By Bryan Eneas

FNUC students call for better mental health supports in schools

May 1, 2018 | 5:00 PM

Indigenous social work students in Prince Albert penned an open letter to Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe calling for improved mental health services in schools.

The students are mothers and grandmothers, who said their children were impacted directly by recent changes to mental health supports in schools. The students said cuts made by the provincial government last year saw the Prince Albert Catholic School Division remove in-school councilling services.

“Having mental health counselors in schools was one way to reduce barriers and improve mental healthcare for children that has now been abolished,” the students wrote in their letter.

Many children do not have access to such services outside of school for a variety of different reasons, the students said, and school divisions should not have to choose between mental health supports and funding other programs.

“Exclusive funding should be secured for every school division in the province, ensuring that school boards will never again be faced with the decision that the Prince Albert Catholic School Division made last fall,” the letter read.

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Al Grigori, a signatory of the letter, said the group wants to see prompt and accessible services for all residents of Saskatchewan, especially young people.

“This would include reducing barriers to access such as stigma, cost, availability, long wait times, and transportation,” Grigori said. “Having counselors in schools reduced a lot of those barriers that children faced.”

Grigori said she is working to become a social worker is so she can offer the same kind of mental health support she personally received to others when they need help. She said the group ultimately hopes to see mental health become a policy and programming priority.

Grigori called on provincial leaders to provide secure, reliable funding to mental health support programs, like the Alberta government is doing through its Mental Health Capacity Building in Schools initiative. The social work student said she’d like to see the stigmas around mental health lifted at the community level, and also in governments.

“I would like to see MLA’s and decision makers take mental health awareness training as part of their employment with the government of Saskatchewan,” Grigori said. “If we destigmatize it at the government level, then it can become the policy and programming priority that it needs to be.”

Editor’s Note: This story was updated at 8:15 a.m. on Wednesday, May 2, 2018 to correct an error. A previous version of this piece incorrectly indicated both local school divisions removed supports from schools.

Bryan.Eneas@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @BryanEneas