Through our Catholic Teachings, Thunder Bay Catholic Schools has a solid foundation for supporting Student Mental Health and Well-being. As Catholics, we understand that the mind, body, emotions and spirit are integrated and inter-connected.
Our Catholic Values and Virtues are central to supporting the growth and development of the whole child and serve as the foundation for nurturing positive mental health and well-being. We recognize that this is a shared responsibility, in partnership with the home, Church and community.
Thunder Bay Catholic Schools adopts the Public Health Agency of Canada 2006 definition of Positive Mental Health to guide our work.
Positive mental health is defined as the capacity of each and all of us to feel, think and act in ways that enhance our ability to enjoy life and deal with the challenges we face. It is a positive sense of emotional and spiritual well-being that respects the importance of culture, equity, social justice, interconnections and personal dignity.
School-based mental health counselling services are available to students in our Catholic Schools. Counselling services are brief (time-limited) and focus on addressing immediate needs or issues that may be impacting school functioning.
School mental health professionals work alongside or within school well-being teams consisting of Administrators, Special Education Teachers / Staff, Guidance Counsellors, Indigenous Counsellors, Chaplains and Attendance Counsellors.
Mental health counsellors in our board are regulated professionals who hold a Master’s degree in Social Work or other counselling profession. Services are made available to students largely through service contracts and memorandums of understanding with community mental health partner organizations.
Thunder Bay Catholic Schools has a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Children’s Centre Thunder Bay (C.C.T.B) for student mental health counselling services.
St Ignatius and St Patrick each have a full-time, dedicated C.C.T.B School Mental Health Counsellor on-site throughout the academic year. Access is through the Guidance Department.
A C.C.T.B Mental Health Counsellor provides school-based counselling services to students at Pope John Paul II School two days a week during the academic year. Bishop Gallagher and Bishop EQ Jennings Schools each have CCTB counselling services for students one day a week throughout the academic year. Access is through Administration or Guidance.
C.C.T.B school-based brief mental health counselling and support services are available to all of our elementary schools. Schools identify students who may benefit from additional counselling support at school, consult parents/guardians and if in agreement, schools initiate the referral process by completing a board referral form.The board then arranges for a CCTB school mental health counsellor to follow-up and see the child at school during school hours.
For more information, contact the Board Mental Health Leader at (807) 625-1538.
Through a memorandum of understanding with the Northwest LHIN, our board has access to a school-based Mental Health & Addictions Nurse (MHAN). The MHAN provides specialist mental health support to our board and works alongside other school staff and board mental health professionals. The MHAN supports students transitioning from hospital to community and back to school, helps with medication questions or concerns, connects students and families to community specialist services and provides support to students at school experiencing acute mental health concerns.
Learn More About This Program
School attendance is important to learning, achievement, social-emotional development and future success. We know from research that school connection –attendance and sense of belonging and acceptance at school – is a key protective factor for child and youth mental health and well-being.
The Board employs two Attendance Counsellors who:
Tel: (807) 625-1586
Tel: (807) 625-1545
A key role in supporting mental health intervention is to help students and families experiencing mental health problems connect to the right service in the community. Click on the link to see a list of quick access, no cost community crisis services (24/7), walk-in counseling services and telephone mental health support options:
Parent and School Community Mental Health Information Sheet
In a mental health emergency, safety is the immediate concern and help is needed now. Call 911 or go to the hospital emergency department.
Crisis phone lines offer urgent help any time of the day, evening or night:
Mental health telephone crisis intervention support and information is available 24/7. If face to face support is needed, mobile outreach is available from 3:00pm to 11:00pm. Anyone can call - children, youth, adults.
For on-line information: http://thunderbay.cmha.ca/programs-services/crisis...(1-855-554-4325)
Help line is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Talk4Healing offers services in English, Ojibway,
Oji-Cree & Cree. You can call the help line from anywhere in northern Ontario.© Thunder Bay Catholic District School Board 2023
