The Mental Health Resource Team will be offering a series of Spring Groups/sessions for Middle School and Secondary School students. Flyers are attached and a description of groups can be found below. Contact information for each group is on the flyers.

Stress Management: Middle School is a virtual, 5 session group to engage middle school students (grades 6-8) in a small group format, to teach and practice stress reduction and management techniques. This self-referral group will allow students to demonstrate an awareness of their own levels of stress, develop an understanding of their unique stressors, and how to cope with stress in healthy ways. This group will begin on Wednesday April 27th, 2022 and will be facilitated by Clinicians from the Mental Health Resource Team.

AFFIRM: Middle and Secondary School is a virtual 8-session counselling group being offered to students (ages 11-13+/middle school) (14-18/High School) who identify as LGBTQ+. The groups provides students with an opportunity to build community and meet other LGBTQ+ youth, learn stress coping skills, decrease unhelpful thoughts and feel better about themselves and their lives. The middle school AFFIRM group will run from April 28 -June 16 from 4:00 p.m.-5:30 p.m. and the secondary school AFFIRM group will run from April 26-June 14 from 4:30-6:00 p.m.

BE WELL...LET'S TALK Secondary Students (NEW) : ​is a series of interactive independent virtual sessions that students can join to talk and ask questions with other students and a mental health professional about the following topics: Stress 101 (May 10); Self-Care (May 17); Motivation/Procrastination (May 24); Exam Stress (May 31); Sleep and Wellbeing (June 7); Thinking Better to Feel Better (June 14). These sessions will take place Tuesdays from 4:00 -4:45 p.m. Students can sign up for any topic that interests them.

Please address any questions to the contacts listed on the flyers.

New Workshops Available! See information below

1. 1. AFFIRM: Secondary School is a 9-session counselling group being offered to students (14-18/High School) who identify as LGBTQ+. The groups provides students with an opportunity to build community and meet other LGBTQ+ youth, learn stress coping skills, decrease unhelpful thoughts and feel better about themselves and their lives. AFFIRM will be offered from February- April 2022. Day and time TBD
      Flyer: https://bit.ly/AFFIRM2022HS

   2. RESILIENCE: is a 6 session (Secondary School), culturally adapted, evidence-informed counselling group for students who identify as Black, African, Afro-Canadian, Afro-Caribbean, Afro-Indigenous, or within the African diaspora. The group's mission is to be culturally specific in addressing stress, and to provide proactive therapeutic support that empowers Black students to foster a positive self-identity and enhance their resilience. This virtual group will be offered for Secondary School Students from February 2 to March 9 starting at 4:00 pm
      Flyer: https://bit.ly/RESILIENCEGR9-12

   3. CALMM - Secondary Students Only (COPING, ACCEPTING, LETTING GO, MOVING ON-MINDFULLY) is an 8 session, counselling group for high school students (grades 9-12) who struggle with managing difficult emotions which might lead to making poor or impulsive decisions, problematic behaviours and interpersonal difficulties. The purpose of this group is to help students deepen their understanding of emotions and learn to manage them more effectively. Participants will have an opportunity to learn and practice: mindfulness, emotion regulation and distress tolerance skills, healthy ways of coping with difficult or intense emotions and practical skills to use while in emotional distress. The group will be taking place once a week after school. It is scheduled to begin on February 3, 2022 and end on March 31, 2022.
      Flyer: bit.ly/CALMMWinter2022

Coping, Confident & Connected is a virtual, 7 session, evidence-based counselling group that will support middle school students (grades 6-8) to learn and practice skills for dealing with difficult emotions , build positive connections as well as boost confidence and self-esteem. This group will begin on Wednesday November 3rd and will be facilitated by Clinicians from the Mental Health Resource Team. Please distribute flyer for students to register/for more info: https://bit.ly/CCC-Group-Poster-Fall2021

Stress Management is a virtual, 4 session group to engage middle school students (grades 6-8) in a small group format, to teach and practice stress reduction and management techniques. This self-referral group intends to focus on students who display higher levels of social and emotional needs, to effectively manage stress experienced on a daily basis. This group will begin on Monday November 1st and will be facilitated by Clinicians from the Mental Health Resource Team. Please distribute flyer for students to register/more info: https://bit.ly/SM-Group-Poster-Fall2021

RESILIENCE is a virtual 6 session culturally adapted, evidence-based group counselling program for middle school students (grades 6-8) and secondary school students (grades 9-12). This group is for PDSB students who self-identify as Black, African, Afro-Canadian, Afro-Caribbean, Afro-Indigenous, African diaspora. Sessions are facilitated by PDSB Black mental health clinicians. RESILIENCE mission is to be a culturally specific, proactive therapeutic support that empowers Black students to foster a sense of positive identity and enhance resilience. The middle school and high school groups will run from November 3 to December 8, 2021, every Wednesday at 4:00pm. Please distribute flyer for students to register/for more info: https://bit.ly/RESILIENCE-Group-Fall2021

ASSET (Affirmative Supportive Safe and Empowering Talk) is an evidence-based, affirmative, virtual, 8 session counselling group for middle school students who identify as LGBTQ+. The group provides students with an opportunity to build community and meet other LGBTQ+ youth and helps address the stress experienced by LGBTQ youth as a result of elevated rates of school-based victimization, social exclusion, isolation, bullying, and interpersonal issues with peers. ASSET will be offered on Thursdays from 3:30- 4:30 pm October to December 2021. Please distribute flyer to students to register/for more info: https://bit.ly/ASSETGroupFall2021

AFFIRM is a virtual, 8 session, evidence-based counselling group being offered to secondary school students (ages 14-18) who identify as LGBTQ+. The group provides students with an opportunity to build community and meet other LGBTQ+ youth, learn stress coping skills, decrease unhelpful thoughts and feel better about themselves and their lives. AFFIRM will be offered on Tuesdays from 4:30-6:30 from October-December 2021. Please distribute flyer to students to register/for more info: https://bit.ly/AFFIRMGroupFall2021

School Mental Health Ontario (SMH-ON), in partnership with Wisdom2Action (W2A), is proud to announce the launch of #HearNowON for 2021. The purpose of #HearNowON is to engage secondary school students through an online survey and virtual forums to hear their perspectives on mental health in their schools. The results of #HearNowON will be used to expand SMH-ON’s strategic plans related to student engagement to ensure that we are consistently meeting the needs of Ontario students.

The survey will be available at https://bit.ly/HearNowON2021_ONecoute2021 until November 19th, 2021.

Registration for the virtual forums will also open today. There will be four forums facilitated in English, each with a specific topic:

1. Let’s Get (Lit)erate on Mental health | October 23^rd from 1pm – 4pm ET

2. Equity in Mental Health | October 30^th from 1pm – 4pm ET

3. Student Leadership Opportunities in Mental Health | November 6^th from 1pm – 4pm ET

4. Knowing When to Reach out for Help (For you and your friends) | November 13^th from 1pm - 4pm ET

Students can sign up for a forum(s) at https://www.wisdom2action.org/HearNowON/

Both the survey and our virtual forum are available in French and English. For more information about the French forum, click here.