Bringing Mental Health to Schools Online Course

Overview

Educational Technology Support has developed an online course called Bringing Mental Health to Schools: a curriculum resource for grades 7 – 12. This course for in-service teachers is being created as a UBC and TeenMentalHealth.org collaboration. It is part of a larger project to develop online education resources pertaining to mental health for Canadian teachers.

The course instructors are Dr. Stan Kutcher and Dr. Yifeng Wei. Dr. Stan Kutcher is a professor at Dalhousie University and the Sun Life Financial Chair in Adolescent Mental Health. He leads an initiative called TeenMentalHealth.org. TeenMentalHealth.org provides evidence-based information, materials, and tools to promote mental health. In addition to the online resources there, they offer training programs for educators and health professionals.

The purpose of this course is to scale the program up using a self-guided and fully online model. The course launched on October 31st, 2017. It is self-paced, with a 6-8 hour time commitment. Registration is now open. If you wish to register, please visit the Bringing Mental Health to Schools course page and click “Register Now”.

Course Description

Mental health literacy is the foundation for mental health promotion, prevention, and care, and can be successfully implemented through classroom based curriculum interventions that have been scientifically shown to improve mental health related outcomes for students and also for their teachers. A Canadian developed, nationally and internationally researched resource, the Guide, previously delivered only through face-to-face training is now available online. Over 700 students have registered for the course.

In this course, educators will learn how to apply this classroom ready, web-based, modular mental health curriculum resource (the Guide) as well as upgrade their own mental health literacy. Educators can then use this curriculum resource in their schools to successfully address mental health related curriculum outcomes designed to be delivered by usual classroom teachers to students in grades 7 – 12.

Learning Outcomes

1. How to apply a variety of first-voice and knowledge based classroom activities that have been shown to significantly, substantially, and sustainably decrease mental health related stigma.
2. How to apply a variety of video and knowledge based classroom activities that have been shown to significantly, substantially, and sustainably increase knowledge related to mental disorders and treatments
3. How to apply a variety of knowledge based classroom activities, personal exercises, and other evidence-based interventions that have been shown to significantly and substantially improve: health and mental health self-care; stress understanding and management; mental health help-seeking capacity.
4. Better understanding of all aspects of mental health literacy that can be applied not only in the classroom, but to all aspects of an educator’s own circumstances: understanding how to obtain and maintain good mental health; understanding mental disorders and their treatments; decreasing stigma; increasing help-seeking efficacy.