Our Initiatives

Learning from local educators

In the past year, we asked educators how we could support them and build their capacity to address MHSU in schools. While Covid-19 limited the scope of this work, we interviewed and surveyed over 30 teachers and 13 counsellors. Our goal was to better understand their professional learning needs – and the tools and resources required to meet those needs.

Consulting with families

We also consulted families as they are important members of the K-12 school community. To better understand how families perceive professional learning needs, we surveyed 47 parents of children with identified MHSU challenges. The data provided useful information and revealed common concerns among both families and teachers.

Reporting our findings

The BC Partners team created a strategic report based on our interviews and surveys with both educators and families of K-12 students. This valuable report provided concrete recommendations and suggestions for future implementation.

Future recommendations:

1. Use opportunities within other BCP projects to help K-12 educators acquire the knowledge and skills they need to address MHSU, based on the consultation report. For example:
   • a. HeretoHelp – develop an accessible list of current and new resources that could support teachers, and add a clear homepage link
   • b. Equipping Education Events – develop at least one event focused on helping teachers
   • c. Equipping Education events – develop teacher tip sheets and student-friendly resources to distribute through Beyond the Blues, Love Our Bodies Love Ourselves, In the Know, National Child and Youth Mental Health Day
   • d. Visions –engage teachers through school-focused articles and as Visions contributors
   • e. Healthy Minds | Healthy Campuses – promote conversation between post-secondary and K-12 participants on ways to address MHSU during transition, and capture ideas to share more widely through the HeretoHelp and Healthy Minds | Healthy Campuses websites or other channels
2. Challenge all BC Partner agencies to apply what we learned from the consultation report to their K-12 sector work and share their experiences in quarterly project reports.