Mental health matters: helping students to thrive and flourish in the real world

BY PAUL JUNOR

As students starts the new school year, the importance of their mental health has taken on added significance given the emphasis that has been placed on it in the revised Physical and Health Education Curriculum. Many parents, teachers, guardians and caregivers are interested in helping their young ones be their best, so they are curious about strategies, ideas and suggestions that they can use.

The Public Health Agency of Canada defines positive mental health as, “The capacity of each of us to feel, think, and act in ways that enhances our ability to enjoy life and deal with the challenges we face.” Furthermore, according to the professional advisory by the Ontario College of Teachers  (OCT) on Supporting Students’ Mental Health, “Mental health encapsulates ones ability to manage thoughts, feelings, and behaviour, making it possible to set and achieve goals, create and keep relations, adapt and cope with stress, sadness, and feel happiness.” Thus it is important that those of us who are entrusted with looking after children be: aware of signs of mental illness, know who to turn to when help is required, and have trusted strategies to promote wellness.

The issue of the mental health of students is very important for parents, caregivers, guardians and teachers who directly work with young children. There are many stigmas, ideas, assumptions, misconceptions, and false understandings that distort our view of mental illness. According to teen mentalhealth.org/live, mental illness is “A disturbance of brain function characterized by difficulties in: thinking, mood, behaviour, perception, physical functioning and/or signalling mechanisms (or some combination thereof). These illnesses lead to significant impairments in day-to-day living (work, home, social).”

Childhood and adolescence are development periods during which the behavioural, social, emotional, psychological and physical changes often create tremendous stress that many lead to: self-doubt, anxieties, phobias and disorders, especially in our social –media saturated world where there are additional pressures exerted.

Behavioural characteristics of some mental health conditions that can affect student learning, emotional health, behaviours and relationships include: significant drop in school marks, changes in sleeping or eating habits, avoiding friends and family, frequent angry outbursts, drinking a lot and/or using drugs, not doing things they usually like to do, worrying constantly, frequent mood swings, obsession or lack of concern about weight/appearance, lacking energy and motivation, feeling down and risky behaviour (ontario.cmha.ca documents/child-and youth-mental-health-signs-and–symptoms).

In addition, extreme changes in behaviour, anxiety (fear, worry, dread and feeling of uneasiness) that persists over a long period of time, obsessive-compulsive disorders, attention-deficit disorders, mood disorders (depression, child bipolar disorder) and eating disorders are other issues that may arise. It takes a trained professional to diagnose these accurately. It is important that adults who are involved with young people be; conscious of trauma in a child ‘s life (death of a loved one, injury ), or in their community, be mindful of the language that they use when conversing, and be aware of protective factors that are able to counter risk factors that can impair children’s health.

Helping young people develop resilience is important; by nurturing and strengthening adaptive and empowering skills, students can learn to think, behave and act in ways to overcome stress.