of pre-service training has a larger impact on teaching practice than the education faculty methods courses. In particular, if the ecology of the school in which they practice teach does not permit practices such as interactive methods or project-based learning, it is likely that the new teachers will abandon those methods very quickly.

Roland Barth (2006) suggests that the interpersonal relationships among staff within a school are the most powerful influence of the culture of that school and its ultimate effectiveness. The relationships among staff members will affect their relationships with students and parents. He notes that there are a number of “non-discussables” that revolve around those adult relationships that affect the school. They include the leadership of the principal, issues of race, underperforming teachers, their personal visions of a good school and the relationships among the adults in the school.

Barth also describes how teachers are isolated workers, living in separate caves in their schools. This is often the nature of the workday for most teachers. Teachers tend not to share their craft knowledge with each other. He describes the written sign that is outside most teachers’ staff room – no students allowed. He then points out the unwritten rule of many staff room – no talking about teaching in the staff room. He also notes that teachers become very apprehensive if someone observes their teaching in the classroom.

Tuohy & Coghlan (1997) have developed a multi-level analysis using a systems approach. They suggest that staff participation in school life can be analyzed on four levels: the individual, the team, the inter-team cooperation and the school as a whole interacting with its environment. This type of in-depth analysis needs to be part of SH promotion and practice.
They present an intensive framework for each of these levels that is valid for school health promotion. They view schools as social systems, where there is an integral link between how policy is formulated and implemented, how work is managed and coordinated, how people work together and how the individual teacher finds career satisfaction is essential to the coordinated development of the school.

They go on to describe the working of the teams within the school. They note that, traditionally, teaching has been a private matter, between the teacher and the students. Indeed, this is one of the few areas where an individual teacher may feel in control. However, new demands on schools, including coordinated school health programs, often require a whole school approach as well as partnerships with the community. These new school approaches often include:
Management structures such as parent advisory councils, subject departments, staff committees, student councils, community liaison committees
Educational planning – including participation in board and ministry committees, master teacher programs, student teachers
Pedagogical planning – including teams to implements new curricula, select prevention programs, improve school outcomes.

Tuohy & Coghlan note that often teachers are not effective in such teams and committees. They cite Hargreave’s description of “contrived collegiality” where problems are often not addressed. This means that the silent minorities of teachers often simply return to their classrooms to await the demise of the innovation being proposed.
Further, all of these insights into teachers work lives are underlined when we consider how little time and respect is given to planning time for teachers. Professional days are always questioned by parents because it they interrupt the custodial (day care) service provided to them. Teaching time is maximized between school bus times, so it is rarely possible for teachers to meet informally because they are always teaching or preparing for the next class. The few professional days available to teachers are often taken up with workshops and meeting topics identified by the school board or others.

In short, teachers have little time for group planning, are less inclined than most professions to work together, and are usually not supported in doing so through release time from their teaching. Teachers who do take the lead on issues or projects are either promoted or they burn out from their double duty. And principals are rightly concerned with a multitude of non-health issues every day and cannot be expected to provide ongoing facilitation and team leadership on every issue.

Yet, teacher collaboration with colleagues and outsiders is the basis of the improvement process suggested by the CCSA document. The CCSA document does not identify the external professional (such as nurses, police officers, addictions workers) who can and should facilitate the process in schools but instead suggest that we leave this up to chance. This core capacity, the assignment of a coordinator, is required for every successful program. But who that person should or will be it is left unanswered by the CCSA document.

The CCSA Document Does Not Reflect What we Now Know

In conclusion, and as illustrated throughout this analysis, the CCSA School Standards fail to act upon the research and practice-based discussions about ecological and systems-based approaches to school-based and school-linked health promotion and prevention. The burden for systemic change is placed, inappropriately, on the front-line people (teachers) on only one system among the many that are responsible for school-based and school-linked prevention. The multi-level ecologies of schools are noted in a theoretical discussion in the document but not acted upon throughout its content. The need for system, agency, school and professional capacities is ignored, except for the traditional call for more professional development for teachers. The four types of educator-only interventions suggested in the document are problematic without the support from other systems, agencies and professions. The document has not used what we now know about teacher work lives and has not responded to their immediate concerns about troubled students.

The Other Activities in the CCSA Project are Also Frail

Time and space in this document does not permit an in-depth analysis of the other activities that were funded by the ten million dollars received by CCSA for this five year project. These include:
· Two other similar “standards” documents
· The facilitation of a National Advisory Group on Youth Substance Abuse Prevention (YSAP)
· The development of a database of prevention resources
· The collection and analysis of local “initiatives” that would also be collected into a database
· The development and production of a web-based television show for youth to watch after school.

We are not able to analyze the two other standards documents but we are able to comment briefly on the other activities.

Youth Substance Abuse Prevention Advisory Group

The National Advisory Group on Youth Substance Abuse Prevention (about 25 member organizations) met face to face twice yearly and held 3-4 conference calls early in the life of the project. The number and nature of the participants was good in the beginning of the project but fell off significantly throughout the project. Most of the meetings were taken up with presentations and progress reports from CCSA staff, so the YSAP did not serve as a national leadership group but rather as an advisor to CCSA activities. It also did not serve as a “community of practice” or even a knowledge exchange network for organizations concerned with youth and substance abuse. The YSAP was not directly involved nor informed about the detailed work on the three standards documents (which was done by groups of experts). A most telling feature of our meetings, even in the latter stages of the project, was that we had to have “ice-breaker” activities at all meetings so that the new participants at each meeting got to know each other.

If the purpose of the YSAP was ongoing knowledge exchange, it did not achieve that objective. Any successful KE process builds trust and relationships, shares leadership functions and is a forum shaped by its users. The YSAP may have served CCSA needs in serving as an advisory committee for its activities or interests but did little else.

Database of Prevention Resources

As of the writing of this analysis, CCSA had collected 116 school related resources in this database (located by searching for all school resources) of these resources, the following breakdown was done as part of this analysis:
· General fact sheets on substance abuse (14 resources)
· Statistics and other background on the prevalence and nature of youth substance abuse (17 resources)
· Documents or tools in general health promotion, prevention or youth development (30 resources)
· School-focused tools and documents (39 resources)
· Not applicable or place holder items (16 items)

As one can see from the breakdown, most of the resources identified in the CCSA database are actually not focused on school-based or school-linked health promotion or prevention. Only 39 items pertain directly to schools.

The CCSA collection of resources compares unfavourably with the online collection being maintained by the International School Health Network which as posted 219 resources in its school-focused bibliography/toolbox collection on school substance abuse. This ISHN collection also currently holds an equal number of selected research reviews and articles. As well, the ISHN collection is fed by a regular monitoring of over 150 journals, over 75 media outlets and over 75 social media sources. These resources are posted each day in a dedicated Twitter news feed on school substance abuse. The average number of items identified per month hovers around 50 new items per month.

Similarly, a search of the evaluated interventions for school-based interventions to prevent substance abuse that have been carefully selected from controlled trials and other similar sources by the Canadian Best Practices Portal found 38 interventions. This portal does not collect other resource materials, only the evaluated interventions, a far smaller universe from which to find items. Again, this is an unfavourable comparison for the CCSA database.

Database and Assessment of Local Initiatives

The purpose of this database was to collect examples of nominated local multi-intervention programs (initiatives) and then analyze them as they came in. As of October 15, no initiatives were posted in this database. It is our understanding that this part of the CCSA activity was not accomplished and in fact was stopped by CCSA.
This CCSA experience compares unfavourably with similar activities that we are aware of on other health issues. Many of these types of national projects undertake an environment scan to identify locally developed programs. These are often collected through web and telephone searches and then a list is published. For example, a comparable mental health project that CASH is involved with has collected over 80 local programs and listed them in relation to different aspects such as target audience, types of interventions, number of years operating, sources of funds etc. Of course, most of these lists become out of date very quickly and are dependent on having a funded person continue with the collection and posting. As well, many of the local programs are externally funded and often disappear when that funding is withdrawn.

The CCSA Web-based Television Series

According to the CCSA news release announcing its ten million dollar project, the CCSA web-based project had two components, a youth web site and a media/youth consortium of national media corporations and youth service organizations to develop and deliver evidence-based prevention messages to promote positive and healthy life choices for youth.
We will not be commenting on the web site for youth, except to say that it joins similar federally funded web sites published by Health Canada, the RCMP and the Canadian Anti-drug Strategy as well as numerous web sites published by provincial agencies and other organizations.
The web-based television series, URLTV, was an online healthy lifestyle television channel for Canadian youth aged 10–24. According to a CCSA newsletter, the URL-TV will blend information about substance use and its effects into youth programming focused on skill building, youth engagement and entertainment. The web site started publishing in the fall of 2010 and ended in the spring of 2011.

All links and references to the web TV activity have been removed from the CCSA and youth web site, and we could not locate any explanations for its ending. It was our understanding that the project was to receive funding from its media partners in order to keep going. It is difficult to assess the effectiveness of the short lived web television series, but given that it took three years to develop and six month at most to operate, it seems likely that this was an innovation did not succeed.

Lessons Learned from this CCSA Project

Making the shift away from the ‘old, traditional” approach to school-based prevention and health promotion is a very challenging task. The lens used to analyze the CCSA school standards document is very sharp and clear. A similar analysis of the Canadian research being funded and published was done in this newsletter several months ago and reported similar findings.

In truth, the CCSA document is not much different that the three similar documents published by Health Canada, the Canadian Association for School Health and the Joint Consortium for School Health. Like CCSA, those organizations conducted rapid research reviews and published general documents advocating comprehensive, multi-intervention programs and approaches through schools.

However, each of those documents was done for less than $50,000.00 and was not really intended to be more than what they were. Indeed, if one examines those three documents, one quickly finds that in many ways, the CCSA document duplicates the work in those previous documents. With a budget of $10 million over five years, we can and should expect more and better results.

References

Barth, R.S. (2006). Improving relationships within the schoolhouse. Educational Leadership, 63(6), 8-13.

Booren LM, Handy DJ, Power TG (2011) Examining Perceptions of School Safety Strategies, School Climate, and Violence Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice April 2011 vol. 9 no. 2 171-187

Burns, MK. (2011) School Psychology Research: Combining Ecological Theory and Prevention Science School Psychology Review, v40 n1 p132-139 2011

Canadian Association for School Health and 26 other Canadian Organizations (2007) Canadian Consensus Statement on Comprehensive School Health: Revised Edition

ConnerJO, Mason M, Mennis J (2011) Valuing but Not Liking School: Revisiting the Relationship Between School Attitudes and Substance Use Among Urban Youth

Fan W, Williams CM, Corkin DM (2011) A multilevel analysis of student perceptions of school climate: The effect of social and academic risk factors Psychology in the Schools Volume 48, Issue 6 pages 632–647

Joint Consortium for School Health (nd) Key Organizational Capacities for Sustaining Comprehensive Approaches to Health Promoting Schools Charlottetown, PEI (Accessed on October 20-2011)

Lohrmann, David K. (2010) A Complementary Ecological Model of the Coordinated School Health Program Journal of School Health, v80 n1 p1-9 Jan 2010

Lortie DC (1975) The School Teacher, Chicago, University Press

Lortie, DC. (2002). School Teacher: A Sociological Study. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press

McIntosh K, MacKay LD, Andreou T, Brown JA, Mathews S , Gietz C, Bennett JL (2011) Response to Intervention in Canada: Definitions, the Evidence Base, and Future Directions Canadian Journal of School PsychologyMarch 1, 201126:18-43

Poland B, Krupa G, McCall M (2009) Settings for Health Promotion: An Analytic Framework to Guide Intervention Design and Implementation Health Promotion Practice October 2009 vol. 10 . 4505-516

Rowling L, Jeffreys V (2006) Capturing complexity: integrating health and education research to inform health-promoting schools policy and practice Health Education Research Vol 21, No 5, 705-718

Sadler C, Sugai G (2009) Effective Behavior and Instructional Support. A District Model for Early Identification and Prevention of Reading and Behavior Problems Journal of Positive Behavior InterventionsJanuary 1, 200911:35-46

School Health Research Network (2005) Assessment of Ministry Capacity Project Schools, Health, Substance Abuse and Nutrition, Unpublished, Surrey, BC, Canadian Association for School Health

Tuohy, D., Coghlan, D. (1997). Development in schools: A systems approach based on organizational levels. Educational Management & Administration, 25(1), 65-77.

Whipple, S Sepanski S, Evans, GW,, Barry, RL. Maxwell, LE (2010) An Ecological Perspective on Cumulative School and Neighborhood Risk Factors Related to Achievement Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, v31 n6 p422-427 Nov-Dec 2010

Wiium, N, Wold, B (2009) An Ecological System Approach to Adolescent Smoking Behavior Journal of Youth and Adolescence, v38 n10 p1351-1363 Nov 2009

World Health Organization (2003) Rapid Action & Assessment Tool Author, Geneva

World Health Organization (1997) What is a Health Promoting School? Geneva

World Health Organization (2009) Schools for health, education and development: a call for action Consensus Statement from a Technical Meeting

Zeichner, K., Gore J. (1990). Teacher socialization in W.R. Houston (ed.) Handbook of Research on Teacher Education, New York, NY: Macmillan. Surrey, BC Education and Urban SocietyMay 11, 20110013124511406915

Latest SH Report (Knowledge Matters)

dmccall — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 11:06:57 CST

This page contain the latest issue of Knowledge Matters. This page will change once a month. If you want to receive an email notifying you that a new issue has been published here, you need to join this wiki, create a profile and then set the controls within your profile to "watch" this page.

Canada's monthly school health report from the Canadian Association for School Health
Volume 6 Issue 1 (July-September, 2011)

___________________________________________________________________________________________________

(Download to print version)

- access to the extensive ISHN research/news/resources clipping service monitoring over 150 journals, over 75 media outlets and over 75 social media sources to bring a constant stream of brief info items with web links.
- reduced conference registration fees
- access to CASH and ISHN webinars
- access to updated web pages on SH in all 200 countries and their respective states/provinces including recent reports and articles, key contacts, web sites and policy, planning and educational resources
- customized search engines going only to government web sites around the world and access to shared collections of bookmarks, documents, videos and more

Highlights From July 2011

News Story (Jul 1-11) Residential school survivors: improve mental health care http://ow.ly/1v0RRE
News Story (Jul 7-11) Canada's Chief public health officer reappointedhttp://ow.ly/1uwoEA
Report. Country Reports on Smoke-free Policies in Canadahttp://ow.ly/1uwoQ2
News Story (Jul 7-11) Canadian teen designs new vaccine in pill formhttp://ow.ly/1uwqom
News Story (Jul 21-11) Ontario Requires Gay-Straight Alliances http://ow.ly/1v0b09
News Story (Jul 26-11) Case Studies of Quebec Community Learning Centreshttp://ow.ly/1v0RYU
News Release (Jul 21-11) Canadian Premiers Emphasize Early Childhood and Youth Health in their Meetinghttp://ow.ly/1v12zI
Online Training Critical Appraisal of Intervention Studies http://ow.ly/1vMG6R
Video Presentation Social Determinants of Health: The Canadian Factshttp://ow.ly/1vR6Uf
Web Site Canadian International Development Agency funded Project Databasehttp://ow.ly/1vAJk5
Pre-service teachers’ knowledge and attitudes regarding school-based bullying

See all of the postings for July-August here

Highlights from August 2011

Report of Honouring Our Strengths: A Renewed Framework to Address Substance Use in First Nations People in Canadahttp://ow.ly/1v511a
Ed Resource Web Site Vaccine Basicshttp://ow.ly/1vABj1
News Story (Aug 5-11) School phys-ed grants cut in Nova Scotiahttp://ow.ly/1vAC70
Report International Review Panel Report, Canadian Institutes for Health Research 2005-2010http://ow.ly/1vAGwF
News Story (Aug 8-11) 300,000 children in danger of starvation in Africahttp://ow.ly/1vAI3J
Daniel Fuller, Catherine Sabiston, Igor Karp, Tracie Barnett and Jennifer O'Loughlin (2011) ·
School Sports Opportunities Influence Physical Activity in Secondary School and Beyond
Journal of School Health Volume 81, Issue 8, pages 449–454, August 2011
Policy Doc Draft Physical Activity Strategy and Change Agenda for Canadahttp://ow.ly/1vR6xb
News Release (Aug 18-11) CASH Conference Speaker NYC Prof Basch Meets with U.S. Education Secretary on School Health Disparity Strategieshttp://ow.ly/1x46qF

See all of the postings for July-August here.

Highlights from September 2011

News Release (Sep 30-11) Autism Awareness Month in Canadahttp://ow.ly/1y2v8r
News Story (Sep 29-11) Benefits of tobacco control outweigh lost taxes http://ow.ly/1y2sNp
Report. Return on Investment: Mental Health Promotion and Mental Illness Prevention (CIHI, Canada, http://ow.ly/1xT2KV
News Story (Sep 28-11) Fighting poverty pays off, report sayshttp://ow.ly/1xQjFN
News Story (Sep 22-11) Canadians consume 26 teaspoons of sugar daily: StatsCan http://ow.ly/1xx3fg
News Release (Sep 19-11) Canada Signs UN Declaration on Preventing and Controlling Chronic Diseases http://ow.ly/1xuKTX
News Story (Sep 15-11) On World Suicide Prevention Day, Inuit leaders talk about the lack of support http://ow.ly/1xcjlb
News Story (Sep 16-11) Mental health presents dilemmas for N.W.T. http://ow.ly/1xcj2G
News Story (Sep 12-11) Nunavut unwraps anti-suicide action plan http://ow.ly/1x9YFr
Report Education Indicators in Canada http://ow.ly/1x37Of
Web Site Youth Drug Prevention for Parents (Health Canada)http://ow.ly/1y2vls

See all of the postings for September here

Promote not only multiple interventions but also promote actions at multiple levels in multiple systems
Use different program logic models than the traditional, linear, medical model, where a priority issue is selected based on medical grounds, a short term (2-3 years)intervention is selected and tested for dose, duration and intensity in controlled conditions and then the experimental results are applied in controlled conditions elsewhere with expectations of life long impacts. Instead we can:

Start with the health/social needs of a population and local context, then help them identify priority issues and clusters of issues, then select synergistic combinations of programs drawn from several models of school-based and school-linked work (Rather than selecting an issue at a provincial/national level, setting general goals, then adapting it to local circumstances
Start from a capacity/community development model and seek improvements whenever and wherever possible based on local strengths, needs and opportunities (Rather than seeking changes on one issue on all communities)
Choose from among behavioural, community and organizational development theories and models and then build that framework over time. (Rather than inventing a new framework and infrastructure each time a new issue arises)

Ecological systems are open and adaptable to emerging changes and new demands in their environments but system stasis, boundaries, changes in the environment and system-environment interactions will ultimately determine the long-term response to any specific demand/innovation.
Open, loosely-coupled systems are adaptive to small scale changes (innovations) but often resist large scale change (reforms). Consequently, school systems will adopt new specific health issues/programs and drop older health programs very quickly. They will also resist demands for a shift away from their primary literacy, custody, vocational and accreditation roles to focus on life-long healthy lifestyles
Loosely coupled systems are more dependent on professional and social consensus for their decision-making and will therefore be influenced more effectively by addressing adopter concerns directly, identifying policy levers and incentives that system managers can use and acquiring a deep understanding of the roles and preoccupations of front line staff, middle managers and senior staff as well as organizational readiness for change.
Education, public health, welfare, police services, social service, addictions and other government systems are operated by "professional bureaucracies" that are multi-level, are dependent on structures, job descriptions, routines and procedures, have formal and informal communications channels and internal social networks, make decisions based on non-rational grounds and are led by individuals with perceived, specialized forms of knowledge, have their own professional norms, sociology, work life/career patterns and cultures.
Systems management, normally complex in large systems, becomes even more so when we realize that school human development programs must work across several systems which often have competing priorities and scarce resources and at multiple levels within those systems. Consequently, we need to clearly define what we need in regard to the degree, forms and nature of cooperation needed at the school/professional, school board/agency and inter-ministry levels.

A System is more than the Front Line Workers

Social service agencies, addiction treatment centres need to have services in place so that educators can refer troubled students to help from mandated professionals
Police officers and youth courts need to have procedures and supports available to divert students from further confrontations with the law
Education ministries need to design their curricula so that there is adequate teaching time and materials available for SAP specific learning as well as overall health/development
School boards need to allocate funds for professional development to health teacher skill development and education faculties/ministries and teacher colleges need to provide better preparation in pre-service programs
Social service agencies need to fund local community-based organizations to provide after- school programs for youth and those organizations need to establish protocols with local school boards to working with schools.

Linear Logic Models are less than useful in complex, ecological, multi-level systems

Standards or Aspirational Goals?

More than Just Talk about Capacity

comprehensive and coordinated ministry, agency/school board and school/professional protocols/mandates on school health, health issues and the elements of school health promotion that are actively supported by senior managers should include financing, administration and organization. These explicit, comprehensive policy and managerial supports for inter-ministry, interagency and inter-disciplinary coordination and cooperation should include procedures in policy-making, program planning, and budget preparation to align responses to health and social issues undertaken through and with the school systems. As well, an overarching policy should favour inter-sectorial approaches and it should be reflected in guidance and directives to school, public health, police, social service and other local authorities and agencies

formal and informal mechanisms for inter-ministry, inter-agency and inter-professional coordination and cooperation; these mechanisms help to manage the implementation process, avoid confusion, and capitalize on synergistic action. Mechanisms may include joint committees, job descriptions, written policy statements, joint in-service programs, joint planning, shared budget allocations, joint vision development and consensus building.

assigned staffing and infrastructure to support inter-ministry, inter-agency and interdisciplinary coordination and cooperation at all levels; Assigned staffing and infrastructure, such as provincial/territorial and district school health coordinators, help to facilitate and support interdisciplinary coordination and cooperation in school health promotion. These staff assignments should include time for actively supporting voluntary cooperation and alignment of activities, programs, policies and practices. They should be based on explicit intergovernmental, inter-ministry, inter-agency and inter-disciplinary agreements and should ensure that the voices of youth, parents, professionals and volunteers are heard in the decision-making about policies and programs.

ongoing workforce development of health, social service, police, education and other professionals through professional preparation programs and staff development includes explicit and sustained programs and processes to develop ministry and local agency workforces, through studies of current professional practices, guidance and support for the development of university and college pre-service preparation programs, and development of guidelines, models and materials for sustained staff development programs.

Ongoing and active knowledge transfer and exchange within and across sectors includes mechanisms and processes to sharing evidence as well as local solutions and ideas for implementation, funding and evaluation with decision-makers and practitioners to describe lessons learned and promote promising practices. This would include evidence-based knowledge summaries published by a variety of sources, guidelines for policy, programs and practice from provincial, territorial and professional sources and tools and models that enable decision-makers and practitioners to reflect on their situation and their practice and to locate materials and models that can be adapted to their circumstance.

Regular monitoring and reporting on system, organizational (agency and school board), school and professional performance and capacities uses carefully selected indicators based on reliable data sources to produce regular reports on system/organizational performance over time as a tool to focus system reform and improvement. Effective M&R systems record changes over time in the local context, inputs, processes (programs, policies, practices) and outputs (short term health/social status, behaviours, knowledge, skills, attitudes). Specific surveys and reports on aspects of health, selected sub-populations or program evaluations can be done within the context of this overall reporting system but are not a substitute for such a system. M&R systems are similar but different than program evaluation, self-assessments, one-time or ongoing surveys or cohort studies of children. M&R systems report regularly and publicly on the overall characteristics, results and capacity of the school and other systems, agencies and professionals as well as the healthy development and health related learning of children and youth.

Early identification and strategic management of emerging issues and joint priorities; health and education systems need to have clearly identified priority issues. But they also need to identify emerging issues and address those issues; otherwise they will go outside the established process and push their way into the open, loosely coupled system in another way.

An explicit sustainability plan that includes long-term planning and sustained fundingensure the continuance of programs that demonstrate effectiveness, based on regular evaluations that shed light on program process, context and outcomes. Financial resources are needed for staff, personnel training, infrastructure changes, coordination, intersect oral participation and dissemination to support continued implementation and school health promotion action and evaluation plans.

learned about and applied a comprehensive school health framework to their prevention efforts
examined whether their prevention activities were effective
assessed their readiness to begin a new innovation
learned what community agencies are available to support their school’s efforts

In the In-Depth Review section under Standard 8, the CCSA document suggests that school staff look for evidence that they have:

incorporated their efforts within a broader school health framework,
ensured representation of the different community partners on their school team
included a family component to their efforts
linked their school efforts with community initiatives

In the In-Depth Review section relating to Standard 9 (Professional Development), the CCSA document asks school staffs to determine if they have:

prepared teachers and health promotion/prevention staff in student centered and interactive instruction
coached teachers and other staff in addressing sensitive issues
prepared teachers and staff in the use of participatory methods and in engaging youth effectively
addressed staff health and wellness

In the In-Depth Review section relating to Standard 10 (Sustainability), the CCSA document asks school staff to determine if they have:

created an evidence-based argument that substance abuse prevention should be part of the core school mandate
educated staff and parents about substance abuse issues
sought long-term funding for their initiative
embedded prevention and health promotion into school statements of core values or core mission

Do the health ministry and education ministry have a coordinated set policies and guidelines for school-based substance abuse prevention?
Have their school board, local health authority and addictions agency adopted or adapted those policies and assigned funds and personnel accordingly?
Are police officers mandated to work with schools and assigned to work with schools as school resource officers?
Are the addictions workers in local clinics mandated to work with schools and does the school have an agreement with those professionals about how they will serve their school?
Is there a person (police officer, public health nurse, addictions worker, vice-principal, etc.) that has been assigned to coordinate the school’s efforts in prevention? Has time been allocated in their job assignment or job description?
Do the school board, health authority, police department and addictions agency have a written agreement covering responses to incidents, support when working with parents, help for troubled students etc.? Has this inter-agency policy/procedure been discussed with the local school psychologists, social workers, nurses etc.?
Is there instructional adequate time available to cover the suggested learning objectives in the CCSA standards?
Has the school incorporated various monitoring and reporting items related to substance abuse into its annual school planning such as reporting on the number of incidents, referrals to various child and family support services, number and types of school activities, meeting s with individual parents and with groups of parents?

Different Local Neighbourhood Contexts as well as Different Types of Students

Integrating within, not just with, education mandates, pre-occupations and constraints

Schools provide safe custody for children during the school day (and will act quickly to eliminate any threats or disruptions to that safe environment)
Schools ensure that all students leave schools with basic literacy, numeracy, scientific and technological knowledge and skills, a basic knowledge about history, geography, and obligatory exposure health, physical activity and the arts and selected other subjects with options to learn more in elective courses(with the emphasis clearly on literacy, numeracy, science and technology)
Schools accredit students with a basic level of literacy skills for graduation and will select some students for higher levels of education at university, college or training (and will fail a gradually increasing number of students at each grade level as part of the selection process in order that they meet the standards imposed by government or higher education institutions)
Schools provide basic training in work habits and provide some opportunities for students to learn about and explore various jobs and careers (with a bias towards careers requiring university preparation or jobs that encourage young people to seek employment/jobs provided by others rather than creating work for themselves).
Schools socialize students into the dominant ideology, norms, practices and cultures of their society (and help to reproduce the next generation of leaders and followers of these traditions)

Cultivating a positive school climate for all
Delivering developmentally appropriate classroom instruction at all levels
Implementing "targeted activities' (ie support services provided by educators, not health or addictions services professionals) within a comprehensive continuum of services
Preparing, implementing and maintaining school board and school policies

Addressing Adopter Concerns

Teacher Work Lives: No time for Meetings, Less Willing to Collaborate

In his landmark study of teachers, sociologist Dan Lortie (1975, 2002) described an occupation that may be a hesitant partner in school health promotion. He noted that teachers:

are often isolated by the workplace structures
often did not have an active career plan and are in an occupation that does not have a strong career trajectory to reward experience and skill
teaching careers are “un-staged” and front-end loaded in terms of financial rewards
becoming an administrator is not seen as a rewarding change
often come across as conservative and even ambivalent in their attitudes,
were often selected to teach in communities that held the same values as those that they grew up with
found their chief motivation and inspiration in the daily satisfactions of reaching and changing kids
work in an occupation that is governed by non-teachers rather than their peers, where entry requirements are kept loose because of periodic teacher shortages, where the work place does not promote inquiry

Lesson Plans, Educational Resources on Substance Abuse

dmccall — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 09:17:38 CST

This page contains an extensive list of lesson plans, webquests, student projects, fact sheets, handouts for parents and other educational resources for preventing substance abuse and other addictions. The listing has been prepared by the International School Health Network (ISHN) as part of a Health Canada project in partnership with the Council on Drug Abuse. This content is on an embedded page from another web site because ISHN maintains an even more extensive collection of health, PE and family studies lesson plans/educational resources as part of its information service to its members. For more information or to suggest a learning resource, contact info@internationalschoolhealth.org

Joint Statement on School Mental Health Promotion

dmccall — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 11:20:14 CST

Several national organizations are developing a joint statement that defines and describes how schools can promote mental health. An initial draft (posted below) was discussed on conference calls in December 2009 and January 2010. Participating organizations are invited to edit the text directly on this page using the "EasyEdit" tool found at the top of this page. Comments on the draft can also be made using the "thread" tool at the bottom of the page.

Note: Anyone visiting this web page can make changes and comments anonymously but participants are encouraged to join the wetpaint system (Select "Sign Up" from the top navigation bar) we are using for this wiki, then select "join" to enter this wiki-community. By doing this, you will be able to control the email that you receive from this web site by adjusting the "email notifications in your profile. As well, others participating in this process will be able to know which suggestions have been made by you.

Canadian Consensus Statement on School Mental Health Promotion (October 30 draft)

The consensus statement below is being developed by several national organizations in Canada in order to clarify and describe the actions that can be taken through schools to support mental health. We hope that this statement can be used as a basis for developing ministry, agency and school policies and long-term plans as well as a reference point encouraging concerted inter-sectorial actions at all levels.

Schools acting with the direction and support of government ministries, school boards and working collaboratively with other agencies and professionals as well as parents and young people, can make a substantial contribution to enhancing the mental health of youth. This may include but not be limited to the following: developing mental health awareness, knowledge, skills and beliefs among students, educators and parents; creating supportive social and physical school environments; helping to deliver programs that can assist in the identification, triage and referral of young people at risk of mental disorder; providing "on site" services to address mental health problems; providing on-going liaison with health care providers to meet the needs of youth receiving care for mental disorders; promoting staff wellness and more.

While teachers are not mental health professionals and cannot be expected to assess children or address their specific mental health problems, they can provide a a supportive environment, be aware of community-based services and refer children in need to others.

The potential roles of the school in addressing youth mental health can be conceptualized as a pathway. The first component of which is mental health promotion. The International Alliance for Child and Adolescent Mental Health and Schools (INTERCAMHS) has suggested this definition of school mental health promotion:

"Promoting mental health through schools supports a whole school approach involving effective mental health promotion, intervention and treatment. This approach is supported by policies, skills for social emotional learning, a healthy psycho-social school environment and access to services in the school or in the broader community. The full participation of teachers, students, families and community agencies is encouraged with informed dialogue and collaboration among people and programmes throughout all phases of the continuum. This action is supported by principles that value diversity and inclusiveness, and practice that creates conditions for empowerment and school organizational development."

The above definition moves beyond traditional concepts of health promotion and includes a number of components often conceptualized as different stages on a pathway to care. In Canada, with a health care system substantially different from that in other countries, schools may play different roles in this pathway to care, particularly in the domain of mental health service provision. An essential component of the INTERCAMS approach however is its emphasis on the critical role of evidence to guide training, policy, research and practice in addressing the following:

Universal mental health promotion, which seeks to improve school psychosocial environments, skills-based health education for social, emotional learning and brings resources and programs to all students to promote health, successful teaching and learning and academic success;
Selective interventions, which provide prevention programs for young people presenting risk factors for problems;
Indicated interventions, which provide early interventions to young people exhibiting emotional and behavioural problems; and
Treatment, which provides more intensive services to youth presenting established emotional/behavioural problems.

This INTERCAMHS definition is consistent with other international statements emphasizing comprehensive approaches, coordinated programs and whole, health promoting school strategies . Recent consensus statements from the World Health Organization, the International School Health Network and the network of Schools for Health in Europe are shifting attention to multi-level, ecological and systems-based approaches that address the development and implementation of initiatives that meet student needs and are sustainable within local fiscal and social realities. These approaches highlight the use of institutional capacity-building and continuous improvement strategies based on systematic review and research. School mental health programs are at the forefront of these new approaches to school health promotion. Other similar statements on school-based approaches promoting mental health through schools include the "child-friendly school" model developed by UNICEF, the "inclusive education" model developed by UNESCO and the "social-emotional" application of the health promoting school model from WHO .

Proponents of school-based and school-linked mental health programs and approaches should be careful to not duplicate the work that has been done by other sectors that overlap with mental health concerns. The safe and caring schools movement has and is describing comprehensive approaches to preventing crime, violence and bullying with a focus on offenders, bystanders and victims. The inclusive schools movement has defined much of what works in integrating students with physical, intellectual, learning and emotional disabilities. The social and emotional learning movement is already well-established in many school systems. Anti-racism and diversity programs have addressed other behaviours that have mental health consequences. Consequently, school mental health programs and approaches should be positioned with these other efforts as well as the ongoing and constant efforts of schools to provide good student discipline, appropriate, supportive relationships between students, staff and parents and moral, principled guidance to their students,

A considerable body of research evidence (including systematic reviews, replicated controlled trials) and professional experience has accumulated suggesting that multiple intervention programs developed and delivered as part of comprehensive approaches (linking MH to other issues, multi-level, multi-systems/agencies), coordinated agency, mental health professional and school programs and whole school strategies can have an impact on mental health as well as positive and negative aspects of mental health (e.g. attachment, resiliency, depression, suicide) as well affect or offset other health behaviours and conditions (e.g addiction, aggression, abuse, disability, chronic disease). These interventions can include:

adjustments to the core operations of schools such as student/staff conduct policies, student evaluation, promotion/failing/retention procedures, student recognition programs, programs to support transitions into primary school, between primary and secondary school and onto further studies or the workforce
policy interventions including school and youth policies of health authorities and social service agencies as well as school boards
instructional interventions including improved curriculum design and content, effective MH promotion and prevention programs and materials, teaching methods, parent involvement in take home activities and peer instruction
health, mental health, social and other services including early identification, screening, support for students in treatment or managing an illness, support for reintegration after treatment, brief counseling interventions and the roles played by several professionals and their employing agencies including school psychologists, social workers, pediatricians, public health nurses, police officers, guidance counsellors, classroom teachers and others
a variety of social support programs including peer helper programs, student friendship programs, mentoring programs, parent involvement, education and support programs, school activities, participation in community awareness programs, working with self-help and community-based organizations, staff wellness programs and more
changes to the physical environment of schools such as stress-reducing modifications to school grounds, attention to light, air ventilation, and more.
preparing new and experienced teachers to address mental health issues through university-based teacher education programs and ongoing staff development

Although the research evidence is not yet fully developed, several sources of strong research evidence and professional experience are available that supports the use of many of the interventions noted above. It is essential that the policies, programs and interventions are based on the best evidence available. However, the urgency of the situation also demands that policies, programs and interventions are put into place even where the evidence is not optimal, knowing that these can be improved or discarded as more knowledge becomes available. This incremental but immediate action is consistent with continuous improvement, capacity-building strategies that can lead towards the comprehensive approaches that are advocated by several Canadian and international organizations.

Further, it is recommended that:

The Mental Health Commission of Canada (MHCC) , the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC), Health Canada (HC), Justice Canada (JC) and other relevant federal departments and knowledge/research agencies (such as the Canadian Population Health Initiative and CIHR Institutes) ensure that school mental health policies, programs and research are explicitly included and funded in their respective strategies and initiatives.
Education, health, law enforcement and other ministries in the provinces and territories develop and implement inter-ministry policies, agreements, programs, guidelines and funding mechanisms to support and require inter-agency and inter-disciplinary cooperation to promote the mental health of young people through school-based and school-linked initiatives.
Local school boards, health authorities, police departments and mental health agencies/professionals develop and maintain partnerships, programs and collaborative actions on mental health, integrating them within broader strategies on healthy schools, safe & caring schools or similar policy/action frameworks.
Existing national and regional initiatives, networks, university centres and other organizations be brought together to develop a collaborative and coherent knowledge development, synthesis and exchange strategy. These existing mechanisms include the MHCC Knowledge Exchange Centre, the PHAC Canadian Best Practices Initiative, the CPHI Mental Health initiative, the MHCC Evergreen initiative on youth mental health, the national Community of Practice on School Mental Health, provincial/territorial centres of excellence in MH, annual conferences in the education, health and mental health sector and more. This KDE strategy should build on current PHAC and MHCC initiatives that are taking local programs to national scale in areas such as positive mental health and stigma. As well, the KDE strategy should make use of new web-based technologies to access expertise and experiences from other countries as well as facilitate ongoing exchanges across Canada.

Implementation, Capacity Building and Sustainability

The above statement on how schools, agencies, communities and governments can promote mental health includes four broad actions that can be taken at different levels in several systems. It is very important that implementation, capacity-building and program sustainability be considered as a primary step in any action planning. Further, it is suggested here that:

programs should address the needs of the whole child over the life course. This includes attention being paid not only to the ends of the continuum (positive MH and mental illness) but also to the mid-range concerns and problems such as loneliness, stress, divorce, bereavement as well as the intersections with other health and social problems.
programs should be based on relevant and proven behavioural theories and approaches such as social intelligence, attachment theory, health and normative beliefs and others
programs should not only seek to prevent or reduce problems but also build strengths, resilience and assets
the needs of specific populations (children of families living with a mental illness, FASD, special needs and others) as well as local community conditions (aboriginal, rural, multi-ethnic, religious and others) need to be addressed
ministries, agencies and schools should strive towards multi-intervention programs delivered through comprehensive approaches (multi-issue, multi-level, multi-system), coordinated agency-school programs (on mental health or aspects of MH) and whole school (engaging educators only)
interventions should be based on the highest possible research evidence and be tested and adapted through data-based experience and reflection
evidence-based implementation models and theories about systems change should be used to plan program development, delivery and evaluation
school-based and school-linked mental health programs must fit within the primary mandates of schools as well as be cognizant of their constraints, organizational cultures and professional norms/preoccupations
baseline capacities such as minimum instructional time/learning objectives, maximum waiting times for delivery of assessment and treatment services, staffing ratios for school and clinical staff and other aspects need to be defined and them monitored
system and organizational capacities such as coordinated policy, assignment of coordinators, formal and informal mechanisms for cooperation, ongoing knowledge exchange and workforce development, regular monitoring and reporting, strategic issue management and explicit sustainability planning need to be developed and monitored
policy-makers, researchers, officials and advocates need to consider how school mental health programs fit with and within the large, complex systems and the ecology of local community/agency/school so that their plans and programs are more apt to be adopted, implemented and sustained.

October 2011

dmccall — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 20:07:54 CST

Canadian SH News and Research from October 2011

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Canadian News and News in Canadian Media, Announcements, Reports	Canadian Research & Resources
News Story (Oct 27-11) Survey of Ontario high school students shows painkillers are the third most commonly abused drug http://ow.ly/1zyLTU News Story (Oct 27-11) Quebec battling major measles outbreak http://ow.ly/1zkKs9 News Release (Oct 28-11) CIRA and Media Awareness Network help build kids’ cyber security smarts http://ow.ly/1zyz4s Report World Population report, People and Possibilities in a World of 7 Billion, (UNFPA) http://ow.ly/1zyyFK News Story (Oct 31-11) Group calls for HIV screening of teens who have sex http://ow.ly/1zyyo8 News Story (Oct 25-11) Measles virus continues to spread in European Region: WHO calls on countries to step up response http://ow.ly/1zyyaV Report Youth and Young Adults focus of Chief Public Health Officer's Report on Public Health in Canada, 2011 http://ow.ly/1zyvRP Blog Post (Oct 25-11) Occupy movement makes unbridled greed controversial http://ow.ly/1znILo Blog Post (Oct 26-11) Substance abuse prevention in Aboriginal communities http://ow.ly/1znscA Blog Post (Oct 25-11) The road to (and from) Rio http://ow.ly/1znqQK News Story ()ct 26-11) Teen drug problem on the rise in Niagara http://ow.ly/1znqh0 Report SAFE SCHOOLS DATA 2010 – 2011 Toronto SB http://ow.ly/1zgpOA News Story (Oct 25-11) HPV vaccine recommended for boys in U.S. http://ow.ly/1zfCJ0 News Story (Oct 25-11) Boobie bracelets big hit at schools http://ow.ly/1zfBSA Report Independent Monitoring Board of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative http://ow.ly/1zfBDo News Story (Oct 24-11) Leadership, not Pollyannaish optimism, will defeat polio http://ow.ly/1zfBpH News Story (Oct 25-11) Teen violence linked to heavy soda diet: Study http://ow.ly/1zfB2F Report International Trends in education and schools spending http://ow.ly/1zfADY News Story (Oct 24-11) Outdoor play could reduce kids' nearsightedness http://ow.ly/1zfzvz Blog Post (Oct 11-11) School Success. What Can We Learn From Finland? http://ow.ly/1zfyJg News Release (Oct 24-11) Current efforts to mitigate climate change fall short of reaching vital goal, UN warns http://ow.ly/1zfz6X News Story (Oct 24-11) Paul Martin We are on the cusp of ending polio http://ow.ly/1zfyix News Release (Oct 24-11) Canada is participating in the World Conference on Social Determinants of Health http://ow.ly/1zfsLi Web Site global Info on Polio http://ow.ly/1zfsfF News Story (Oct 24-11) Can Health Minister Aglukkaq pans U.S. nutrition recommendations http://ow.ly/1zfdqX News Story (Oct 24-11) Mental health strategy on time, says MHCC http://ow.ly/1zfcLb News Release (Oct 24-11) UN Day http://ow.ly/1zfboS News Story (Oct 24-11) Myths about piling on pounds go belly up in study http://ow.ly/1zf4e2 Policy Doc Rio Political Declaration on Social Determinants of Health http://ow.ly/1zf44v Report Case studies on social determinants of health (PAHO) http://ow.ly/1zf3XP News Release (Oct 21-11) In Rio, Countries Agree to Take Action on the Social Determinants of Health http://ow.ly/1zf3Wb News Release (Oct 21-11) Minister Oda updates on East Africa humanitarian crisis http://ow.ly/1zf2GB News Story (Oct 20-11) 'It gets better,' Conservative MPs tell gay teens http://ow.ly/1yZZLZ News Story (Oct 21-11) Students and parents want schools to act on cyber-bullying http://ow.ly/1yZZE4 News Story (Oct 21-11) Ontario students, parents want schools to take action on cyber bullying: report http://ow.ly/1zgEKv News Story (Oct 20-11) Students literally get inside look at drugs’ effect on body http://ow.ly/1zgEqt News Story (Oct 20-11) Scouts Canada urged to open its secret files on alleged sex abusers http://ow.ly/1yZZtG Article Nicotine Replacement Therapy Among Canadian Youth: Data From the 2006–2007 (Nicotine & GTobacco Research 10-11) http://ow.ly/1yZLuf News Video (Oct 20-11) Bullied Ottawa boy laid to rest http://ow.ly/1yXEMT News Story (Oct 20-11) Friends of gay teen hope his death puts an end to school bullying http://ow.ly/1yXEuU News Release (Oct 20-11) Canadian Index of Well being Launched http://ciw.ca/en/ News Story (Oct 20-11) Bullied teen Jamie Hubley remembered as ‘natural-born’ performer at funeral http://ow.ly/1zgEfI News Story (Oct 20-11) Fewer Canadian Drivers Under The Influence http://ow.ly/1yWEJw Article The Toronto connection: Poverty, perceived ability, and access to education equity (Can J of Ed 3-11) http://ow.ly/1yUxRz Conference CMEC Forum on AboriginalEducation Dec 1-3, 2011 http://ow.ly/1yQSeT News Story (Oct 18-11) More work needed to prevent bullying, Ottawa director of education says http://ow.ly/1yQS1x News Story (Oct 18-11) Social media causing school havoc in London, Ontario http://ow.ly/1yQRT9 Blog Post (Oct 19-11) Gay students ‘go through hell’ at school http://ow.ly/1zgFWe News Story (Oct 18-11) Gay Ottawa teen who killed himself was bullied http://ow.ly/1yQRED News Story (Oct 18-11) Crisis counsellors address grieving students in wake of Magrath tragedy http://ow.ly/1yQRwy News Story (Oct 18-11) Torinto Catholic board ‘reviewing’ program for troubled teens http://ow.ly/1yQRfp News Story (Oct 17-11) Sexual content not suitable, PEI parents complain http://ow.ly/1yQQXd News Story (Oct 18-11) Bullying partly to blame in Ottawa teen's suicide, father says http://ow.ly/1yQQAI News Story (Oct 18-11) B.C. teacher makes tearful plea for help http://ow.ly/1yQQ6N News Story (Oct 18-11) Gay Ottawa teen who killed himself was bullied http://ow.ly/1yQPCv News Story (Oct 17-11 ADHD guidelines add Ritalin as option for 4-year-olds http://ow.ly/1yQqjZ News Release (Oct 14-11) Canadian Researcher receives $7.4 million grant for global tobacco control http://ow.ly/1yQpOt News Story (Oct 17-11) National suicide prevention plan needed, MDs hear http://ow.ly/1yQpBq News Release (Oct 16-11) World Food Day http://ow.ly/1yQp6M Report Education: Bridging the classroom divide in Canada http://ow.ly/1yQo7h News Release (Oct 14-11) Influenza Immunization Awareness Month http://ow.ly/1yQnLa Report Infectious Diseases News Brief http://ow.ly/1yQnsE News Story (Oct 14-11) Ontario kids earn poor grades for fitness http://ow.ly/1yQmh0 News Story (Oct 14-11) Wi-Fi in Vancouver schools concerns parents http://ow.ly/1yQkId News Story (Oct 14-11) Creating Safe Learning Environments e-course (SLE) http://ow.ly/1yQjA2 Blog Post (Oct 12-11) And Now A Call From the School Nurse, Um, Secretary http://ow.ly/1yQiCm News Story (Oct 13-11) Kelowna school bans breast cancer bracelets http://ow.ly/1yQgg5 News Release (Oct 13-11) CIDA in Haiti - Some Results of Canadian initiatives http://ow.ly/1yQfRM News Release (Oct 13-11) BC Partners Sign Historic First Nations Health Agreement http://ow.ly/1yQeV6 News Story (Oct 13-11) Require CPR training in schools, ER docs urge http://ow.ly/1yQbs1 News Release (Oct 13-11) UNICEF orange Halloween box Goes Virtual http://ow.ly/1yQaQX News Story (Oct 13-11) World prone to food-borne disease outbreaks: WHO http://ow.ly/1yPI2h News Story (Oct 7-11) Teaching food literacy, one school lunch at a time http://ow.ly/1yMIz7 News Story (Oct 16-11) A new job description for school guidance counsellors http://ow.ly/1yMIqU News Story (Oct 11-11) School food programs lack unifying vision http://ow.ly/1yMIkc News Story (Oct 11-11) Mental health issues increasing in Sudbury youth http://ow.ly/1ywEHl News Story (Oct 11-11) Canadian Teen impaired driving alarming http://ow.ly/1ywEyy News Story (Oct 7-11) CAMH study confirms genetic link to suicidal behaviour http://ow.ly/1ygxQK News Story (Oct 7-11) Mental health problems can start in childhood and last lifetime http://ow.ly/1ygxFL News Story (Oct 6-11) Food ads may outweigh parents' diet advice http://ow.ly/1ygxyS News Story (Oct 6-11) Memorial University researchers link income, exercise and breakfast to childhood obesity http://ow.ly/1ygxp3 Report Safety of Wi-Fi Equipment (Health Canada, 2011) http://ow.ly/1ygxmG News Story (Oct 4-11) Tories support Liberal call for national suicide prevention strategy in Canada http://ow.ly/1ygxb9 News Story (Oct 6-11) Huge gaps in mental health care for Canada's kids http://ow.ly/1ygxay News Story (Oct 6-11) No need to panic over cellphone use by kids, expert says http://ow.ly/1ygx7z News Release (Oct 6-11) Roots of Empathy Founder Celebrated as Social Innovator http://ow.ly/1ygx27 News Release (Oct 6-11) UNODC study shows that homicide rates are highest in parts of the Americas and Africa http://ow.ly/1ygwZn News Story (Oct 5-11) Health minister won't classify energy drinks as drugs http://ow.ly/1ygiDN News Release (Oct 5-11) Canadians give generously to East Africa drought http://ow.ly/1yghwT News Story (Oct 5-11) Schools Celebrating International Walk to School Day Today http://ow.ly/1yghg1 News Story (Oct 4-11) Youth urged to practise 'safe text' http://ow.ly/1ygejM Research Review Using Video to Educate Lay health workers maternal/child health http://ow.ly/1yge9B News Story (Oct 4-11) Limit your cellphone time (that goes for kids, too): Health Canada http://ow.ly/1y8REH Blog Post (Oct 3-11) Mandatory vaccinations: the Canadian picture http://ow.ly/1y2yJ3 News Story (Oct 3-11) Windsor SB Disciplines Students for Bullying Red Hair Students http://ow.ly/1zgsE6 News Release (Oct 3-11) Children's Mental Health - The Last Frontier (Ontario School Boards Association) http://ow.ly/1znrPK News Release (Sep 26-11) New Brunswick School District 18 has proclaimed October 3 to 7, 2011 as “Safe Schools Week” http://ow.ly/1zgq7N	Articles in Issue #3, 2011 of Canadian Journal of School Psychology Perfectionism, Rumination, Worry, and Depressive Symptoms in Early Adolescents Promoting Happiness and Life Satisfaction in School Children Learning Behaviors Scale and Canadian Youths:Factorial Validity Generalization and Comparisons to the U.S. Standardization Sample Enhancing Junior Faculty Research Productivity Through Multiinstitution Collaboration:Participants’ Impressions of the School Psychology Research Collaboration Conference Book Review: A Best Practice Guide to Assessment and Intervention for Autism and Asperger Syndrome in Schools Trocme N, Fallon B, MacLaurin B, Chamberland C, Chabot M, Esposito T. (2011) Shifting definitions of emotional maltreatment: An analysis child welfare investigation laws and practices in Canada. Child Abuse Negl. 2011; Kate Tilleczek, Bruce Ferguson, Dara Roth Edney, Anneke Rummens, Katherine Boydell, Michael Mueller (2011) A Contemporary Study with Early School Leavers: Pathways and Social Processes of Leaving High School Canadian Journal of Family & Youth Vol 3, No 1 Stephanie A. Prince,Elizabeth A. Kristjansson,Katherine Russell,Jean-Michel Billette,Michael Sawada,Amira Ali,Mark S. TremblayandDenis Prud’homme (2011) A Multilevel Analysis of Neighbourhood Built and Social Environments and Adult Self-Reported Physical Activity and Body Mass Index in Ottawa, Canada Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health2011,8(10), 3953-3978; Beverley Shea, Clive Aspin, James Ward, Chris Archibald, Nigel Dickson, Ann McDonald, Mera Penehira, Jessica Halverson, Renee Masching, Sue McAllister, Linda Tuhiwai Smith, John M. Kaldor, Neil Andersson (2011) HIV diagnoses in indigenous peoples: comparison of Australia, Canada and New Zealand International Health Volume 3, Issue 3, September 2011, Pages 193-198 Pepler D, Craig W (2011) Promoting relationships and eliminating violence in Canada International Journal of Behavioral DevelopmentSeptember 201135:389-397 Natasha E. Lane, Scott T. Leatherdale, Rashid Ahmed (2011)Use of Nicotine Replacement Therapy Among Canadian Youth: Data From the 2006–2007 National Youth Smoking SurveyNicotine Tob Res(2011)13(10):1009-1014doi:10.1093/ntr/ntr091 Ginette Diane Roberge (2011)Countering School Bullying: An Examination of Policy Implementation in Ontario and SaskatchewanInternational Journal of Educational Policy & Leadership Vol 6, No 5 Lindsay Herriot (2011)Trends in Canadian Newspaper Coverage of Gay–Straight Alliances, 2000–2009Journal of LGBT YouthVolume 8,Issue 3, pp 215-233 Planning Resource Web casts Seven Steps in Using Evidence in Decesion-Making about PH http://ow.ly/1znrmW Fact Sheet Polio (WHO) http://ow.ly/1zfwaW Planning Tool Quick Online School Assessment on Whole Child Approach http://ow.ly/1zfrhu Ed Resource Screen S

Canadian News and News in Canadian Media, Announcements, Reports

Canadian Research & Resources

News Story (Oct 27-11) Survey of Ontario high school students shows painkillers are the third most commonly abused drug http://ow.ly/1zyLTU

News Story (Oct 27-11) Quebec battling major measles outbreak http://ow.ly/1zkKs9

News Release (Oct 28-11) CIRA and Media Awareness Network help build kids’ cyber security smarts http://ow.ly/1zyz4s

Report World Population report, People and Possibilities in a World of 7 Billion, (UNFPA) http://ow.ly/1zyyFK

News Story (Oct 31-11) Group calls for HIV screening of teens who have sex http://ow.ly/1zyyo8

News Story (Oct 25-11) Measles virus continues to spread in European Region: WHO calls on countries to step up response http://ow.ly/1zyyaV

Report Youth and Young Adults focus of Chief Public Health Officer's Report on Public Health in Canada, 2011 http://ow.ly/1zyvRP

Blog Post (Oct 25-11) Occupy movement makes unbridled greed controversial http://ow.ly/1znILo

Blog Post (Oct 26-11) Substance abuse prevention in Aboriginal communities http://ow.ly/1znscA

Blog Post (Oct 25-11) The road to (and from) Rio http://ow.ly/1znqQK

News Story ()ct 26-11) Teen drug problem on the rise in Niagara http://ow.ly/1znqh0

Report SAFE SCHOOLS DATA 2010 – 2011 Toronto SB http://ow.ly/1zgpOA

News Story (Oct 25-11) HPV vaccine recommended for boys in U.S. http://ow.ly/1zfCJ0

News Story (Oct 25-11) Boobie bracelets big hit at schools http://ow.ly/1zfBSA

Report Independent Monitoring Board of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative http://ow.ly/1zfBDo

News Story (Oct 24-11) Leadership, not Pollyannaish optimism, will defeat polio http://ow.ly/1zfBpH

News Story (Oct 25-11) Teen violence linked to heavy soda diet: Study http://ow.ly/1zfB2F

Report International Trends in education and schools spending http://ow.ly/1zfADY

News Story (Oct 24-11) Outdoor play could reduce kids' nearsightedness http://ow.ly/1zfzvz

Blog Post (Oct 11-11) School Success. What Can We Learn From Finland? http://ow.ly/1zfyJg

News Release (Oct 24-11) Current efforts to mitigate climate change fall short of reaching vital goal, UN warns http://ow.ly/1zfz6X

News Story (Oct 24-11) Paul Martin We are on the cusp of ending polio http://ow.ly/1zfyix

News Release (Oct 24-11) Canada is participating in the World Conference on Social Determinants of Health http://ow.ly/1zfsLi

Web Site global Info on Polio http://ow.ly/1zfsfF

News Story (Oct 24-11) Can Health Minister Aglukkaq pans U.S. nutrition recommendations http://ow.ly/1zfdqX

News Story (Oct 24-11) Mental health strategy on time, says MHCC http://ow.ly/1zfcLb

News Release (Oct 24-11) UN Day http://ow.ly/1zfboS

News Story (Oct 24-11) Myths about piling on pounds go belly up in study http://ow.ly/1zf4e2

Policy Doc Rio Political Declaration on Social Determinants of Health http://ow.ly/1zf44v

Report Case studies on social determinants of health (PAHO) http://ow.ly/1zf3XP

News Release (Oct 21-11) In Rio, Countries Agree to Take Action on the Social Determinants of Health http://ow.ly/1zf3Wb

News Release (Oct 21-11) Minister Oda updates on East Africa humanitarian crisis http://ow.ly/1zf2GB

News Story (Oct 20-11) 'It gets better,' Conservative MPs tell gay teens http://ow.ly/1yZZLZ

News Story (Oct 21-11) Students and parents want schools to act on cyber-bullying http://ow.ly/1yZZE4

News Story (Oct 21-11) Ontario students, parents want schools to take action on cyber bullying: report http://ow.ly/1zgEKv

News Story (Oct 20-11) Students literally get inside look at drugs’ effect on body http://ow.ly/1zgEqt

News Story (Oct 20-11) Scouts Canada urged to open its secret files on alleged sex abusers http://ow.ly/1yZZtG

Article Nicotine Replacement Therapy Among Canadian Youth: Data From the 2006–2007 (Nicotine & GTobacco Research 10-11) http://ow.ly/1yZLuf

News Video (Oct 20-11) Bullied Ottawa boy laid to rest http://ow.ly/1yXEMT

News Story (Oct 20-11) Friends of gay teen hope his death puts an end to school bullying http://ow.ly/1yXEuU

News Release (Oct 20-11) Canadian Index of Well being Launched http://ciw.ca/en/

News Story (Oct 20-11) Bullied teen Jamie Hubley remembered as ‘natural-born’ performer at funeral http://ow.ly/1zgEfI

News Story (Oct 20-11) Fewer Canadian Drivers Under The Influence http://ow.ly/1yWEJw

Article The Toronto connection: Poverty, perceived ability, and access to education equity (Can J of Ed 3-11) http://ow.ly/1yUxRz

Conference CMEC Forum on AboriginalEducation Dec 1-3, 2011 http://ow.ly/1yQSeT

News Story (Oct 18-11) More work needed to prevent bullying, Ottawa director of education says http://ow.ly/1yQS1x

News Story (Oct 18-11) Social media causing school havoc in London, Ontario http://ow.ly/1yQRT9

Blog Post (Oct 19-11) Gay students ‘go through hell’ at school http://ow.ly/1zgFWe

News Story (Oct 18-11) Gay Ottawa teen who killed himself was bullied http://ow.ly/1yQRED

News Story (Oct 18-11) Crisis counsellors address grieving students in wake of Magrath tragedy http://ow.ly/1yQRwy

News Story (Oct 18-11) Torinto Catholic board ‘reviewing’ program for troubled teens http://ow.ly/1yQRfp

News Story (Oct 17-11) Sexual content not suitable, PEI parents complain http://ow.ly/1yQQXd

News Story (Oct 18-11) Bullying partly to blame in Ottawa teen's suicide, father says http://ow.ly/1yQQAI

News Story (Oct 18-11) B.C. teacher makes tearful plea for help http://ow.ly/1yQQ6N

News Story (Oct 18-11) Gay Ottawa teen who killed himself was bullied http://ow.ly/1yQPCv

News Story (Oct 17-11 ADHD guidelines add Ritalin as option for 4-year-olds http://ow.ly/1yQqjZ

News Release (Oct 14-11) Canadian Researcher receives $7.4 million grant for global tobacco control http://ow.ly/1yQpOt

News Story (Oct 17-11) National suicide prevention plan needed, MDs hear http://ow.ly/1yQpBq

News Release (Oct 16-11) World Food Day http://ow.ly/1yQp6M

Report Education: Bridging the classroom divide in Canada http://ow.ly/1yQo7h

News Release (Oct 14-11) Influenza Immunization Awareness Month http://ow.ly/1yQnLa

Report Infectious Diseases News Brief http://ow.ly/1yQnsE

News Story (Oct 14-11) Ontario kids earn poor grades for fitness http://ow.ly/1yQmh0

News Story (Oct 14-11) Wi-Fi in Vancouver schools concerns parents http://ow.ly/1yQkId

News Story (Oct 14-11) Creating Safe Learning Environments e-course (SLE) http://ow.ly/1yQjA2

Blog Post (Oct 12-11) And Now A Call From the School Nurse, Um, Secretary http://ow.ly/1yQiCm

News Story (Oct 13-11) Kelowna school bans breast cancer bracelets http://ow.ly/1yQgg5

News Release (Oct 13-11) CIDA in Haiti - Some Results of Canadian initiatives http://ow.ly/1yQfRM

News Release (Oct 13-11) BC Partners Sign Historic First Nations Health Agreement http://ow.ly/1yQeV6

News Story (Oct 13-11) Require CPR training in schools, ER docs urge http://ow.ly/1yQbs1

News Release (Oct 13-11) UNICEF orange Halloween box Goes Virtual http://ow.ly/1yQaQX

News Story (Oct 13-11) World prone to food-borne disease outbreaks: WHO http://ow.ly/1yPI2h

News Story (Oct 7-11) Teaching food literacy, one school lunch at a time http://ow.ly/1yMIz7

News Story (Oct 16-11) A new job description for school guidance counsellors http://ow.ly/1yMIqU

News Story (Oct 11-11) School food programs lack unifying vision http://ow.ly/1yMIkc

News Story (Oct 11-11) Mental health issues increasing in Sudbury youth http://ow.ly/1ywEHl

News Story (Oct 11-11) Canadian Teen impaired driving alarming http://ow.ly/1ywEyy

News Story (Oct 7-11) CAMH study confirms genetic link to suicidal behaviour http://ow.ly/1ygxQK

News Story (Oct 7-11) Mental health problems can start in childhood and last lifetime http://ow.ly/1ygxFL

News Story (Oct 6-11) Food ads may outweigh parents' diet advice http://ow.ly/1ygxyS

News Story (Oct 6-11) Memorial University researchers link income, exercise and breakfast to childhood obesity http://ow.ly/1ygxp3

Report Safety of Wi-Fi Equipment (Health Canada, 2011) http://ow.ly/1ygxmG

News Story (Oct 4-11) Tories support Liberal call for national suicide prevention strategy in Canada http://ow.ly/1ygxb9

News Story (Oct 6-11) Huge gaps in mental health care for Canada's kids http://ow.ly/1ygxay

News Story (Oct 6-11) No need to panic over cellphone use by kids, expert says http://ow.ly/1ygx7z

News Release (Oct 6-11) Roots of Empathy Founder Celebrated as Social Innovator http://ow.ly/1ygx27

News Release (Oct 6-11) UNODC study shows that homicide rates are highest in parts of the Americas and Africa http://ow.ly/1ygwZn

News Story (Oct 5-11) Health minister won't classify energy drinks as drugs http://ow.ly/1ygiDN

News Release (Oct 5-11) Canadians give generously to East Africa drought http://ow.ly/1yghwT

News Story (Oct 5-11) Schools Celebrating International Walk to School Day Today http://ow.ly/1yghg1

News Story (Oct 4-11) Youth urged to practise 'safe text' http://ow.ly/1ygejM

Research Review Using Video to Educate Lay health workers maternal/child health http://ow.ly/1yge9B

News Story (Oct 4-11) Limit your cellphone time (that goes for kids, too): Health Canada http://ow.ly/1y8REH

Blog Post (Oct 3-11) Mandatory vaccinations: the Canadian picture http://ow.ly/1y2yJ3

News Story (Oct 3-11) Windsor SB Disciplines Students for Bullying Red Hair Students http://ow.ly/1zgsE6

News Release (Oct 3-11) Children's Mental Health - The Last Frontier (Ontario School Boards Association) http://ow.ly/1znrPK

News Release (Sep 26-11) New Brunswick School District 18 has proclaimed October 3 to 7, 2011 as “Safe Schools Week” http://ow.ly/1zgq7N

Articles in Issue #3, 2011 of Canadian Journal of School Psychology

Perfectionism, Rumination, Worry, and Depressive Symptoms in Early Adolescents
Promoting Happiness and Life Satisfaction in School Children
Learning Behaviors Scale and Canadian Youths:Factorial Validity Generalization and Comparisons to the U.S. Standardization Sample
Enhancing Junior Faculty Research Productivity Through Multiinstitution Collaboration:Participants’ Impressions of the School Psychology Research Collaboration Conference
Book Review: A Best Practice Guide to Assessment and Intervention for Autism and Asperger Syndrome in Schools

Trocme N, Fallon B, MacLaurin B, Chamberland C, Chabot M, Esposito T. (2011) Shifting definitions of emotional maltreatment: An analysis child welfare investigation laws and practices in Canada. Child Abuse Negl. 2011;

Kate Tilleczek, Bruce Ferguson, Dara Roth Edney, Anneke Rummens, Katherine Boydell, Michael Mueller (2011) A Contemporary Study with Early School Leavers: Pathways and Social Processes of Leaving High School Canadian Journal of Family & Youth Vol 3, No 1

Stephanie A. Prince,Elizabeth A. Kristjansson,Katherine Russell,Jean-Michel Billette,Michael Sawada,Amira Ali,Mark S. TremblayandDenis Prud’homme (2011) A Multilevel Analysis of Neighbourhood Built and Social Environments and Adult Self-Reported Physical Activity and Body Mass Index in Ottawa, Canada Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health2011,8(10), 3953-3978;

Beverley Shea, Clive Aspin, James Ward, Chris Archibald, Nigel Dickson, Ann McDonald, Mera Penehira, Jessica Halverson, Renee Masching, Sue McAllister, Linda Tuhiwai Smith, John M. Kaldor, Neil Andersson (2011) HIV diagnoses in indigenous peoples: comparison of Australia, Canada and New Zealand International Health Volume 3, Issue 3, September 2011, Pages 193-198

Pepler D, Craig W (2011) Promoting relationships and eliminating violence in Canada International Journal of Behavioral DevelopmentSeptember 201135:389-397

Natasha E. Lane, Scott T. Leatherdale, Rashid Ahmed (2011)Use of Nicotine Replacement Therapy Among Canadian Youth: Data From the 2006–2007 National Youth Smoking SurveyNicotine Tob Res(2011)13(10):1009-1014doi:10.1093/ntr/ntr091

Ginette Diane Roberge (2011)Countering School Bullying: An Examination of Policy Implementation in Ontario and SaskatchewanInternational Journal of Educational Policy & Leadership Vol 6, No 5

Lindsay Herriot (2011)Trends in Canadian Newspaper Coverage of Gay–Straight Alliances, 2000–2009Journal of LGBT YouthVolume 8,Issue 3, pp 215-233

Planning Resource Web casts Seven Steps in Using Evidence in Decesion-Making about PH http://ow.ly/1znrmW

Fact Sheet Polio (WHO) http://ow.ly/1zfwaW

Planning Tool Quick Online School Assessment on Whole Child Approach http://ow.ly/1zfrhu

Ed Resource Screen S

The Mental Health Status & Prevalence of MH Problems in Canadian Children & Adolescents

dmccall — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 13:42:14 CST

This page contains a partial description and ongoing discussion of the mental health status and prevalence of MH problems of Canadian young people. This summary will be used as background to the Canadian Consensus Statement on School Mental Health Programs. This definition is open for comments (using the "thread" tool found at the bottom of this page or editing (using the "EasyEdit" tool found at the top of this page.

We begin this page by presenting the data from the 2010 report of the Chief Public Health Officer of Canada as a basis for description and ask visitors to the page to add their comments or suggested edits about this information in the right hand column of the table below. We will use this page as a way of maintaining an up-to-date picture of the mental health of Canadian young people. We will also use this data as part of the preparation of our comments and suggestions to the Mental Health Commission of Canada (about school mental health) as they finalize their proposed national strategy on mental health. One of the criteria for an effective national strategy in health promotion is having a regular monitoring and reporting process that assesses health status and behaviours, the relevant MH knowledge, skills, beliefs and attitudes of young people and regular reporting on the status and capacities of health, school and other systems to address the issue.

The Community of Practice on School Mental Health has discussed this need for good data and analysis and gathered some data that is presented below the CPHO report.

If there are other sources that should be used here as well, please send them or a link to dmccall@cash-aces.ca.

Excerpts on Mental Health from the 2010 Report of the Chief Public Health Officer

Comments, Suggested Updates, Additional Sources

Mental health and mental illness

Mental health is an important aspect of the overall health and well-being of Canadian youth and young adults and most mental illnesses begin to manifest themselves in adolescence and early adulthood.210Mental illness and mental health affect the lives of many young men and women and influence their health throughout the lifecourse. Positive mental health reduces the likelihood of leaving school early and raises attainment levels. It also leads to higher income potential and increases resilience.211Mental illness can increase the risk of certain physical health problems including chronic respiratory conditions and heart disease.212-214In addition, rates of poverty and unemployment are often higher among those with a mental illness.212

Mental healthis the capacity of each and all of us to feel, think, and act in ways that enhance our ability to enjoy life and deal with the challenges we face. It is a positive sense of emotional and spiritual well-being that respects the importance of culture, equity, social justice, interconnections and personal dignity.210

Mental illnessesare characterized by alterations in thinking, mood or behaviour – or some combination thereof – associated with some significant distress and impaired functioning. … Mental illnesses take many forms, including mood disorders, schizophrenia, anxiety disorders, personality disorders, eating disorders and addictions such as substance dependence and gambling.210

A considerable body of scientific research now supports the idea that mental health and mental illness are not on opposite ends of a single continuum with mental health increasing only as mental illness decreases.210Rather mental health and mental illness are best conceived as existing on two separate but related continua, therefore, mental health is more than the absence of mental illness.215Positive mental health consists of attributes such as having a purpose in life, positive relations with others, experiencing personal growth, social acceptance, social coherence and making contributions to society.215Consequently, it is very possible for people to have good levels of positive mental health that allow them to live meaningful and productive lives regardless of having a mental illness or mental health problem.215-217Many of the mental health problems and illnesses that concern youth and young adults are the same as those affecting Canadians of all ages. In addition, there exist a number of mental health issues of particular concern for this age group, including eating disorders and suicidal behaviour.
It is difficult to accurately determine the mental health state or rates of mental illness among Canadians because the data are limited. Nevertheless, the data that are available through surveys, studies and databases provide us with some understanding of the mental health of youth and young adults.

Mental health

A number of factors are commonly used as measures of individuals' mental health. These factors consider individuals' self-assessment of their mental health; sense of satisfaction with and control over their lives; sense of belonging; and relationships.218In 2009, more than three-quarters (77%) of Canadian youth and young adults described their mental health as being very good or excellent.219Compared to the overall population, larger proportions of immigrant youth and young adults (80% and 81% respectively) and smaller proportions of off-reserve Aboriginal youth and young adults (66% and 71% respectively) described their mental health as being very good or excellent (seeFigure 3.7).219According to the 2008/2010 First Nations Regional Longitudinal Health Survey (RHS), the proportion of on-reserve Aboriginal youth aged 12 to 17 years who described their mental health as very good or excellent was also smaller (65%) than the general population.220
While the majority (92%) of all Canadians aged 12 years and older reported that they were satisfied or very satisfied with life in 2009, proportions were higher among the younger populations: 96% of youth and 94% of young adults reported being satisfied or very satisfied with life.219,221However, compared to 25% of the overall Canadian population between the ages of 12 and 64 years, 14% of youth and 24% of young adults described most days as being quite a bit or extremely stressful.219

Table 3.3 Mental health of Canada's youth and young adults
Mental health of 12-19 year olds in Canada , 2009
Perceived mental health, very good or excellent 76.9
Life satisfaction, satisfied or very satisfied 96.4
Perceived life stress, quite a bit or extreme 13.9
Sense of community belonging, somewhat or very strong 74.7
Perceived mental health, very good or excellent 77.3
Life satisfaction, satisfied or very satisfied 94.4
Perceived life stress, quite a bit or extreme 24.1
Sense of community belonging, somewhat or very strong 56.6

* Denotes self-reported data.Note:More detailed information can be found inAppendix C: Definitions and Data Sources for Indicators.
Source:Statistics Canada.

Of all age groups, the highest percentage (75%) of those who reported a somewhat or very strong sense of belonging to their community was among youth, and the lowest (57%) was among young adults.219For youth, feeling a sense of belonging at school can be likened to feeling a sense of belonging to their community. In the 2006 Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) national survey of students in Grades 6 to 10 (ages 11, 13 and 15 years), the highest percentages of youth who felt they belonged at their school were in Grade 6 (71% of adolescent girls and 62% of adolescent boys) and the lowest percentages were in Grade 8 (58% of adolescent girls and 48% of adolescent boys).45

Figure 3.7 Very good or excellent self-perceived mental health, by origin, youth and young adults, Canada, 2009219
Source:Public Health Agency of Canada using data from Canadian Community Health Survey, 2009, Statistics Canada.

In a separate survey of current and former Canadian high school students, fewer sexual minority youth (those who identified as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or questioning [LGBTQ]) reported feeling a sense of belonging to their school community. Compared to only 25% of their non-LGBTQ peers, 69% of transgender youth and 45% of LGB youth disagreed or strongly disagreed with the statement "I feel like a real part of my school."222

An individual's level of self-confidence can also be a measure of their mental health. The 2006 HBSC survey found that self-confidence varied by grade and sex. Almost half (47%) of Grade 6 adolescent boys reported that they had confidence in themselves, but the proportion dropped to less than a quarter (24%) among those in Grades 9 and 10. Proportions were consistently lower for adolescent girls than for adolescent boys, ranging from 36% in Grade 6 to only 14% in Grade 10.45

Youth and young adults living in low-income households may be at higher risk for mental health problems. In an analysis of national longitudinal data, Canadians living in lower-income households were found to have a higher risk of becoming distressed over time. The higher risk was partially accounted for by a higher prevalence of certain stressors in their lives, such as job strain, financial problems, relationship problems and recent life events.223Aboriginal, immigrant and homeless youth and young adults are over-represented among those living on low income in Canada and are thus more likely to experience such stressors.224,225In addition, they may experience racism or discrimination harmful to their self-esteem, sense of identity and sense of control, all of which place them at higher risk for mental health problems.226,227
Similarly, stressors such as stigmatization, harassment, bullying and a lack of appropriate education, services, protective measures and policies may put sexual minority youth and young adults at higher risk of mental health issues.228,229
Table 3.4 Mental illness of Canada's youth and young adults

Mental illness
Population aged 12 to 19 years, 2009* (percent)
Mood disorder 2.7
Anxiety disorder 4.0
Suicidal thoughts in the past 12 months 6.7
† (population aged 15 to 19 years)
Population aged 20 to 29 years, 2009* (percent)
Mood disorder 5.2
Anxiety disorder 5.8
Suicidal thoughts in the past 12 months† 4.3

Mood disorders include mental illnesses such as depression and bipolar disorder in which a person experiences distinct moods more intensely and for longer periods than normal.230In 2009, the overall percentage of Canadians aged 12 years and older who reported having been diagnosed with a mood disorder was just over 6.3%.221Although youth had the lowest percentage of mood disorders, with only 2.7% reporting a diagnosis (seeTable 3.4), there was already a difference between sexes: 2.0% for adolescent boys and 3.4% for adolescent girls.219The overall percentages increased with age thereafter, as did the difference between men and women (seeFigure 3.8).219Among young adults, the proportion of young men diagnosed increased to 3.5% and young women to 6.9%.219The percentages were also higher among off-reserve Aboriginal youth (6.6%) and young adults (6.1%), where females in particular had a much larger percentage of self-reported diagnoses with 9.7% of adolescent girls and 9.3% of young women reporting a mood disorder.219Conversely, a smaller proportion of immigrant youth and young adults (0.8% and 2.5% respectively) self-reported being diagnosed with mood disorders.219

Mood disordersare distinct from normal moods in their depth and persistence, and in their interference in one's ability to function.230

The World Health Organization (WHO) estimated unipolar depression to be the single largest contributor to the burden of disease (a measure of the combined impact of mortality and morbidity a disease has on a population) among Canadians between the ages of 15 and 59 years.231Compared to any other disease, unipolar depression causes the greatest number of years lost to premature death and disability in this population.231When surveyed in 2002, 4.8% of all Canadians aged 15 years and older met all measured criteria for having a major depressive episode in the previous 12 months.232The proportion was highest for young adults, with more than 6.5% meeting the criteria (4.8% of young men compared to 8.2% of young women).233The percentage of all immigrants aged 15 years and older who met the criteria was smaller (3.5%) than in the overall population of the same age, as was the percentage of immigrant young adults (5.8%) compared to the total young adult population.233Among all Canadians aged 15 years or older, the average reported age of onset of a depressive episode was 28 years.234

Figure 3.8 Mood disorder by age group and sex, youth and young adults, Canada, 2009219 Source:Public Health Agency of Canada using data from Canadian Community Health Survey, 2009, Statistics Canada.[Click to enlarge][Figure 3.8, Text Equivalent]

Anxiety disorders

A certain level of anxiety is a normal reaction to stress. Anxiety disorders, however, occur when the anxiety is exaggerated in degree or duration relative to the stressor and interferes with everyday functioning. Panic disorder, phobias and obsessive-compulsive disorder are all types of anxiety disorders.210In 2009, 5.0% of Canadians aged 12 to 29 years reported being diagnosed with an anxiety disorder.219The proportion of young adults who reported a diagnosis was higher than for youth (5.8% compared to 4.0%) (seeTable 3.4) and in both age groups the proportion of females was high than the proportion of males (seeFigure 3.9).219The proportions were higher among off-reserve Aboriginal youth (9.1%) and young adults (11.6%), and lower among immigrant youth (1.8%) and young adults (1.9%).219
Some people experience extreme anxiety at a level of reaction out of scope to the nature of the trigger in the form of panic attacks. Those who suffer from recurrent and unexpected panic attacks are said to have a panic disorder.235Panic disorders affect Canadians of all ages, but they are most common, and most often begin, in adolescence or early adulthood.239In 2002, the lifetime prevalence of panic disorder among Canadians aged 15 to 29 years was just over 3%.233For all Canadians aged 15 and older, the average age of onset for panic disorder over the lifetime was 25 years – a transitional age when many are completing their education, entering the work force and forming relationships.235The impact of suffering from a panic disorder at such a key point could have long-lasting repercussions, including disruptions to family, work and social life and an increased risk of depression and suicide.189,235,237,239

Figure 3.9 Anxiety disorder by age group and sex, youth and young adults, Canada, 2009219 Source:Public Health Agency of Canada using data from Canadian Community Health Survey, 2009, Statistics Canada.[Click to enlarge][Figure 3.9, Text Equivalent]

Eating disorders

Eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa are characterized by an obsessive preoccupation with food and weight resulting in a serious disturbance in eating behaviour.240Eating disorders can have serious immediate and long-term consequences. Anorexia and bulimia can lead to death as a result of heart conditions and kidney failure. Those who suffer from eating disorders are also at greater risk of depression, alcohol dependence and anxiety disorders.210

In 2005/2006, adolescent girls were hospitalized for eating disorders at a rate 2.5 times the rate of young women and more than six times the rate of any other group.179,241In 2002, 1.5% of young Canadian women aged 15 to 29 years reported that they had been diagnosed with an eating disorder.233Additionally, just over 3% reported behaviours and symptoms over the previous 12 months that suggested they were at risk of having an eating disorder whether they had been diagnosed or not. The percentages for young men were too low to report.233
Although eating disorders are more common among women than men, and affect adolescent and young adult women in particular, adolescent boys and young men are also vulnerable. It is estimated that 5% to 15% of anorexia and bulimia patients are male; however, this estimate may be low since males are less likely to be diagnosed.242Adolescent boys and young men with eating disorders, like adolescent girls and young women, have a distorted body image, often focused on their muscularity.242Males concerned with lack of muscularity are also at greater risk for steroid or other drug use.242

When asked about their body image, 34% of adolescent girls and 24% of adolescent boys in Grades 6 to 10 described themselves as too fat. Although the percentage of adolescent boys was consistent across grades, there was a clear increase with age for adolescent girls, from 25% in Grade 6 to 40% in Grade 10.45However, only 15% of those Grade 10 adolescent girls were actually overweight or obese based on their self-reported heights and weights.45

Bullying and aggression

Bullying can have a serious, lasting impact on the emotional health of victims. Experiencing interpersonal violence early in life, whether it is in the family, among intimate (dating) partners, or between peers, can contribute to short- and long-term health outcomes. Links have been made between these experiences and a number of public health issues, including substance abuse, aggression and bullying, mental health, and suicide.243,244Further, research suggests there may also be associations between early engagement in bullying and later engagement in dating violence, intimate partner violence, child maltreatment and elder abuse.45,245-247In the 2006 HBSC survey, 36% of students reported being victims of bullying, 39% reported being bullies and 20% reported being both.45Students with low academic achievement levels or who reported low levels of parent trust or negative feelings about the school environment were more likely to be involved in bullying either as bullies, victims or both.45The most common forms of bullying reported were teasing and indirect bullying (e.g. exclusion or spreading lies about a victim). More than two-thirds of Grade 6 victims (72% of adolescent boys and 69% of adolescent girls) and more than half of Grade 10 victims (64% of adolescent boys and 55% of adolescent girls) reported being teased (seeFigure 3.10).45Indirect bullying was slightly less common for adolescent boys ranging from 71% of Grade 6 male victims to 57% of Grade 10 male victims and slightly more common for adolescent girls ranging from 78% of Grade 6 female victims to 71% of Grade 10 female victims.45Electronic bullying through email or cell phone was consistently more common among female victims.45

Figure 3.10 Indirect forms of bullying in victim students by grade and sex, Canada, 200645 * Indirect bullying includes exclusion or spreading lies.Source:Public Health Agency of Canada using data from 2006 Health Behaviour in School-aged Children study.
[Click to enlarge][Figure 3.10, Text Equivalent]

Most forms of direct bullying, such as physical bullying, were more commonly reported by victimized adolescent boys across all grades (seeFigure 3.11).45Rates of sexual harassment, while decreasing across most grades for victimized adolescent boys, increased across all grades and nearly doubled for victimized adolescent girls between Grade 6 and Grade 10 (23% to 44%).45Bullying for reasons of race and religion was also reported, but at lower levels – up to 21% and 16% respectively.45Adolescent boys reported significantly more physical fighting than did adolescent girls in 2006, though this behaviour decreased with age. Among adolescent girls, prevalence of fighting was more consistent across grades.45Among adolescent boys, the target of a physical fight was most often a friend or acquaintance (48% of the time), while a greater proportion of adolescent girls targeted a sibling (47% of the time).45

Figure 3.11 Direct forms of bullying in victim students by grade and sex, Canada, 200645
Source:Public Health Agency of Canada using data from 2006 Health Behaviour in School-aged Children study.[Click to enlarge][Figure 3.11, Text Equivalent]

The HBSC survey also found that a greater proportion of adolescent boys carried weapons at school, with 17% reporting that they carried a weapon in the previous 30 days, as compared to only 4% of adolescent girls. Of those students that carried weapons, most carried knives (61% for adolescent boys, 72% for adolescent girls). A larger proportion of adolescent boys carried handguns or other firearms (14% compared to 6% for adolescent girls).45

Sexual minority youth are at much higher risk of experiencing physical and sexual abuse, harassment and victimization at school or in the community.248,249In an online survey of current and former Canadian high school students, 59% of LGBTQ youth reported being verbally harassed at school about their sexual orientation compared to 7% of heterosexual youth, and a higher percentage reported being physically harassed compared to non-LGBTQ students (25% compared to 8%).222LGBTQ students also reported bullying in the form of rumours or lies being spread about them, both at school (55%) and through text-messaging or the Internet (31%).222Police-reported data show that the risk of violent victimization for youth increases with age.250In 2009, 50% of youth who were physically assaulted were assaulted by a close friend.251In the same year, 22% of all police-reported sexual offence and physical assault victims were youth aged 12 to 19 years.251,252Although they accounted for a small percentage of all sexual offences and physical assaults, the rate of 1,676 per 100,000 population was more than double the rate of 781 per 100,000 population among adults aged 18 years and older.179,251,252
Police-reported data in 2008 showed the highest rate of dating violence victims was among adults aged 30 to 39 years.253However, self-reported data suggest otherwise, noting that young people aged 15 to 24 years are at the highest risk of being victims of dating violence although they may not report the violence to police.253The offence most frequently reported to police in dating relationships was common assault, such as pushing, slapping, punching and face-to-face verbal threats. Criminal harassment, uttering threats and major assault involving a weapon and/or causing bodily harm were the next three most common offences.253Female youth aged 15 to 19 years were victims of police-reported dating violence at a rate almost 10 times greater than the rate for males the same age.253Although females were more often the victims in dating violence reported to the police, males are also victims, but may not report the violence to police for a number of reasons. In a 2008 survey in British Columbia, 9% of male high school students and 6% of female high school students who were in a relationship in the previous year reported being deliberately hit, slapped or physically hurt by their boyfriend or girlfriend while in a relationship. Among those who reported relationship violence, LGB youth were over three times more likely than their heterosexual peers to be victims.254

Intentional self-harm

As will be seen later in this chapter, unintentional injuries are a leading cause of death and hospitalization for youth and young adults.241,255However, negative health outcomes and even death can also result from injuries inflicted through intentional self-harm. Intentional self-harm can encompass both non-suicidal and suicidal behaviours.256

Non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) can take many forms, but some of the more common include cutting or burning of the skin, scratching, hitting objects or oneself or pulling out one's hair.256-259In general, these behaviours are used as a coping strategy to deal with overwhelming negative emotions or to produce emotion when it is lacking.256,257,260-263NSSI is seen in individuals from as young as 5 years old to those older than 65 years. However, it is most common among youth and young adults, and onset usually occurs among youth aged 12 to 15 years.256,264,265

It is difficult to get an accurate indication of the prevalence of NSSI since it is usually hidden.256,264Although not extensive enough to be representative of the entire population, surveys of both school- and university-aged youth and young adults produced some estimates. In a survey of youth in Grades 7 to 11 in two Canadian schools, 14% of students had self-injured at some time, with skin cutting being the most common form (41%). The majority of those students (59%) reported that they first engaged in the behaviour in Grade 7 or Grade 8.266In another survey of youth and young adults aged 14 to 21 years in British Columbia, 17% reported that they had intentionally harmed themselves at some point in their lives, most often (83%) through cutting, scratching or self-hitting and starting on average at age 15 years.259At two universities in the United States, 17% of the students surveyed admitted self-injuring and 7% had done so within the previous 12 months.267A survey of first-year students at a Canadian university found that almost three in ten had engaged in deliberate self-harm at least once.268
Although the secretive nature of self-inflicted injuries means they most often go unrecorded, at times they are severe enough to require hospitalization, resulting in some episodes being documented. In 2009-2010, self-injuries resulted in more than 17,000 hospitalizations among all Canadians age 15 years and older.269The rate of self-injury hospitalization was highest among adolescent girls aged 15 to 19 years with more than 140 hospitalizations per 100,000 population, compared to approximately 60 per 100,000 for adolescent boys of the same age.269

While many self-injuries are not intended as suicide attempts, research shows that those who self-injure are at greater risk of committing suicide later in life.256,262In 2002, 7% of youth aged 15 to 19 years and 4% of young adults reported that they had thought about committing suicide in the previous 12 months, compared to less than 4% of all Canadians aged 15 years and older.232,233A higher proportion of adolescent girls reported suicidal thoughts than adolescent boys (9% and 5%, respectively), while the proportion of suicidal thoughts was the same among young women and young men (4%).233Each year many youth and young adults actually attempt suicide. While some of those attempts may go unrecognized, in 2005 there were more than 5,000 hospitalizations of Canadian (excluding Quebec, for which comparable data were not available) youth and young adults that were specifically classified as attempted suicides.241Females accounted for two-thirds (66%) of those suicide attempts.241Unfortunately, some of those attempted suicides are completed. As a result, suicide is among the top causes of death for Canadian youth and young adults, second only to unintentional injuries.255In 2007, almost 800 youth and young adults committed suicide in Canada, and 76% of those deaths were among young men.255Within these age groups, the rate of suicide deaths is highest for young men with 20 deaths per 100,000 population – more than double the rate for adolescent boys and four times the rate for young women (seeFigure 3.12).179,255

In 2000, the suicide rate among First Nation youth aged 10 to 19 years was 28 per 100,000 population, more than four times the overall rate for Canada.271Higher rates do not, however, hold true for all First Nation youth and young adults. In a study of suicide in British Columbia, researchers found that although rates among First Nation youth aged 15 to 24 years were significantly higher overall than for non-Aboriginal youth, the rates varied from community to community. Whereas several communities had rates much higher than those of non-Aboriginal people, some communities had no youth suicides during those years. Lower rates of suicide were linked to an increased level of community control such as self-government, land claims, education, health services, cultural facilities and police/fire services.58,272

Figure 3.12 Suicide rate per 100,000 population, by age group and sex, Canada, 2007179,255,270
Source:Public Health Agency of Canada using data from Canadian Vital Statistics, Death Database; and Population Estimates and Projections, Statistics Canada.[Click to enlarge][Figure 3.12, Text Equivalent]

Data are limited for Inuit youth and young adults, but rates of suicide in Inuit regions as a whole are much higher than in the general Canadian population. From 1999 to 2003, the age-standardized mortality rate (ASMR) for suicide and self-inflicted injuries among both males and females in Inuit regions was 107 deaths per 100,000 population. In comparison, the ASMR for suicide and self-inflicted injuries in Canada overall was 10 deaths per 100,000 population during those same years.273

Sexual minority youth and young adults may be at higher risk for suicide than their heterosexual peers.249The Suicide Prevention Resource Centre in the United States examined a number of studies that suggested that LGB youth and young adults (generally between the ages of 15 and 24 years) are between 1.4 and almost 7 times more likely to attempt suicide than their heterosexual peers and as much as 3 times more likely to consider suicide.274In British Columbia, the 2008 Adolescent Health Survey (AHS) of students in Grades 7 to 12 found that 28% of LGB youth attempted suicide compared to 4% of heterosexual youth.254Based on the 2003 AHS, sexual minority youth were anywhere from two times (gay males) to five times (bisexual males, bisexual females and lesbians) more likely to report having considered suicide than their heterosexual peers.275In an Ontario study of trans (including transsexual, transgender and other gender-variant) youth aged 16 to 24 years, almost half (47%) reported having seriously considered suicide in the previous year and one-fifth (19%) attempted suicide.276,277

This CPHO report is a very useful addition to the prevalence data and reporting on youth health and youth mental health in Canada. However, there needs to be a regular reporting process and an agency assigned to do this in the future. The Canadian Institutes for Health Information has also published good reports on MH in the past but policy-makers need to specify how MH will be monitored over time and how it will be reported regularly.

This definition of MH does not capture the breadth and complexity of mental health.Discussions within the Canadian Community of Practice on School Mental Health have developed an adaptation of the definition used by the US Surgeon General to a continuum of four intertwined aspects including; positive mental health such as social acceptance and fulfillment, mental health problems such as depression caused by life stressors such as bereavement or divorce, interactions with other health and social problems/ conditions such as abuse, bullying, and mental illnesses.

We need "three-D" monitoring and reporting on all health issues challenging youth, including mental health. The CPHO report summarizes health data on MH status, diseases and behaviours but we also need regular reports on the status of SMH policies / programs at all levels in education, health and other systems as well as education data on the knowledge, skills, attitudes and beliefs being learned by Canadian students. More than one dimension in any picture provides for better decisions in the future.

Other Data on the Prevalence of Mental Health Strengths and Problems in Canada

The data sources describing the prevalence of mental health problems and illnesses among children and youth in Canada are being updated, so this summary will be updated as soon as possible. However, this summary is based on the best data currently available in published form.

According to the Mental Health Commission of Canada and Mental Health First Aid Canada, the problems of mental health and mental illness are best addressed in childhood and adolescence. Here is their summary of the Canadian situation:

One in three Canadians will experience a mental health problem at some point in their life.
Half of all mental disorders begin by age 14 and 75% begin by age 24.
Suicide is the second leading cause of death among young people aged 15 to 24 in Canada.
Depression is one of the most common medical illnesses in this age group.
Only 9.2% of youth ages 15 to 24 access services and support for problems concerning mental health issues or drug/alcohol use.

The international survey, Health Behaviors in School Age Children, indicates that Canadian young people are less able to access social support from their parents or peers relative to other countries.

According to Encarta, Canada’s suicide rate has historically been similar to or slightly higher than that of the United States. More than 3,500 suicides are recorded in Canada each year, at a rate of about 11 per 100,000. An accurate comparison of suicide rates among countries is difficult because of the unreliability of official suicide statistics and varying methods of certifying how deaths occurred.

A 2002 federal Report on Mental Illnesses in Canada reported that 4.1-4.6% of people will report major depression, 0.3% will report schizophrenia, 12.2% will report anxiety disorders, about 1% of women will report eating disorders and 12.2 per 100,000 will commit suicide (24% of which are among youth aged 15-24. The Canadian Community Health Survey has been used to track general mental health prevalence since 2003. According to the statistics available on the Statistics Canada web site from this survey, perceived mental health among 12-19 year old youth has remained stable each year since 2003. ("Very good or excellent" improved slightly from 76.1% to 78.7%; fair or poor from 3.4% to 3.3%; satisfied or very satisfied with life 94.1% to 94.4%; perceived quite a lot of stress from 18.4% to 16.3%) The answers from this age group did indicate that mood disorders had increased from 2.7% to 3.4% of the population.

An analysis of the 2002 CCHS data done by the Canadian Population Health Initiative reports that positive mental health is correlated with self-reported physical health. The CPHI report also noted geographical differences (Newfoundland reported highest levels of PMH). Males reported higher coping skills and emotional well-being, while females reported higher social connectedness and spirituality. Income and education were not consistently linked to high PMH. For example, those with higher education reported higher coping skills but less life enjoyment, social connectedness, spirituality and emotional well-being. Social connectedness and community belonging were the strongest correlates of high PMH.

Sources:

Healthy Settings for Young People in Canada. W. Boyce, M. King, & J. Roche
(Editors). Ottawa, Ontario: The Public Health Agency of Canada, 2008.

Microsoft Encarta Online Encyclopedia Retrieved on November 28. 2010 from http://www.a1b2c3.com/suilodge/facenc1.htm

Mood Disorders Society of Canada et al (2002) Report on Mental Illness in Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Public Health Agency of Canada

Canadian Population Health Initiative (2007) Improving the Health of Canadians: Exploring Positive Mental Health Summary Report Ottawa, Ontario, Canadian Institute for Health Information

Nutrition & Schools CoP

dmccall — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 10:52:03 CST

Welcome to this Community of Practice that serves as an information and knowledge mechanism for researchers, non-governmental organizations and local agencies interested in promoting healthy eating and nutrition through school-based and school-linked programs. This community of practice (mini-network) of over 125 practitioners, researchers, government officials and others works together on: the joint planning of an annual symposium and sessions at the annual School Health conference selection of topics and speakers for webinars regular telephone conference calls/web meetings other activities organized by the lead organizations and individuals For regular updates about the activities of this CoP, we ask that you sign up with the wetpaint wiki platform (no charge, no spam), then join this wiki and set up a profile. Once you have a profile, you can choose to "watch" or "unwatch" selected pages within this web site. If you are watching a page, this wiki will send an email to your regular email box anytime that page is changed. We suggest you watch the Nutrition CoP news page and also our monthly newsletter page. But is entirely your choice, simply set the controls in your profile to determine what communications you receive from this wiki. You can even decide to leave all messages within the wiki and read them when you have the time to vist here. For more information on the Nutrition and Schools Community of Practice (CoP) contact Doug McCall at dmccall@cash-aces.ca. School Health Webinars: These are 60 minute, web/phone based seminars presented by a blend of research experts and practitioners. Each session is very topic specific (e.g. implementation of school food guidelines). More about the webinars program can be seen at: http://www.safehealthyschools.org/webinars/introduction.htm. Nutrition & Schools Symposium (April 21/08 in Ottawa-Gatineau): this day-long focused on a comprehensive approach to this issue iwas held in conjunction with the 4th annual National School Health Conference. Presentations from the symposium are noted below while the agenda is included as an attachment (see below). For more on the full symposia series and the 4th National School Health Conference see: http://www.cash-aces.ca/conference_2008/ Breakfast for Learning - National Symposium on Schools & Nutrition Marie-Claude Thibault - Ottawa's Healthy Active Schools Partnership Cathy Richards - BC School Nutrition Initiatives Joanne Gallagher - Leveraging the New Food Guide in School Nutrition Education Paul Fieldhouse - Manitoba School Nutrition Policy Paul Fieldhouse - Reporting & Evaluation Michelle Murton - Policy Implementation Michelle Murton - Monitoring Policy Implementation Lynn Sawchuk - Leveraging the Food Guide Mary McKenna - School Nutrition Policy: Are We There Yet? Meredith Hayes - Food Literacy Education Jennifer Taylor - School Nutrition Policies in PEI Jennifer Taylor - Evaluating ElementarySchool Nutrition Policies in PEI Wiki toolbox: this virtual filing cabinet presents an opportunity to continue to update/broadcast nutrition and schools related research, policy, program and practice related work underway in Canada and internationally. Contributions to this wiki by all interested is encouraged. Collaborative Maintenance of a Research/Resources List: CoP members are invited to add to the attached document (See nutrition&schools.doc below) listing key research studies, reports and evaluated programs that has been prepared from a combination of projects. The document is a real convenience for readers because almost all of the references have web links. If you have items to add to this list, simply open the document, add them and then resave the document. The Community of Practice (CoP) meets via teleconference approximately 4 times per year. Minutes and items of interested for each of these calls are attached below. For more information on this community of practice, contact Cindy Andrew at candrew@cash-aces.ca.	Announcements Read, review and add to our 200+ research reviews/articles, reports and resources in our School Nutrition Toolbox Please comment on and edit the "mini-summaries" we are adding to the toolbox. Learn more about how to edit, add and move pages as well as make comments within this wiki in our video/web tour. Plan to attend our School Nutrition Symposium in Halifax in April. More news here soon. How to use this wiki To participate in this on-line wiki-based dialogue, you can use the "Thread" button found on the bottom of each page to make comments on the content on that page. You can also make a comment directly into the Discussion Forum (found on the top navigation bar). You can also edit and add text within the page by clicking on the "Easy Edit" button. Use the commands within that Easy Edit tool to add links to other web sites or documents. You can also add other pages to the wiki by using the "Add Page" button found just below the navigation bar on the left hand side of the page. You can make the comments and edits and additions anonymously because we have left this wiki wide open to the public. If you want to let people know who made the change or suggestion, use the Join this Wiki found in the right hand side of the top navigation bar to create a little profile for your self. By joining the wiki (no charge, no spam) you can use the tools within the wiki to control the email you receive from this wiki (including none), post messages for other members and choose to "watch" or "unwatch" selected pages within the wiki.

Welcome to this Community of Practice that serves as an information and knowledge mechanism for researchers, non-governmental organizations and local agencies interested in promoting healthy eating and nutrition through school-based and school-linked programs.

This community of practice (mini-network) of over 125 practitioners, researchers, government officials and others works together on:

the joint planning of an annual symposium and sessions at the annual School Health conference
selection of topics and speakers for webinars
regular telephone conference calls/web meetings
other activities organized by the lead organizations and individuals

For regular updates about the activities of this CoP, we ask that you sign up with the wetpaint wiki platform (no charge, no spam), then join this wiki and set up a profile. Once you have a profile, you can choose to "watch" or "unwatch" selected pages within this web site. If you are watching a page, this wiki will send an email to your regular email box anytime that page is changed. We suggest you watch the Nutrition CoP news page and also our monthly newsletter page. But is entirely your choice, simply set the controls in your profile to determine what communications you receive from this wiki. You can even decide to leave all messages within the wiki and read them when you have the time to vist here.

For more information on the Nutrition and Schools Community of Practice (CoP) contact Doug McCall at dmccall@cash-aces.ca.

School Health Webinars: These are 60 minute, web/phone based seminars presented by a blend of research experts and practitioners. Each session is very topic specific (e.g. implementation of school food guidelines). More about the webinars program can be seen at: http://www.safehealthyschools.org/webinars/introduction.htm.

Nutrition & Schools Symposium (April 21/08 in Ottawa-Gatineau): this day-long focused on a comprehensive approach to this issue iwas held in conjunction with the 4th annual National School Health Conference. Presentations from the symposium are noted below while the agenda is included as an attachment (see below). For more on the full symposia series and the 4th National School Health Conference see: http://www.cash-aces.ca/conference_2008/

Breakfast for Learning - National Symposium on Schools & Nutrition

Marie-Claude Thibault - Ottawa's Healthy Active Schools Partnership

Cathy Richards - BC School Nutrition Initiatives

Joanne Gallagher - Leveraging the New Food Guide in School Nutrition Education

Paul Fieldhouse - Manitoba School Nutrition Policy

Paul Fieldhouse - Reporting & Evaluation

Michelle Murton - Policy Implementation

Michelle Murton - Monitoring Policy Implementation

Lynn Sawchuk - Leveraging the Food Guide

Mary McKenna - School Nutrition Policy: Are We There Yet?

Meredith Hayes - Food Literacy Education

Jennifer Taylor - School Nutrition Policies in PEI

Jennifer Taylor - Evaluating ElementarySchool Nutrition Policies in PEI

Wiki toolbox: this virtual filing cabinet presents an opportunity to continue to update/broadcast nutrition and schools related research, policy, program and practice related work underway in Canada and internationally. Contributions to this wiki by all interested is encouraged.

Collaborative Maintenance of a Research/Resources List: CoP members are invited to add to the attached document (See nutrition&schools.doc below) listing key research studies, reports and evaluated programs that has been prepared from a combination of projects. The document is a real convenience for readers because almost all of the references have web links. If you have items to add to this list, simply open the document, add them and then resave the document.

The Community of Practice (CoP) meets via teleconference approximately 4 times per year. Minutes and items of interested for each of these calls are attached below. For more information on this community of practice, contact Cindy Andrew at candrew@cash-aces.ca.

Announcements

Read, review and add to our 200+ research reviews/articles, reports and resources in our School Nutrition Toolbox
Please comment on and edit the "mini-summaries" we are adding to the toolbox. Learn more about how to edit, add and move pages as well as make comments within this wiki in our video/web tour.
Plan to attend our School Nutrition Symposium in Halifax in April. More news here soon.

How to use this wiki

To participate in this on-line wiki-based dialogue, you can use the "Thread" button found on the bottom of each page to make comments on the content on that page. You can also make a comment directly into the Discussion Forum (found on the top navigation bar). You can also edit and add text within the page by clicking on the "Easy Edit" button. Use the commands within that Easy Edit tool to add links to other web sites or documents. You can also add other pages to the wiki by using the "Add Page" button found just below the navigation bar on the left hand side of the page.

You can make the comments and edits and additions anonymously because we have left this wiki wide open to the public. If you want to let people know who made the change or suggestion, use the Join this Wiki found in the right hand side of the top navigation bar to create a little profile for your self. By joining the wiki (no charge, no spam) you can use the tools within the wiki to control the email you receive from this wiki (including none), post messages for other members and choose to "watch" or "unwatch" selected pages within the wiki.

Defining Mental Health

Anonymous — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 14:13:32 CST

This page contains an operational definition of mental health that will be used as background to the Canadian Consensus Statement on School Mental Health Programs. This definition is open for comments (using the "thread" tool found at the bottom of this page or editing (using the "EasyEdit" tool found at the top of this page.

Mental Health

Mental health is a broad concept that addresses overlapping domains of: emotions; cognition; percpeption; physical functioning; and behaviour.Mental health is a function of our brains, how we think, feel and act as we cope with life. It is the emotional, cognitive and behavioral aspects of adaptation.It also helps determine how we handle stress, relate to others and make choices.Like physical health, mental health is important at every stage of life, from childhood and adolescence through adulthood.

For the purposes of this paper, we have combined some selected sources to define mental health. These include:

the US Surgeon General’s Report on Mental Health (1999)that defined mental health, mental health problems and mental illness as a continuum
the Public Health Agency of Canada and the Canadian Institute for Health Information that have defined "positive mental health" as the over-arching concept with MH problems and illnesses contained within the over-arching concept similar to the Russian doll toy that has different sized dolls contained within the largest one
the holistic definition used by the World Health Organization
a web-based dialogue among several national Canadian organizations concerned with mental health, children & youth and schools that have underlined the relationship between mental health and other health/social problems as well as placed more emphasis on the middle of the continuum

The mental health of children and youth can be conceptualized as a tapestry of inter-related threads that can be loosely grouped into four overlapping categories; positive mental health (e.g emotional health, mindfulness, critical thinking, attachments), problems caused by life experiences (e.g. bereavement, stress, divorce), interactions with other health or social problems (e.g. bullying, addictions, discrimination based on race or sexual orientation) and mental illness (e.g. depression, anxiety, suicide).

Fundamentally, mental health is about the individual successfully adapting to her/his environment, by making changes in him/herself, by changes being made in their environment or in modifying the interactions between people and their environments.. Mental health does not mean absence of mental distress as distress can often be normal or expected and is often a signal that adaptation is needed. Mental health is dependent upon a healthy brain, a healthy body and a healthy environment. Mental health problems can be understood as difficulties in adaptation, either due to individual traits, undeveloped strengths or weaknesses that make it difficult for the individual to adapt, factors in the environment that make adaptation difficult, significant life experiences or incidents or a combination or interactions of the above. A mental disorder can be understood as a failure of adaptation, either due to factors within the individual (for example: genetics), factors unique to the environment (for example severe and ongoing trauma) or a combination thereof.

Social, economic and cultural factors will interact with the social norms of the local community, the practices of families and schools and the individual emotional, genetic, developmental and intellectual characteristics of students to influence mental health. Mental health is interwoven with several other health and social issues affecting young people.

Psychological health and well-being is also an independent feature of the child and is comprised of several aspects of the mind. The mental health of children can be more vulnerable during transitions into primary school, between primary and secondary school, into a new neighbourhood, between secondary school and post-secondary studies or work. Such stress, or stress caused by other life events, may cause the onset of a previously latent or manageable mental illness. One of the major complicating factors in preventing or managing mental health problems or illnesses is that social stigma discourages people from seeking medical help or other forms of support.

Mental disorders in young people contribute the most significant proportion to the burden of illness in this group. About 70% of mental disorders onset during childhood and adolescence. About one in five young people will experience a mental disorder requiring professional help. Many more young people will demonstrate significant mental health problems that may require interventions. In Canada it is estimated that one in six young people who require care do not receive it in a timely manner. Although suicide rates among young people have been decreasing over the last decade, suicide still remains a leading cause of death in this age group

Positive mental health is a state of successful performance of mental function, resulting in productive activities, fulfilling relationships with other people, and the ability to adapt to change and to cope with adversity. Mental health is indispensable to personal well-being, family and interpersonal relationships, and contribution to community or society. It is easy to overlook the value of mental health until problems surface.”

Positive mental health includes psychological, social and emotional well-being as described by Corey Keyes (2007). It is expressed as self-acceptance/social acceptance and positive affect, personal growth, self-actualization and life satisfaction. People with positive mental health feel that they have a purpose in life and that they are making a social contribution. They believe they can master complex environments, perceive coherence in the social environment, are autonomous, feel part of their communities and have positive relations with others.

Specific aspects in PMH include mindfulness, emotional intelligence, brain development, maturation/psychological and social development, critical thinking/self-control, spirituality, social skills, social attachment, physical behaviours and physical/built environments that contribute to PMH.

Mental health problems refer to signs and symptoms of insufficient intensity or duration to meet the criteria for any mental disorder. Almost everyone has experienced mental health problems in which the distress one feels matches some of the signs and symptoms of mental disorders. Mental health problems may warrant active efforts in health promotion, prevention, and treatment.”

The list of MH problems and related factors includes: difficulties in making the transition between levels of schooling (pre-school, elementary school, secondary school and post-secondary education/training/employment), nurturing resilience, living with parents or in families with mental illness, bereavement, stress/distress, social isolation, homelessness/transience, trauma from natural disasters, pandemics and conflicts and more.

Interactions between mental health and a variety of health, social and economic problems. While it is difficult to separate out cause-effect relationships we should not position MH as the panacea or root of all problems. Consequently, it is important to carve out the psychological aspects that can be addressed effectively and realistically through MH public policies and programs.

The list of interactions with other conditions, diseases and problems includes; intellectual, physical and learning disabilities, child abuse and neglect, child sexual abuse, unintentional pregnancy, bullying/aggression, addictions to substances (tobacco, alcohol, drugs, medications) as well as gambling, discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender, culture, race and language, cultural isolation, cultural oppression and others.

Mental illness is the term that refers collectively to all diagnosable mental disorders. Mental disorders are health conditions that are characterized by alterations in thinking, mood, or behaviour (or some combination thereof) associated with distress and/or impaired functioning. The category of mental illness refers to disorders diagnosed using one of the current systems of diagnostics such as DSM-IV (American Psychiatric Association, 2000) or ICD -10 (World Health Organization, 2007).

The list of mental illnesses that present during adolescence include compulsive behaviours, generalised anxiety, ADHD, FASD, autism, behaviour disorders, aggression, self-harm, suicide, overcoming stigma to access services and support and others.

References

Canadian Population Health Initiative (2009) Improving the Health of Canadians: Exploring Positive Mental Health, Ottawa, ON, Canadian Institute for Health Information
http://secure.cihi.ca/cihiweb/dispPage.jsp?cw_page=media_2009_03_03_e Accessed October 31, 2010

Keyes CL (2007) Promoting and protecting mental health as flourishing: a complementary strategy for improving national mental health. Am Psychol. 2007 Feb-Mar;62(2):95-108.

US Surgeon General (1999) Mental health: A Report of the Surgeon General. Washington, DC, Author. http://www.surgeongeneral.gov/library/mentalhealth/home.html#forward Accessed on October 31, 2010

World Health Organization (nd) Mental Health: Strengthening Our Response, Geneva, Author
http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs220/en/ Accessed on October 31, 2010

Nov 30-09 (Discussion of Joint School Mental Health Statement)

dmccall — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 13:56:58 CST

This call was held on November 30, 2009 at 1:00 pm (PT).

Those present on this initial call were:

Stan Kutcher, Yifeng Wei (Dalhousie Centre on Youth Mental Health)
Sandra Wright (Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police/Coalition for Community Safety)
Judy Hills (Canadian Psychology Foundation)
Gloria Wells (InterCAMHS)
Doug McCall (Canadian Association for School Health)

Regrets (from these individuals/organizations who are interested in being part of this process to develop a joint statement)

Tim Wall (Canadian Association for Suicide Prevention)
June Murray, Canadian Association of School Social Workers)
Frank Kelly (Canadian Association of School Administrators)
Michel Forge (Community of Practice, School Mental Health)
Joe Synder/Don Saklofske (Canadian Association of School Psychologists)
Lisa Vota-Bleeker (Canadian Psychological Association)
Jill Skinner/Ann Chenier (Canadian Medical Association)
Taylor Alexander (Canadian Mental Health Association)
Elizabeth Moreau (Canadian Paediatric Society)
Barbara MaCallum (Canadian Counselling Association)
TBD (Canadian Teachers Federation)
Catherine Wilensky (Schizohprenia Society of Canada)

1. Welcome and Introductions

Doug McCall welcomed people to the call, noting that there was considerable interest in developing a joint statement from the groups noted above. Participants on the call introduced themselves.

2. Rationale and Purposes of a Joint Statement

Participants briefly discussed how these types of statements can be used to clarify terms, thereby helping to resolve confusion caused by different terms and thereby facilitating cooperation. The use of such statements in promotion and advocacy was also noted. The process foreseen is two fold; the development of the statement by the participating organizations and then the process whereby the organizations (and perhaps others) would be asked to endorse the statement.

The opportunities and need for such a statement has emerged from these events:

the Mental Health Commission is developing its overall framework (just released) for a national strategy and schools will need to be part of that strategy
As part of the Mental Health Commission, Stan Kutcher is leading a broadly-based group to develop an Evergreen Framework document on child and youth mental health. The group has just finished the statemen tof values and principles and schools will be part of the action component.
The Public Health Agency of Canada is currently developing a mental health component to the FPT Healthy Living Strategy The next meeting is in January, 2010.
A national consortium of groups is working on MHCC school-based MH promotion project and is needing a coherent definition of SMH
A number of US and Canadian groups met in a workshop in early November and agreed to try to develop a set of jointly shared principles

3. Initial Discussion of Draft Statement

Doug McCall reported that all of the groups contacted were interested in developing a joint statement. Participants then discussed the draft statement in general terms and these points emerged:

we need a coherent description of mental health; we should review and use some of the 2009 Melbourne World Congress statement on mental health to see what that says
we should review and use Stan Kutcher's SMH model presented to the recent US-Canada meeting (attached, with SHRN complex ecology diagram)
the current prevalence description in the draft statement is not incorrect (there is no readily available current summary nationally) but we need the latest national statistics on the prevalence of MH problems in Canada (Stan volunteered to update that paragraph using data from national surveys that have not yet been published widely)
we need to sort out the relationship between mental health and other health behaviours such as obesity/eating disorders, aggression and disruptive behaviours, addictions, sexual orientation as well as conditions (poverty, family violence, etc) and life events (transitions, bereavement, divorce etc)
we should ensure that we call for suicide to be clearly part of any mental health frameworks and action/national strategies
we need to engage other systems (not only schools and mental health services) such as justice/law enforcement, public health and others and enable them to carve out a realistic role for MH promotion and working with schools
the statement needs to identify actions that should be taken
teachers and educators need to be re-assured that needed MH services will be provided to their students
the statement should not dump the problem on the front lines of systems, there needs to be clearly identified actions by local agencies, government, research agencies and others
partnership issues, models and processes need to be emphasized; this need to include advice on how to develop local partnerships
the statement needs to be brief; perhaps some of the links and background can be put into web-linked references
the statement needs to emphasize pro-social behaviours
mental health literacy needs to be emphasized in the statement
we need to position mental health promotion within and with health promotion of the whole child
we need to show that positive mental health and preventing mental health problems will support educational achievement and school effectiveness

Note: Feedback received from people before and after the call included these points:

suicide needs to be a national priority
stress and depression from different forms of trauma also needs to be addressed clearly in the statement
we need to include "mind, body, heart and spirit"
we should be using some of Corey Keyes work to help us define mental health (concept of flourishing, positive psychology etc)

Participants agreed that we should meet again before the Christmas holiday, preferably before December 18, 2009.

International Collaborative Blog

dmccall — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 14:13:13 CST

This page displays an embedded blog that is published jointly and on several web sites by several organizations and experts around the world who are concerned with promoting health, safety, equity, social and sustainable development through schools.Whenever an item is posted in a shared access web site, it is simultaneously displayed on the web sites of participating organizations, so they can offer this exchange to their own members or constituencies. This unique and effective use of technology is part of the the knowledge exchange efforts of many organizations facilitated by the International School Health Network. If you want to post this blog on your web site, contact dmccall@internationalschoolhealth.org

Latest SMH News, Research, Resources

Anonymous — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 21:31:00 CST

This page contains an embedded web page provided by the International School health Network in cooperation with its partners in school mental health promotion. The embedded page below provides access to a Twitter-based news feed and a blog that are maintained by several international organizations. If you would like to embed this page into your web site, contact dmccall@internationalschoolhealth.org

Latest SAP Research, News, Resources

dmccall — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 08:56:24 CST

This page contains an embedded web page showing the latest research, news and resources on school substance abuse prevention provided as a courtesy from the International School Health Network and its partners. We are posting items from our SAP Twitter news/research feed and will be adding a blog commentary in the near future that will also be displayed here. Scroll down to the bottom of this page for a similar embedded set of web pages from the World Encyclopedia on School Health, Safety, Social, Economic and Sustainable Development, a web site containing hundreds of research, reports and resources as well as summaries, recorded webinars, videos and more as part of an international knowledge exchange program.

Substance Abuse Prevention CoP

Anonymous — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 08:13:57 CST

Welcome to these wiki-based web pages that serve as a shared work space for professional researchers, non-governmental organizations and local agencies interested in preventing substance abuse and other addictions through school-based and school-linked programs. The purpose of this section of the CSH wiki is to collect the educational, planning, assessment tools related to substance abuse prevention. We also have a page on CoP news and activities. Notes from the CoP calls, meetings and web meetings are listed as sub-pages. We also monitor and post the latest news, research, resources and reports on school substance abuse prevention within these pages in cooperation with the International School Health Network. This page displays the latest postings (tweets) from the ISHN Twitter-based news/research feed and will eventually include a blog-based commentary on emerging trends and important items. This wiki is kept up-to-date by its members and is part of an ongoing knowledge exchange (Community of Practice) that includes: the joint planning of a symposium and sessions at the annual School Health conference webinars on selected topics other activities organized by the lead organizations and individuals who are working together to create a community of practice on school mental health promotion If you want to make a comment or suggestion through email, or would like more information, contact Doug McCall at dmccall@cash-aces.ca	Announcements The Council on Drug Abuse has received funding from Health Canada to develop and deliver a national, youth-led, aboriginal focused version of its successful prevention program. CASH and the International School Health Network will be organizing knowledge exchnage activities to support the people implementing the program. This will enable us to hold several webinars and other activities. Watch for more news soon posted on this page. CASH recently helped Health Canada to develop ideas on how they can learn from national and regional projects funded as part of the Anti-Drug Strategy. Much of our input was drawn from the webinar series on implementation issues we did in the fall of 2010 . Thank you to the many people that commented on the draft CCSA Standards for School-based Prevention of Substance Abuse this Fall. We submitted those comments and were told that this input would be considered in the next phase of consultations on that document. The revised version of the CCSA Standards are now out. Watch for our analysis that will be posted on these pages. How to Use this Wiki Learn more about how to edit, add and move pages as well as make comments within this wiki in our video/web tour.Or, go to these pages for detailed instructions on using "Easy Edit" to change the text on pages, or how to create, move or work with pages.) Control the amount of email (from other members and about page changes) that you receive from this wiki. Learn how from our video/web tour on joining and creating a profile. (Or, read these detailed instructions on how to manage your wetpaint account or profile). Learn how to "watch" and "unwatch" pages in this wiki by viewing this brief video. (Or, read these detailed instructions on managing your account from Wetpaint.

Welcome to these wiki-based web pages that serve as a shared work space for professional researchers, non-governmental organizations and local agencies interested in preventing substance abuse and other addictions through school-based and school-linked programs.

The purpose of this section of the CSH wiki is to collect the educational, planning, assessment tools related to substance abuse prevention. We also have a page on CoP news and activities. Notes from the CoP calls, meetings and web meetings are listed as sub-pages.

We also monitor and post the latest news, research, resources and reports on school substance abuse prevention within these pages in cooperation with the International School Health Network. This page displays the latest postings (tweets) from the ISHN Twitter-based news/research feed and will eventually include a blog-based commentary on emerging trends and important items.

This wiki is kept up-to-date by its members and is part of an ongoing knowledge exchange (Community of Practice) that includes:

the joint planning of a symposium and sessions at the annual School Health conference
webinars on selected topics
other activities organized by the lead organizations and individuals who are working together to create a community of practice on school mental health promotion

If you want to make a comment or suggestion through email, or would like more information, contact Doug McCall at dmccall@cash-aces.ca

Announcements

The Council on Drug Abuse has received funding from Health Canada to develop and deliver a national, youth-led, aboriginal focused version of its successful prevention program. CASH and the International School Health Network will be organizing knowledge exchnage activities to support the people implementing the program. This will enable us to hold several webinars and other activities. Watch for more news soon posted on this page.
CASH recently helped Health Canada to develop ideas on how they can learn from national and regional projects funded as part of the Anti-Drug Strategy. Much of our input was drawn from the webinar series on implementation issues we did in the fall of 2010 .
Thank you to the many people that commented on the draft CCSA Standards for School-based Prevention of Substance Abuse this Fall. We submitted those comments and were told that this input would be considered in the next phase of consultations on that document. The revised version of the CCSA Standards are now out. Watch for our analysis that will be posted on these pages.

How to Use this Wiki

Learn more about how to edit, add and move pages as well as make comments within this wiki in our video/web tour.Or, go to these pages for detailed instructions on using "Easy Edit" to change the text on pages, or how to create, move or work with pages.)
Control the amount of email (from other members and about page changes) that you receive from this wiki. Learn how from our video/web tour on joining and creating a profile. (Or, read these detailed instructions on how to manage your wetpaint account or profile).

Learn how to "watch" and "unwatch" pages in this wiki by viewing this brief video. (Or, read these detailed instructions on managing your account from Wetpaint.

Effective National Strategies: A Checklist

dmccall — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 13:00:26 CDT

This page contains a checklist for effective national or provincial/territorial strategies. This checklist was developed by participants in several Canadian consultations and was compiled by Doug McCall, Executive Director of the Canadian Association for School Health in 2006. Comments and additions are welcome. Please use the "thread" tool at the bottom of the page to comment or use the "EasyEdit" tool at the top of the page to open up the page for editing. (Don't worry about making changes, all versions of the page are automatically stored).

An Effective National or Provincial/Territorial Plan (Strategy) has the following elements

Has an evidence-based rationale and the urgency of the problem is documented in personal, health, social and economic terms
Is based on reliable, regular prevalence data
Is focused on achievable health status outcomes and practical objectives

That will be achieved by influencing carefully selected health determinants
And recognizes and addresses real life barriers based on a through research- based understanding of how individuals adopt healthy or risky behaviours and which determinants are more influential
And also addresses practical real life barriers and systemic barriers to change

Has a strategic understanding of the context, constraints, opportunities and threats
Is aimed at specific populations, conditions or determinants through consciously selected evidence-based interventions

that will be delivered through existing or sustainable delivery systems in several sectors (health, public health, education, recreation, etc)
that maximizes effectiveness through coordinated, multiple, interventions in selected settings where they wil1 be sustainable

provides funding, policy and program advice, research and training to support this coordination at all levels
Is operationalized with a clear understanding of national initiatives (that require federal- provincial, NGO and professional cooperation), the federal role, the provincial/territorial role and their current policies and priorities, the role of local governments, institutions and agencies and their current policies and priorities, capacities, programs and services as well as professional norms and current practices
Has created sustainable mechanisms to influence federal, provincial/territorial. policies and priorities, local agency policies and priorities and capacities, professional norms and practices, the overall capacity of local agencies and professionals to mobilize the resources within their communities, to create and maintain the capacity of voluntary organizations and the capacity of individuals
Is monitored through a comprehensive set of meaningful, reliable, timely and comparable Indicators (over time, by jurisdictions, and by local, similar communities)

That measure health outputs, learning outputs, system outputs, system processes, inputs into those systems and the overall and local social, economic context and correlates those outputs with longer term outcomes

Strategically such national plans should:

select aspects of the problem that can capture public attention (and that of politicians and decision-makers/administrators)
assess potential allies and potential competitors to select partners
time events to maximize benefits
select interventions and activities that match the current agendas of many players
distribute and shares profile, influence and information and control of resources to maximize cooperation and sustainability
start with achievable activities but has a long term vision and set of goals and values that maximizes consensus and sustainability
create infrastructure and knowledge that can be used by others
take advantage of existing infrastructure, systems and public concerns