Rising to Resilience: Supporting Student Mental Health at School

Presented by: Gail Lalonde, MSW, RSW & Dr. Deanna Swift, Ph.D., C.Psych.

Fostering consistent access to high-quality, evidence-based mental health information, supports, and services for Ontario students in central to the work of School Mental Health Ontario. Ensuring that students know how to care for their own mental health, seek help when problems arise, and maintain a strong sense of identity, belonging, confidence and hope - even in challenging circumstances, has a positive impact on the well-being and learning of students across the province.  Learn more about how School Mental Health Ontario works with school districts to implement culturally responsive mental health promotion, prevention and early intervention strategies and resources. The ways in which the promotive and protective factors in schools were amplified, and support for those students who were disproportionately affected by the pandemic will be highlighted. Finally, opportunities for community collaboration between schools and community mental health practitioners will be considered.

Learning Objectives:

1. Have a fuller understanding of the mental health promotion, prevention and early intervention supports available in Ontario schools

2. Know how to access free mental health resources from School Mental Health Ontario to support students, educators, and families

3.  Consider opportunities to work collaboratively across sectors to support student mental health

About Gail Lalonde:

Gail Lalonde is a registered Social Worker by profession, receiving both her BSW and MSW at King’s University College, Western University. Gail began her career in education as a front-line social worker in direct practice with students within the Thames Valley District School Board. Over the course of her years at Thames Valley Gail held several system positions including Mental Health Lead for the board. More recently Gail has worked as Supervisor of Professional Support Services with responsibility for the social work, psychology, and speech and language pathology departments at the London District Catholic School Board. In her current role, Gail leads the mental health promotion team at School Mental Health Ontario. In addition to her work at SMH-ON, Gail is a Clinical Supervisor at the Child & Youth Clinic, at the Faculty of Education at Western University where she provides supervision to students in graduate training programs in social work and psychology.

About Dr. Swift:

Dr. Deanna Swift is an Implementation Coach and the lead for the Special Education and Mental Health portfolio for School Mental Health Ontario.  She is a school and child clinical psychologist with 25 years of clinical experience in hospital, private practice, and school board settings.  Deanna is currently on secondment from the Kawartha Pine Ridge District School Board where she serves as the Executive Officer of Mental Health and clinical manager of the school social work, psychology, and speech-language professionals.

This event is an Accredited Group Learning Activity (Section 1) as defined by the Maintenance of Certification Program of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, and approved by Continuing Professional Development, Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry, Western University. You may claim a maximum of 2.5 hours (credits are automatically calculated).

Each participant should claim only those hours of credit that he/she actually spent participating in the educational program.

This event is online through ZOOM

Cost $35 per person

Register at Rising to Resilience: Supporting Student Mental Health at School (constantcontact.com)

This event is part of the 2021-2022 CPRI Education Catalogue of clinical education offerings on a wide variety of topics related to children with special needs.  Join CPRI’s Education Mailing list to receive reminders of upcoming events and visit The Volunteer Organization of CPRI – Seeing Beyond the Challenges (vocpri.ca) to view the full list of events.