Access to health and well-being supports will be made available to hundreds more Island students in the next school year.
Student well-being teams will be established in September to serve the Bluefield, Colonel Gray and Morell-Souris families of schools, along with the French first-language schools in these areas.
Education Minister Jordan Brown said there has been a positive response to existing teams in the Montague and Westisle families of schools.
He said it also has the other families of schools looking forward to having their own teams.
“Westisle and Montague students now have more timely access to supports that help them succeed inside and outside the classroom,” said Brown. “Teachers in these schools really appreciate the assistance of dedicated specialized staff who are trained to identify and support student needs.”
Over the past year, well-being teams in Montague and Westisle have helped students with life stressors often associated with anxiety, emotional regulation, school engagement, social skills, student and parental stress reduction and building empathy.
The 22 staff on the three new teams will include mental health clinicians, comprehensive school health nurses, school outreach workers and an additional occupational therapist who will begin work in August. Some positions will require bilingual capacity and experience working with newcomer and Indigenous students.
The Bluefield team will be based out of Bluefield High School and team members will travel from school to school. The Colonel Gray team will be housed at St. Jean Elementary, and the Morell-Souris team will be located at Morell Regional High.
Souris Regional Principal Sharon McIntosh said she hopes access to the team by the Souris Regional School, which is located in a small rural community, will allow students and their families to more readily access mental health and well-being supports.
The five teams will be supported this year with funding of $3 million from three government departments.
Provincial lead Geoff MacDonald said learning from the first two families of schools will help with setting up the three new well-being teams.
“The great work of our team members in Montague and Westisle and their feedback throughout the year has helped to create a sustainable program that will help school-aged children and their parents for years to come,” he said.
By September 2019 there will be teams in all eight families of schools, including Three Oaks, Kensington-Kinkora, and Charlottetown Rural.
