P.E.I. students dealing with anxiety forming a deeper trust with school well-being teams, says social worker

Anxiety is the most common reason Island students are turning to well-being teams in schools, says a social worker involved with a P.E.I. support program.

"That's kind of the bread and butter of social workers and nurses," said Grace McCarvill, a student well-being social worker and team lead for the Bluefield family of schools. 

Well-being teams are in place in schools across the Island to provide students with support for mental, social or physical health issues. 

They include social workers, registered nurses, outreach workers and family support workers, according to the province's website. 

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More teens are facing anxiety than previous generations — it's one of the most common problems that people who work with youth see. We hear from Grace McCarvill, a social worker, about how to help students deal with that anxiety and other challenges they face.

The teams have a physical presence at each school, as well as an online referral system that can be used by students or their parents. 

When it comes to supporting students seeking help with anxiety, McCarvill said the first step is understanding how it disrupts their day.

If you give anxiety an inch in your life, it'll take a mile.— Grace McCarvill

The next step is giving students education around how anxiety is distorting their thinking, she said. 

"Anxiety's trying to convince you of two things: that what you're most scared of is for sure going to happen and that if it does happen, you won't be able to handle it," McCarvill said. 

"If you give anxiety an inch in your life, it'll take a mile." 

When working through anxiety with students, McCarvill uses what's called an exposure hierarchy — "basically building a stepladder of starting with the easiest and then ending with the most challenging things to expose yourself to," she said. 

"It's about... earning back that space through exposures, through facing exactly what you are afraid of."

'There's a real dopamine hit'

The amount of time young people spend in front of screens is also a concern for student well-being teams, McCarvill said. 

"There's a real dopamine hit that goes along with the endless scrolling, and there's a big comparison game that they're always playing on social media as well," she said. 

The role of well-being teams in these kinds of cases isn't to "come down" on students about their technology use, said McCarvill. Instead, she works on helping them understand why they're reaching for their devices as much as they are.

The teams also encourage students to think about the positive experiences they might be able to have offline, she said.

"What real-life, real-time relationships… are they missing out on developing? What hobbies or passions or kind of satisfying accomplishments are they not reaching because of… choices of how to spend their time?" 

Accessing support 

McCarvill said many students seem comfortable identifying that they need help, and she thinks it's becoming easier for them to do so. 

"We do a lot of good work to create that environment of trust and advocacy with the students," she said. 

"One of the beautiful things about our team is that we can be very flexible and mobile. We have the capacity to meet students in their house, in community, wherever they might feel comfortable." 

For McCarvill, the best days at work are the ones where she can see the effect of the support she provides through student sessions.

"They leave with their head held a little higher and feel listened to," she said. 

"You can just tell that a deepening trust has been built there and that they have gained an insight about themselves that makes things feel a little easier for them."