1. An Insider’s Guide to Working with School Boards in Ontario
Sandy Palinski
Manager, Special Education Policy and Programs Branch
Ontario Ministry of Education
Kathy Short
Director, School Mental Health ASSIST
Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board

2. Objectives
To welcome you as a partner in the Ontario Mental Health and Addictions Strategy
To provide context about the education sector & our commitments to the Strategy
To help you to successfully navigate the complex world of school boards

3. WELCOME! The Ontario Mental Health and Addictions Strategy is an exciting initiative and we all have an important role to play in ensuring success…for the children and youth in our province.

4. Overview Brief Tour of the Education Sector
EDU Commitments to the MHA Strategy
About School Mental Health ASSIST
Understanding School Board Culture
Practical Considerations and Suggestions

5. The Education Sector in ontario
A Brief Tour of
The Education Sector in ontario

6. Federal Responsibilities
Federal government responsibilities with regard to education:
education of Aboriginal students (especially on Reserves)
funding of instruction of and in the official language of the minority (English in Québec, French in other provinces and territories)
funding of programs to welcome newcomers to schools
education of inmates in federal prisons
funding of adult training for the labour market
funding of university research
scholarship and loan programs for students in postsecondary
education of members of the armed forces

7. Council of Ministers of Education
Because Canada has no federal Department of Education, a coordinating organization was needed
The Council of Ministers of Education, Canada (CMEC) was established in 1967 as a forum in which Ministers of Education deal with issues of mutual interest and concern
All 13 provinces and territories are members, but not the federal government
Through the Council, Ministers consult and act on matters of mutual interest, and they consult and cooperate with national education organizations and the federal government

8. Government & Education in Ontario
Ontario follows the British parliamentary system: Government departments are headed by Ministers , elected MPPs who have been appointed by the Premier to Cabinet
The Minister of Education is responsible for child care, elementary and secondary education. The Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities is responsible for employment /training programs and postsecondary education.
Deputy Ministers are civil servants responsible for operation
Through the Education Act, the Ministry of Education provides leadership and develops education policy

9. Ministry of Education Priorities
The Ministry of Education seeks to promote a strong, vibrant, publicly funded education system that is focused on three goals:
High levels of student achievement
Reduced gaps in student achievement
Increasing levels of public confidence in publicly funded education

10. District School Boards
The Education Act delegates responsibility for governance of schools to four sets of district school boards, all of which are fully funded by the provincial government
Ontario’s 5,000 publicly funded schools are grouped in 72 district school boards:
31 English Public (secular or non-religious: open to all students)
29 English Catholic
4 French Public
8 French Catholic
Our context, our challenge
DID YOU KNOW??

11. Principals and Managers Teachers and Support Staff
Structure of District School Boards
Trustees Elected every 4 years Receive honoraria (are not salaried) Staff Are employees of the school boards Key Responsibilities of School Boards Opening and closing of schools Administration /enforcement of policy Implementation of programs Delivery of curriculum
Trustees
Director of
Education
Superintendents
Principals and Managers
Teachers and Support Staff

12. Publicly Funded Schools
Elementary schools usually offer
Junior Kindergarten, Kindergarten, Grade 1 to Grade 8 (ages 3 or 4 to 13 or 14)
Secondary schools
Grade 9 to Grade 12 (ages 13 or 14 to 17 or 18)
Provincial schools
The ministry directly administers eight Provincial and Demonstration Schools for deaf, blind, deaf/blind, and severely disabled students; About 800 students are enrolled in the Provincial and Demonstration Schools

13. Education in Ontario: Quick Facts
Publicly funded schools in Ontario = 4,923
4026 elementary
897 secondary
Number of students = almost 2 million
1,355,440 elementary
715,296 secondary
Number of teachers in publicly funded schools = 116,179
72,207 elementary
43,972 secondary
Number of principals /vice-principals in publicly funded schools = 7,368
5,375 elementary
1,993 secondary

14. Commitments to the mental health & addictions strategy
Ontario Ministry of Education
Commitments to the mental health & addictions strategy

15. OVERVIEW OF THE MENTAL HEALTH & ADDICTIONS STRATEGY - FIRST 3 YEARS
Provide fast access to high quality service
Kids and families will know where to go to get what they need and services will be available to respond in a timely way.
Identify and intervene in kids’ mental health needs early
Professionals in community-based child and youth mental health agencies and teachers will learn how to identify and respond to the mental health needs of kids.
Close critical service gaps for vulnerable kids, kids in key transitions, and those in remote communities
Kids will receive the type of specialized service they need and it will be culturally appropriate
THEMES
INDICATORS
Reduced child and youth suicides/suicide attempts
Educational progress (EQAO)
Fewer school suspensions and/or expulsions
Decrease in severity of mental health issues through treatment
Decrease in inpatient admission rates for child and youth mental health
Higher graduation rates
More professionals trained to identify kids’ mental health needs
Higher parent satisfaction in services received
Fewer hospital (ER) admissions and readmissions for child and youth mental health
Reduced Wait Times
Pilot Family Support Navigator model
Y1 pilot
Implement Working Together for Kids’ Mental Health
Implement standardized tools for outcomes and needs assessment
Enhance and expand Telepsychiatry model and services
Provide support at key transition points
Improve public access to service information
Funding to increase supply of child and youth mental health professionals
Amend education curriculum to cover mental health promotion and address stigma
Develop K-12 resource guide for educators
Improve service coordination for high needs kids, youth and families
Increase Youth Mental Health Court Workers
Hire new Aboriginal workers Implement Aboriginal Mental Health Worker Training Program
INITIATIVES
Outcomes, indicators and development of scorecard
Implement school mental health ASSIST program &mental health literacy provincially
Expand inpatient/outpatient services for child and youth eating disorders
Provide designated mental health workers in schools
Hire Nurse Practitioners for eating disorders program
Reduce wait times for service, revise service contracting, standards, and reporting 15
Implement Mental Health Leaders in selected School Boards
Strategy Evaluation
Provide nurses in schools to support mental health services
Create 18 service collaboratives

16. Interconnected Initiatives
School Boards
Health care settings
Community settings
MOHLTC
Nurse Leaders
MHA Nurses in DSB program
Service Collaboratives
SSLI
MCYS
MH Workers with Schools
Working Together
Student Support Leadership Initiative (SSLI)
EDU
SMH ASSIST

17. The MHA Strategy Recognizes that Schools Have a Unique Opportunity
Schools are an optimal setting in which to:
Reduce stigma
Promote positive mental health
Build social-emotional learning skills
Prevent mental health problems in high risk groups
Identify students in need
Create bridges to needed services

18. EDU Strategy Commitments
Amend the education curriculum
Develop a K-12 Resource Guide/Website
Provide support for professional learning in mental health and addictions for all Ontario educators
Fund and support Mental Health Leaders
Implement School Mental Health ASSIST

19. Related EDU Initiatives
LNS SS_Lto18
Positive School Climate
Learning for All
Leadership Strategy
Growing Success
Student Voice
Parent Engagement
Accepting and Safe Schools Strategy
Aboriginal Education Strategy
Equity and
Inclusive
Education
Strategy
BIP for Student Achievement
K-12 School Effectiveness Framework
Healthy Schools
Mental Health
& Addictions Strategy Connections
Amend the education curriculum
Implement School Mental Health ASSIST
Develop a K- 12 Resource Guide /Website
Fund and support Mental Health Leaders in school boards
Provide support for professional learning in mental health and addictions for educators
Slide for you

20. School Mental Health is Not New
Schools and communities in Ontario and elsewhere have been dealing with these issues for decades
Inconsistent, fragmented approaches, with pockets of excellence…
What’s new is the galvanizing of research, policy and practice to reach an integrated solution to a complex problem

21. The Honourable Michael J. L. Kirby, Chair
OUT OF THE SHADOWS AT LAST 
The Standing Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology
The Honourable Michael J. L. Kirby, Chair
May 2006
Making the school a site for the effective delivery of mental health services involves several key steps.  First, its potential must be recognized.

22. National School Mental Health
School-Based Mental Health & Substance Abuse Consortium
Canada’s Mental Health Strategy (MHCC)
Evergreen
National Infant Child & Youth Mental Health Consortium
Opening Minds
Joint Consortium for School Health
Public Health Agency of Canada
Canadian Association for School Health
Canadian Centre for Substance Abuse

23. Release of SBMHSA Findings
Meta-Synthesis of Reviews
MH Promotion
Prevention
Intervention/
Ongoing Care
School/Class-wide Social Emotional Learning is associated with enhanced prosocial ability and academic achievement
Internalizing
Cognitive-Behaviour Therapy / Behavior Therapy that is skill-based and builds protective factors can reduce symptoms
CBT/BT focused on core elements like social problem solving, cognitive restructuring, relaxation
Externalizing
Cognitive-Behaviour Therapy / Behavior Therapy that builds conflict resolution and anger management skills can reduce symptoms
CBT/BT focused on core elements like identifying cues for aggression, resisting automatic aggressive impulses, alternative behaviors
Substance Use
Mixed results – best strategies are interactive and build refusal and life skills
Insufficient evidence

24. Release of SBMHSA Findings
Scan of Nominated Best Practices
Report of 150 nominated programs and strategies, from every province
Across the Evergreen continuum
Development and adaptation driven by need, resulting in islands of innovation
Inconsistent alignment with evidence, inconsistent use of local evaluation
Actionable messages
Build tools to support coherence and decision-making
NATIONAL SCAN DATABASE
Support evaluation and scale up of research-consistent programs

25. Release of SBMHSA Findings
National Survey of Schools and Boards
Broad Findings
85% of board-level respondents, and 65% of school-level participants, indicated they were concerned or very concerned about student mental health and/or substance use
Over 80% of respondents indicated that there are unmet student mental health and/or substance use needs in their board or school
Most Common – Problems With: attention & learning, anxiety, substance use, social relationships & bullying, oppositional behavior & aggression, depressed mood
Identified need for organizational conditions at the school and board level (board policy, clear service pathways, infrastructure, role clarity, systematic PD)
Inconsistent coverage of the continuum of care in boards and schools. Primary focus on identification and referral, individual intervention and crisis intervention
Implementation Barriers include: insufficient resources in schools/communities, insufficient qualified staff in school boards, need for parent engagement/collaboration, need for promotion/prevention programming, need for systematic PD for educators

26. International School Mental Health
International Alliance for Child and Adolescent Mental Health in Schools
US – Canada Alliance for School Mental Health
Advances in School Mental Health Promotion
Key conferences featuring School Mental Health
7th Annual World Conference on Mental Health Promotion and Treatment of Behavioral Disorders, October 17-19, Perth, Australia
17th Annual Conference on Advancing School Mental Health, October 25-27, Salt Lake City, Utah
26th Annual Children’s Mental Health Research and Policy Conference, March 3-6, Tampa, Florida

27. Taking Mental Health to School Ontario
Different models of mental health service delivery across boards (Taking Mental Health to School, 2009)
Variable leadership structures, variable levels and types of professional support, variable relationship with community, variable range of services
Educators are very concerned about student mental health, but feel ill-prepared to provide support
Acknowledgement of promising supports (e.g., Student Support Leadership Initiative)
Need for leadership, coordination, access to evidence-based approaches, implementation support, evaluation

28. School Mental Health ASSIST is a provincial implementation support team designed to help Ontario school boards to promote student mental health and well-being, through leadership, practical resources and systematic research-based approaches to school mental health.

29. Leadership Structure Ontario Ministry of Education Lead
Special Education Policy & Programs Branch
School Board Lead
Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board
SMH ASSIST Core Team
Director, and 4+ P/T Implementation Coaches (3 Senior School Mental Health Professionals, 1 Superintendent),.5 Research Associate (new!)
Cross-Sector Partners
Interministerial Staff Team
Hospital for Sick Children, Ontario Centre of Excellence for Child & Youth MH
Provincial Stakeholder Organizations
Evaluation and Implementation Consultation Team
Drs. Michael Boyle, Bruce Ferguson, Tom Kratochwill, Robert Lucio, Ian Manion, Doris McWhorter, Karen Milligan, Caroline Parkin, Joyce Sebian, Mark Weist

30. Priorities
Organizational Conditions for Effective School Mental Health
Mental Health Capacity-Building for Educators
Implementation of Evidence-Based Mental Health Promotion and Prevention Programming

31. Organizational Conditions
Top 10 List
Commitment
School Mental Health Leadership Team
Clear & Focused Vision
Shared Language
Assessment of Initial Capacity
Standard Processes
PD Protocols
School Mental Health Strategy / Action Plan
Broad Collaboration
Ongoing Quality Improvement

32. Mental Health Awareness Mental Health Literacy Mental Health Expertise
Capacity-Building
Mental Health Awareness
Mental Health Literacy
Mental Health Expertise
Basic mental health information, tailored for different school board audiences
Deeper working knowledge for those who have a direct role in supporting student mental health (creating mentally healthy schools & classrooms, recognizing early signs of difficulty)
Skills and knowledge for SMH professionals to effectively provide evidence-based promotion, prevention, and intervention
ALL
SOME
FEW
Capacity Building is not an event! It is an iterative deepening of knowledge embedded in school board life. It takes time.
Resources should be tailored for different education audiences

33. Mental Health Promotion & Prevention
Not all programming in school mental health is helpful for all students. Some programming, though well-intentioned, is benign or harmful for certain populations.
Program implementation standards are critical (training, coaching, fidelity to protocols, evaluation)
SMH ASSIST can help boards to select and sustain appropriate mental health promotion and prevention programs and strategies

34. Support to ALL Ontario boards
Resources
Webinar series, other staff development materials
Decision support tools
Templates
School Administrators’ Toolkit
Consultation
Workshops
Representation on provincial reference groups & committees

35. Focus Boards
15 boards were Focus Boards in , another 15 announced for
Boards receive 1 FTE Mental Health Leader and SMH ASSIST support
Reciprocal relationship with SMH ASSIST
ASSIST provides leadership & implementation support
Focus Boards help with piloting resources that will be rolled out to all boards in time

36. Focus Boards Algoma DSB Algonquin and Lakeshore Catholic DSB
CSD Catholiques Centre-Sud
CSD des écoles catholiques du Sud-Ouest
CSD du Nord-Est de l'Ontario
District School Board of Niagara
Hamilton-Wentworth DSB
Hastings and Prince Edward DSB
Huron-Superior Catholic DSB
Keewatin-Patricia DSB
Kenora Catholic District School Board
Peel DSB
Simcoe-Muskoka Catholic DSB
Toronto Catholic DSB
Trillium Lakelands DSB
CSD catholique des Grandes Rivières
CSD du Grand Nord de l'Ontario
Grand Erie DSB
Halton DSB
Lakehead DSB
Lambton Kent DSB
London District Catholic DSB
Northeastern Catholic DSB
Ontario North East DSB
Ottawa Catholic DSB
Simcoe County DSB
Thunder Bay Catholic DSB
Toronto DSB
Upper Grand DSB
York Catholic DSB
Selected for geographic, language, Catholic/Public representation, along a continuum of School Mental Health capacity

37. Mental Health Leaders
Mental Health Leaders are senior mental health professionals hired by District School Boards to:
Provide leadership & coordination in school mental health,
conduct/update a mental health needs assessment,
co-create a Board Mental Health Strategy,
oversee the implementation of the Board MH Strategy,
support community collaboration
Mental Health Leaders work closely with Superintendents with responsibility for mental health, and existing school mental health professionals to tailor the role for the board
Work within a community of practice, participate in SMH ASSIST leadership modules, receive ongoing coaching

38. Visit SMH ASSIST

39. Understanding School Board Culture

40. What Life in School Boards is Really Like…

41. A day in the life of a school
We teach students, age 3 through 18+, literacy, numeracy, content, character, coping, career…
We get them to school safely on buses, feed them, clean up cut knees and wipe away tears, watch them play, learn, make mistakes, and help one another
We provide extra support to vulnerable students
We assess progress, maintain records, aggregate data
We reach out to parents
We collaborate with our community partners
We support one another, and our students , every day…

42. Education Priorities Academic learning is our primary responsibility
Important to make the connections between mental health and academic achievement
Boards create an annual achievement plan (BIPSA)
Schools create an annual achievement plan (SIP)
Boards and schools follow a planning / monitoring process called the School Effectiveness Framework

43. Getting Started… Learn about the board(s) – they are each unique
Make contact with the Superintendent responsible for student mental health
Connect with the Mental Health Leader, if present & the Chief Social Worker / Psychologist
Confirm expectations for the role (scope, focus)

44. Some Good Questions…
Who has lead responsibility for student mental health in the board?
Is there a board mental health leadership team? May I join?
Who provides mental health services in the board currently? Who does what?
Does the board have a mental health strategy? What are the key priorities?

45. Resource Mapping
If your board has a Mental Health Leader, then a resource mapping will have been completed
This mapping is meant to illuminate system strengths and gaps, for use in the development of the board mental health strategy
In many boards, the mapping extends to school level resource/program information, to assist with school programming decisions

46. Professional Learning
Movement towards working together in a climate of collective inquiry towards a clear focused educational goal
Cross-classroom, cross-division, cross-school, cross-department, cross-board
Aligns with research on adult learning and teacher preferences

47. Tiers of Intervention
Key initiatives that are foundational to mental health ascribe to a tiered model of intervention (e.g., Student Success, Learning for All)
This aligns with the national Evergreen framework, and the public health model
Mental health promotion, prevention, intervention and ongoing care
Boards deliver promotion & prevention routinely, and many have mental health professionals who provide intervention services
But there is much to do and we rely on our partners for help!

48. Tiered Support in Systems of Care
Organizational Conditions
Universal Evidence-Based
Mental Health Promotion, Social-Emotional Learning
Targeted Evidence-Based Prevention
E-B Clinical
Intervention
Evidence-Based Clinical Intervention
Universal E-B Mental Health Promotion
Community
Mental Health Capacity
Engagement
Implementation Focus
School Boards
Continuous Quality Improvement

49. Questions for Reflection…

50. Contact Information
Sandy Palinski
Manager, Special Education Policy & Programs Branch
Ontario Ministry of Education
Kathy Short
Director, School Mental Health ASSIST
Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board