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Manitoba Healthy Schools

Healthy Schools

Health Topics:  Mental Health

Common mental health problems or disorders associated with children and youth include:

What is Mental Wellness?

Mental wellness or good Mental Health is feeling, thinking, and interacting in ways that help you enjoy life and deal effectively with difficult situations.

Mental wellness gives you a sense of

  • self-worth
  • dignity
  • belonging
  • problem-solving
  • self-determination
  • tolerance
  • acceptance and respect for others

so that you can

  • realize your full potential
  • understand and feel good about yourself
  • relate to others and expand your social support networks
  • experience pleasure and enjoyment
  • handle stress
  • assess challenges and problems
  • set goals and follow interests
  • explore choices and make decisions
  • have power and control over your life
  • develop good problem-solving and coping skills
  • bounce back from negative experiences that everyone encounters

Did you know...?

  • Mental wellness is as important to overall well being as physical health, social and emotional connectedness, and intellectual accomplishment.
  • A recent study found that the specific traits associated with mental wellness at age 10 are significant indicators of employment and earnings at age 26 – as significant as academic ability.
  • Support from family and friends is important for positive mental and physical health.
  • Having even one supportive adult (parent, close friend, teacher, coach, or youth worker) can prevent a child/youth from developing mental disorders and/or abusing substances.

What can YOU do to take care of your mental health?

The National Canadian Mental Health Association has ten tips for good mental health:

1. Build Confidence - Identify your abilities and weaknesses together, accept them, build on your abilities, and do the best with what you have.

2. Eat right, Keep fit - A balanced diet, exercise and rest can help you to reduce stress and enjoy life.

3. Make Time for Family and Friends - Important relationships need to be nurtured. If taken for granted, these people may not be there to share life's joys and sorrows.

4. Give and Accept Support – Positive friends and healthy family relationships show their strength during difficult times.

5. Create a Meaningful Budget - Financial problems cause stress. Over-spending on our "wants" instead of our "needs" is often the culprit.

6. Volunteer - Being involved in community gives a special sense of purpose and satisfaction.

7. Manage Stress - We all have stress in our lives but learning how to deal with it when it threatens to overwhelm us helps to maintain our mental health.

8. Find Strength in Numbers - Sharing a problem with others who have had similar experiences may help you find a solution and will make you feel less isolated.

9. Identify and Deal with Moods - We all need to find safe and constructive ways to express our feelings of anger, sadness, joy and fear.

10. Learn to Be at Peace with Yourself - Get to know who you are, what makes you really happy, and learn to balance what you can and cannot change about yourself.

 

Mental Health Promotion raises awareness and understanding of mental health issues and reduces the stigma of mental illness though education and training. Parents and teachers can play a significant role in promoting mental health in their children and students.

What can FAMILY members do to promote mental wellness?

  • Help children to recognize and celebrate their strengths.
  • Provide a safe place where children can talk about things that are concerning them.
  • Help children to problem solve and develop action plans to address difficult situations.
  • Encourage children to be active in a variety of school and community activities.
  • Make sure that children have some time to unwind and relax in between scheduled activities.
  • Help children to understand the connection between physical and mental health.
  • Emphasize the importance of healthy lifestyle choices.
  • Help children learn the skills and empower them to make good decisions.
  • Talk about balance and choice with children.
  • Promote a healthy body image by positive role modelling (for example, not making negative comments about anyone’s weight and appearance).

What can SCHOOLS do to promote mental wellness?

  • Schools can build a sense of connectedness and community through in-school and extra-curricular activities that draw upon a variety of student interests, talents and strengths.
  • Teachers can create a positive learning environment by emphasizing the importance of respecting and valuing diversity.
  • Teachers can help build self-esteem in children by encouraging them to identify and celebrate their own strengths, and the strengths of their classmates.
  • Teachers can help build important life skills by involving students in activities that develop critical thinking, communication, interpersonal skills, empathy and coping.
  • Schools can run substance abuse prevention programs that involve parents, media, community organizations, etc.
  • Schools can create safe learning environments by putting policies in place to address aggressive behaviour, such as bullying.

Click here for some examples of what Manitoba schools have done to promote mental health.

Mental Health Literacy refers to the knowledge, beliefs, and abilities that support the recognition, management, or prevention of mental health and substance use problems. It includes:

  • the ability to recognize specific disorders, including addictions
  • knowing how to seek information on mental health and substance use problems
  • knowledge of risk factors and causes, of self-care techniques, and of attitudes that promote recognition and appropriate help-seeking.

Mental Health Literacy is also important for reducing stigma, by focusing on changing language and labels to describe mental health and individuals with mental health issues.

Source: BC Partners for Mental Health and Addictions Information. What is Mental Health Literacy and Why is it Important? Retrieved July 18, 2006 from http://www.heretohelp.bc.ca/aboutus/index.shtml#literacy

Stigma is the use of stereotypes and labels when describing someone. Stereotypes are often attached to people who are suffering from a mental illness. Our society tends to not give the same acceptance to mental disorders as we do to other organ disorders (e.g. diabetes or heart disease). This stigma can limit opportunities, it can stand in the way of a new job, it can increase feelings of loneliness, and it can cause many other outcomes. Anyone with a mental health problem must know that it is not their fault and that it is OK to ask for help.

What is a Mental Health Problem?

Mental Health Problems are struggles and difficulties that affect everybody from time to time. Everybody experiences mental health problems at some time, and these problems can affect their ability to handle day-to-day situations and enjoy life. These types of problems do not always require medical treatment. Some people recover from their mental health problems with self-help and support from others; others require professional help.

Associated with mental health problems are:

  • low self-esteem
  • frustration or anger
  • behaviour problems
  • school learning problems
  • feeling stressed
  • worry
  • sleeping problems

What is a Mental Illness or Mental Disorder?

Mental Illness or Mental Disorder refers to a diagnosed condition (e.g., Depression, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, Bipolar Disorder, Addiction, or Schizophrenia) that may require medical treatment. The exact cause of many mental illnesses is unknown, but current theories suggest that some illnesses are related to the chemistry of the brain. There are many things that may play a role in causing or triggering a mental illness. For example, genetic factors, such as having a parent or close relative with a serious mental illness, may increase a person’s likelihood of developing a mental illness. Stress may act as a trigger for a mental disorder or may make it worse.

Where Can I Go For Help?

If you are having an immediate mental health crisis, please click here to see a listing of mental health crisis lines and services available in Manitoba or contact the Youth Emergency Crisis Stabilization System at MacDonald Youth Services in Winnipeg.

Mental health services are provided by family doctors, mental health clinicians, psychiatrists, and other professionals. Start with your family doctor or school guidance counselor. For more mental health services in your region, contact your local Regional Health Authority.

Sources:

General

Canadian Mental Health Association. (1993) Mental health for life. http://www.cmha.ca/english/info_centre/mh_pamphlets/mh_pamphlet_01.pdf

Canadian Mental Health Association. Mental health and high school. Mental health Problems. http://www.cmha.ca/highschool/s_mhp3.htm

Canadian Mental Health Association. The 10 tips for mental health. http://www.cmha.ca/bins/content_page.asp?cid=4-42-214

Canadian Mental Health Association. Mental Health Promotion Tool Kit: A practical resource for community initiatives. http://www.cmha.ca/mh_toolkit

Center for Effective Collaboration and Practice. Promoting resilience in children: What parents can do – Information for families. American Institute for Research, Washington. http://cecp.air.org/familybriefs/docs/Resiliency1.pdf

Health Promotions. Difference between mental health and mental illness. http://www.health-promotions.com/page.cfm?page=321

Kim-Cohen, J., Caspit, A., Moffitt, T.E., Harrington, H., Milne, B.J., Poulton, R. (2003). Prior juvenile diagnoses in adults with mental disorder – Developmental follow-back of a prospective longitudinal cohort. Arc. Gen. Psych. Vol. 60, pp.709.

Kirby, J. L. & Keon, W. J. (2004). Mental Health, Mental Illness and Addiction: Overview of Policies and Programs in Canada. Senate of Canada.

National Health Service (NHS). (2004) Mental Health Promotion: Making it Happen. http://www.nelmh.org/page_view.asp?c=22&did=2354&fc=004002

National Mental Health Awareness Campaign. Stigma. Retrieved July 18, 2006 from http://www.nostigma.org/stigma.html

South Shore Health. Mental health promotion. http://www.ssdha.nshealth.ca/Mental%20health%20promotion.htm

St. John, T., Leon, L., McCulloch. (2004). Lifetime impacts – Childhood and adolescent mental health: Understanding the lifetime impacts. Report of a seminar – Office of Health Economics and the Mental Health Foundation, April 26, 2004.

Waddell, C., McEwan, K., Shepherd, C.A., Offord, D.R., Hua, J.M. (2005). A public health strategy to improve the mental health of Canadian children. Can J. Psychiatry, Vol. 50, No.4, pp.226-233. http://www.cpa-apc.org/Publications/Archives/CJP/2005/March2/Waddell-RP.asp

World Health Organization. (2001). Mental health: Strengthening mental health promotion.

For more information about Healthy Schools, please contact:

Healthy Schools
Phone:  (204) 788-6620
Email:  healthyschools@gov.mb.ca