Ontario is first province to make mental health lessons mandatory in Grade 10

Posted on May 2, 2023 in Education Delivery System

Source: TheStar.com — Authors: Kristin Rushowy

TheStar.com – Politics/ Provincial
May 1, 2023. By Kristin Rushowy, Queen’s Park Bureau

MPP Natalie Pierre lost her son to suicide almost six years ago, and pledged to advocate for better mental health education.

Six years ago, Natalie Pierre’s teenage son took his life.

In the years that followed, she advocated for better mental health education for students.

And on Monday, the Burlington MPP was part of a government announcement making mental health lessons mandatory in Grade 10 while also boosting curriculum resources for kids in Grades 7 and 8.

“Mike seemed like just any other student,” she said of her late son at the emotion-filled announcement in Burlington alongside Education Minister Stephen Lecce and Michael Tibollo, associate minister of mental health and addictions.

“The day before he died, he took a university campus tour. He worked a few hours at his part-time job, and he got together with friends. The night before he went to a school dance,” she added. “Anyone seeing him would have observed a normal healthy teenager.”

However, she added, “we know now that was not the case.” And “in the months and years that followed, I was shocked at just how many people colleagues, family members, friends, neighbours, lawyers, teachers contacted me and came forward to share their own personal experience with mental health struggles and how they suffered in silence. I decided we needed to do something about that.”

In 2019, she was in contact with Lecce and took part in a funding announcement. Then, in 2022, she ran for MPP “to advocate for more change.”

After being elected last June, she put forward a motion stressing the importance of mental health education, and on Monday noted the province is the first to require it.

“It reaches students where they’re at, and at a time in their lives when mental health issues often emerge,” Pierre said. “It is my hope that this will prevent tragedies like the one we and many other families have experienced.”

Lecce said the province, in its new education legislation, also recognizes the importance of mental health and will “ensure new educators now have more detailed and focused training on student mental health and special education” before being in classrooms.

“We know students today more than ever are facing real challenges when it comes to mental health,” he said.

Students already learn about mental health in many grades as part of the updated health curriculum. Now, the government will be providing consistent, required learning materials on mental health in Grades 7 and 8, including videos and activities about how to handle and recognize stress.

In Grade 10, students — as part of the mandatory career studies — will be taught the signs of anxiety and being overwhelmed, and where to go for help.

“The mission is to create a personal tool box of skills that a young person could utilize in their life, in their jobs and in the classroom,” Lecce said. “I think this is fundamental to creating more usable practical learning that can help young people be resilient and to overcome the daily obstacles that is life.”

But NDP education critic Chandra Pasma (Ottawa West-Nepean) said the government needs to boost mental health staff in schools.

“It’s unacceptable that less than one in 10 schools have regularly scheduled access to a mental health professional,” she said. “We need to prioritize mental health education in schools, but we must also back it up with the necessary resources and investments.”

Lecce also announced $12 million in additional funding for summer mental health supports for students this year, and $14 million next year so they have year-round access to the same professionals.

He also said teachers will be provided with training on the new lessons, which will be mandatory starting in 2024.