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Mental health
Mental health involves balancing the different aspects of life: the physical, intellectual, social, emotional and spiritual. It involves our ability to think, feel, act and interact in a way that we can enjoy our lives and cope with the challenges that arise. Mental health also involves how we think about and appraise ourselves, our lives and the people we know and care about. It affects our ability to make choices and decisions.
- The Canadian Mental Health Association's Mental Health and High School website is designed to provide high school teachers, guidance counsellors and others who have direct contact with young people with practical information and tools.
- Curriculum resources that explore mental health issues are available for the secondary grades.
Everyone feels sad, down or blue at times. But usually the sad mood starts to lift after a while, and people get back to their normal routines.
For some people, however, the low mood lasts for months. Depression is much worse than ordinary unhappiness or sadness. Depression can make it difficult to do daily tasks. At its worst, it can make people try to end their lives.
- The British Columbia Ministry of Education has produced a resource to help teachers learn about depression. "Teaching Students with Mental Health Disorders: Resources for Teachers: Volume 2—Depression" (PDF)includes information on helping students with depression, factors contributing to depression, characteristics of students with depression, and classroom strategies to support them.
- Hear Me, Understand Me, Support Me: What Young Women Want You to Know about Depression was developed by clinicians together with young women with depression. It includes several checklists that offer suggestions to help teachers and other educators better understand issues facing young women, and enhance their experience at school.