More calls for help coming to P.E.I. student well-being teams

Student well-being teams in Prince Edward Island's schools are seeing an increase in referrals for help.

Student well-being teams were established in 2017 and are teams of professionals such as mental health clinicians, school health nurses, school outreach workers and occupational therapists who tend to the mental, social and physical health of students in kindergarten to Grade 12. The teams are now officially in all nine families of schools across P.E.I.  

"Definitely some increase as a result of COVID," said Katrina Anderson, the lead for the Charlottetown Rural student well-being team. 

Some students struggled with the transition back to structured classroom teaching after learning online when schools closed from March till the end of the school year, she said. 

"Saw some increased worries as it relates to COVID in terms of the new regulations and kind of the new rules within schools," Anderson said. 

Coping with anxiety, depression 

Each team is responsible for one of P.E.I.'s families or groups of schools in the Public Schools Branch, and uses one of the schools as a home base, visiting the other schools to see students when they receive a referral from schools, pediatricians, psychiatrists, family doctors, parents or students themselves.   

"We see things like difficulty coping at home, we see things like difficulty maintaining peer relationships, and then we also see things far more complex," said Tara Roche, provincial health supervisor for the student well-being teams.

"It can vary from more mild to moderate kind of anxiety and depression to things that are a lot more severe and result in a lot more challenges for kids." 

Roche said the types of requests for help have not changed much during the pandemic — the majority are around coping skills and worry. 

The teams have seen an increase in referrals from parents, she added, as more become aware of the program and what it does. The teams are also easier to reach now, with an online referral form.

In the first three months of this school year, teams have received about half the number of referrals they did all last year, Roche said — and last year, referrals were reduced since schools were shut down for four months. 

"Understanding the importance of early intervention and support put in place for these kids early on in their lives is of utmost importance," Roche said. "P.E.I. is incredibly lucky to have it, because it is ... key to keeping kids healthy." 

The teams meet with students both privately and in groups, and use tools such as cognitive behavioural therapy to address anxiety, Anderson said. They work with students before and after school as well as during the school day. 

Students are welcome to reach out to the teams online or when they see them in school, Anderson said, or they may be more comfortable asking a trusted teacher to refer them.

"Our doors are always open," she said. 

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