Client : You don't want to think you have a mental disorder or mental illness. It's kind of like admitting there's something really wrong with you and that you're not normal. That you need to talk to someone to feel better. You just feel like you're different than everyone else. And you really don't want that, especially in high school.
You just want to fit in. Client : As social workers, we'll see students that come in with a variety of concerns that can include anxiety, eating disorders, mood disorders. People don't realize that depression, anxiety, mood disorders affects adolescence at the same rate as it would with adults. Client : Well, I first started feeling sad in grade 7.
I had had a bunch of people pass away within that year. And the last one that really broke me Client : He was my grandfather. I guess I started to eat less and I was dropping a lot of weight. And that's when I really noticed that I was getting really sad. And I didn't think it was anything to begin with. Client : So as a school board, we've committed to educating staff in every school and every building to be able to provide that suicide first aid.
And we're doing that by training staff and assist applied suicide intervention skills training, Client : Which includes notifying parents, ensuring the student is safe, not leaving the student alone while you're seeking out the appropriate help and support for that individual student. Client : And safe talk, which is a shorter module, but looks at those early signs and symptoms like changes of baseline behavior. So if all of a sudden we notice that they're becoming more withdrawn or they're disengaged from their peer group, Client : We would want our staff to notice some of those behavioral changes.
Other things would include increased attendance issues, a reduction of academic work being completed or turned in. Client : Noticing aggressive behaviors, lashing out at peers or internalizing, becoming more withdrawn, depressed or anxious. We would want those to be red flag symptoms for our staff to notice and take to the school resource team to probe a little deeper as to what might be behind that.
Client : I had really bad suicidal thoughts. I would miss a lot of school because I was sick and I was always wearing a sweater because I was cutting myself. Client : And then I had a day where I had several panic attacks in one day. Client : I had a day where I had several panic attacks in one day. Client : I just felt so alone and that no one really actually understood me.
Client : And then a teacher finally suggested I talk to our social worker here and she basically helped me realize that I have anxiety and depression and she referred me to a doctor in Milton. Client : That was the first big step towards getting help for my depression. Client : We meet with students. We do a lot of assessment, counseling, crisis support and advocacy.
Client : And we also do a lot of referrals or liaising with community healthcare partnerships. Client : So that really essentially what we want to do is build a school home community support network. Client : When I was brought down to the social worker, it got easier. It felt like someone was listening. Client : Busy just working and I've been hanging out with Chelsea.
Client : Oh, very nice. Client : When students hit a point where they're talking about suicide or they're having suicidal thoughts, we take that very seriously. Client : And we want to be able to have students feel that they can come down and talk with us about those thoughts. Client : But we really want to be able to tell them there are ways to manage through those feelings.
Client : It's okay to talk about that you're having those feelings and that it's okay for us to ask for help. Client : I really do wish I was referred to the social worker earlier because I feel like we could have caught this a lot faster. Client : The more proactive we can be, the better. So when kids feel safe, when they feel connected to caring adults in the system, in their school in particular, there's an increased likelihood that they will share that information so we can support them immediately.
Client : By developing positive relationships with kids, by creating caring environments in school, kids will feel safe to disclose that information so we can support them at that critical time to keep them safe. Client : My advice for teachers or staff or anyone is to take notice of the people around you. Client : Notice if they're really losing weight or they look really unhealthy.
Just pull them aside quietly and try and talk to them. Client : Ask them how their day is going and just give them positive thoughts. Talking really helps. We'll be right back.
