Youth mental health needs to become a public health priority

As part of Mental Illness Awareness Week, experts in education, behavioural difficulties and mental health launch toolkit to help children, parents and school intervention workers cope with the COVID-19 pandemic

MONTRÉAL, Sept. 30, 2020 /CNW Telbec/ - More than 30 specialists, university researchers and organizations have joined forces with the Jasmin Roy Sophie Desmarais Foundation in collaboration with the Comité québécois pour les jeunes en difficulté de comportement (CQJDC) to create a toolkit to help manage the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic in schools. Supported by the Government of Canada's Emergency Community Support Fund from the Government of Canada, the Foundation of Greater Montréal and Bell Let's Talk, experts in education, behavioural difficulties and mental health have been working together to develop the toolkit which will help school staff, parents and their children maintain and develop healthy emotional perspectives and relationships in this new educational environment.

"Especially this year, the back-to-school period is a difficult time for many people, said Jasmin Roy, the Foundation's founding President. This is why we must invest in the emotional and relational well-being of students and adults in schools and educational settings."

"More than ever we need to ensure healthy environments through caring and emotional management to support learning and school participation," added Sophie Desmarais, the Foundation's Godmother.

"Bell Let's Talk is pleased to support the work of the Jasmin Roy Sophie Desmarais Foundation in the development of this toolkit to help school staff and parents support children in maintaining their mental health in these challenging times, said Mary Deacon, Chair of Bell Let's Talk. Bell Let's Talk has significantly increased 2020 funding in response to the surge in demand for front-line mental health supports created by COVID-19, enabling the rapid deployment of innovative resources just like this."

An evolutive toolbox
In conjunction with the measures put in place by public health, the strategies developed will promote youth resilience, help adults to better intervene with behavioural difficulties and contribute to school perseverance by addressing the management of emotions, anxiety and stress.

"The current situation may be experienced differently by each of us, said Joudie Dubois, Executive Director of the CQJDC. The objective of the toolkit is to offer resources from which parents, teachers and school intervention workers can draw upon to support them in their work with young people. The experts who created the tools have put their hearts into these resources so that they can be truly helpful in this particular context."

The toolkit will also include several solutions to help with grief management, motivational difficulties and sleep disorders. To help parents, teachers and counsellors to act quickly, the practical intervention guides are accompanied by videos, nursery rhymes and exercises to help young people from 3 to 17 years old. The toolkit will help to:

• Motivate students to study at distance
• Calm their thoughts through transformation, visualization and colouring
• Calm their bodies through breathing, cardiac coherence and meditation
• Calm their emotions by working on self-esteem, keeping a journal, learning words to identify ailments
• Take active breaks at their desk
• Recognize potential stress or anxiety triggers and the anxiety triangle
• Develop a home day routine and a sleep routine to prevent and manage sleep disorders, night terrors, etc

Parents, teachers and intervention workers will be able to help young people by establishing preventive strategies and using the principles of small steps and helping thoughts, among others. They will also find tips to facilitate positive communication with the community and other parents. Throughout the coming year, a variety of new strategies will be added as research progresses.

In addition, parents, teachers and intervention workers may will also experience many emotions during the school period and will have access to tools to learn how to manage their stress. They will also be able to count on a few tools designed to maintain healthy emotional and relational habits.

"In this extraordinary back-to-school season, it is more urgent than ever to focus on the mental health of the most vulnerable youth, said Karel Mayrand, President of the Foundation of Greater Montréal. In addition to their academic success, it is their emotional well-being that may be affected by the impacts of the pandemic. The Foundation of Greater Montréal is pleased to support the distribution of the toolkit and we hope that it will reach as many students and families in difficulty as possible."

Back-to school update
A  virtual symposium will be held on November 24 to assess the back-to-school season in the context of the pandemic. University researchers, organizations and research chairs will meet to discuss youth mental health, behavioural difficulties, challenges to be addressed and the most effective strategies and initiatives that have made a significant difference in educational settings. Following this conference, new tools will be developed based on this assessment, and strategies will be implemented for the post-pandemic months and years ahead. The collaboration of schools will be essential in all regions of Québec as teaching and non-teaching staff work with young people on a daily basis. To register for the colloquium, please visit fondationjasminroy.com or cqjdc.org.

The commitment of all the experts of the collective is voluntary. The Jasmin Roy Sophie Desmarais Foundation relies on donations from generous donors to fund this initiative. To make a donation, contribution please visit the Foundation's website.

About the Jasmin Roy Sophie Desmarais Foundation
Founded in 2010, the primary mission of the Jasmin Roy Sophie Desmarais Foundation is to fight bullying, violence and discrimination against elementary and secondary school children. Its goal is to promote caring environments for students by supporting and organizing various initiatives that provide more effective interventions with victims, aggressors and witnesses. The Foundation's team is committed to finding long-term solutions to the problems of violence and bullying in all walks of life and engaging in prevention of mental health issues with affected youths. Jasmin Roy and the Foundation's honorary patron, Sophie Desmarais, are now registered as representatives of civil society with the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).

Comité québécois pour les jeunes en difficulté de comportement (CQJDC),
Founded in 1994, the CQJDC is an organization whose goal is to promote the well-being of young people experiencing social, emotional and behavioural difficulties and to improve the quality of educational services offered to them. To fulfill its mission, the CQJDC has the following objectives: (1) to inform, sensitize and equip workers who work with young people experiencing social, emotional and behavioural difficulties; (2) to support actions to help these young people better adapt to their social and school life; (3) to promote research and encourage the transfer of cutting-edge knowledge, particularly concerning effective practices for these young people; (4) promote exchanges and collaboration between researchers and practitioners in the school, health and social services sectors; and (5) work with the authorities concerned to defend the quality of educational services to which these young people are entitled and to promote their development. To learn more about the CQJDC: www.cqjdc.org

SOURCE Fondation Jasmin Roy