Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board (HWDSB) is committed to supporting positive mental health for every student. The We Help: Mental Health and Addiction Strategy is a comprehensive three-year strategy that organizes and guides the multi-tiered approach to support every student to feel safe and secure in their classrooms and school communities.
The HWDSB We Help: Mental Health and Addictions Strategy has prioritized four areas for the 2024-25 Annual Mental Health and Well-Being Action Plan found below.
The plan aligns with the goals set out in the HWDSB Board Improvement Plan (BIP) as well as the six key areas of focus outlined in the School Mental Health Ontario (SMHO) 2024-2025 School Mental Health Action Plan (SMHAP).
The Annual Mental Health and Well-Being Action Plan also meets or exceeds the expectations set out by the Ministry of Education in Policy/Program Memorandum 169.
2024-25 Action Plan: Four Priority Areas
| Student Leadership and Engagement | Creating Conditions for Learning |
| Responding to Student Need | School Based Mental Health Support |
Student Leadership and Engagement
Creating opportunities for student voice and lived experience to inform positive school and classroom conditions and promote mental health and well-being practices that are identity-affirming, nation-specific and culturally relevant and responsive.
HWDSB Board Improvement Plan
- We will ensure that student voice and lived experience informs the classroom environment, learning, engagement and leadership experiences.
SMHO Action Plan
- Centre the needs of students who have been disproportionately impacted by the social determinants of health, racism, and/or marginalization.
- Create opportunities for meaningful student consultation, contribution, and leadership in identity-affirming mental health promotion and stigma reduction efforts.
2024-25 Actions
- Support the Student Advisory on Mental Health
- Support student-led school-wide Positive Culture and Well-Being teams in every school
- Collect student voice using various methods such as focus groups, feedback sessions and surveys
Creating Conditions for Learning
Enhance the capacity of staff through job-embedded, role-specific learning that will foster safer, caring and equitable schools and classes, where students feel a sense of belonging while accessing accurate information about mental health.
HWDSB Board Improvement Plan
- We will provide intentional and culturally relevant teaching and supports on mental health so that K-12 students can recognize their own mental health needs and seek supports.
- We will provide learning for students to understand their human rights roles and responsibilities related to their safety and well-being.
SMHO Action Plan
- Enhance wellness promotion and mental health literacy within the context of mentally healthy learning environments.
2024-25 Actions
- Continue to build staff capacity in restorative Indigenous educational wellness, mental health and well-being, human rights, equity and safer schools through specific learning initiatives.
- Support the implementation of intentional and culturally relevant lesson plans and activities for staff to use in their classrooms.
| Reimagining Wellness | Kindergarten Social Emotional Development |
| Grade 4-8 Cannabis and Vaping Resources | Grade 7 and 8 Mental Health Curriculum |
| Grade 9 Healthy Curriculum | Mental Health Literacy Lessons (Grade 10 Civics) |
| Skills for Everyday Stressors |
Responding to Student Need
Increase staff capacity to respond to student need through role specific skills and knowledge that provide differentiated, identity-affirming, nation-specific, locally relevant and evidence-based care.
HWDSB Board Improvement Plan
- We will support students and families to navigate external mental health resources, care and support that provide culturally responsive and relevant care.
SMHO Action Plan
- Strengthen the knowledge and confidence of school staff to promote student wellness, and facilitate early identification, support and help-seeking as needed.
- Collaborate with community partners, to contribute to an improved system of care for child and youth mental health and addictions needs.
2024-25 Actions
- Role-embedded learning for classroom staff to respond to student need
- Role-embedded learning for non-instructional staff to respond to student need
- School Pathway to Mental Health Support
- HWDSB Suicide Prevention Intervention, and Postvention Protocol
School Based Mental Health Support
Strengthen the capacity of school-based mental health professionals in the provision of identity affirming and evidence informed support to students and their families.
SMHO Action Plan
- Support school mental health professionals to use brief, evidence-informed prevention and early intervention protocols for student mental health and addictions concerns
2024-25 Actions
- Promotion of the role that mental health professionals provide to support students
- Continued growth in the utilization of measurement-based care and evidence informed practices
- Increase capacity to provide identity affirming individual support and student/caregiver groups and webinars
- Strengthen partnerships and communication with community mental health services to support clearer and barrier free pathways to community care
Updated on Friday, August 02, 2024.