7 B.C. school districts to add mental health support teams, bringing total to 12
7 B.C. school districts to add mental health support teams, bringing total to 12
B.C.'s mental health and addictions minister, Jennifer Whiteside, announced the province's plan to add Integrated Children and Youth teams to seven school districts during a news conference at Mission Youth Centre on Feb. 2, 2023.
British Columbia is expanding mental-health and substance-use services for children and youth by adding new multi-disciplinary teams to seven school districts.
The provincial mental health and addictions ministry announced plans to bolster its Integrated Child and Youth teams on Thursday, bringing the total number of participating school districts to 12. The teams support those aged 19 and under.
“From the toxic drug crisis to the COVID-19 pandemic to climate change, there’s a lot going on for kids these days and we know that each new challenge increases the need for support,” Minister Jennifer Whiteside said at a news conference in Mission.
That city, along with Hope, Harrison, Agassiz, Trail, Mission, Nanaimo-Ladysmith, Salmon Arm, Port Alberni and Power River will all benefit from the new teams.
Prior to Thursday’s announcement by the provincial government, B.C. already had five ICY teams in school districts covering Richmond, Terrace, Hazelton, Oliver and the Comox Valley.
ICY TEAM GOALS
According to the ministry, these teams may include clinical counsellors connected to schools, youth substance-use clinicians, child and youth mental-health clinicians and Indigenous elders.
“The approach of their work is to put the needs of each child at the centre and then to wrap the services around the child so that no one falls through the cracks,” Whiteside said.
“The point of these teams, really, is to meet kids where they’re at. Where they feel safe and comfortable in regular settings—whether it’s schools, or clinics, parks or homes.”
Bob D'Eith, MLA for Maple Ridge-Mission, says early interventions are essential to helping children and youth thrive.
"As a father of five and advocate for increased resources for schools, I welcome the ICY teams to our communities,” D’Eith said in a statement released following Thursday’s announcement.
A PATHWAY TO HOPE PROGRESS
The province launched a three-year action plan for improving mental health and addictions services, dubbed A Pathway to Hope, back in June 2019—with a key focus on early intervention.
B.C.’s 2021 budget included funding to expand ICY teams to a total of 20 school districts by the end of 2024. The government anticipated these seven new teams, plus the eight that have yet to be established, will be staffed by over 410 new full time employees.
Provincial data shows nearly 13 per cent of children between four and 18 years are affected by mental-health disorders, and just over 44 per cent of those receive services.
Data released by BC Coroners Service this week shows 65 children and youth have died from suspected illicit drug overdose between 2020-2022.
After weeks of resistance, and ahead of a vote that could have compelled it to happen, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s office has announced that his chief of staff Katie Telford will testify about foreign interference, before a committee that has been studying the issue for months.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has released foreign interference special rapporteur David Johnston's mandate, which instructs the former governor general to determine by May 23 whether a public inquiry is necessary.
A 15-year-old is facing a number of charges, including attempted murder, after two staff members were stabbed at a high school in Bedford, N.S., Monday morning.
Donald Trump will try to turn any indictment to his advantage by stoking anger among core supporters over what they see as the weaponization of the justice system, though it may also push more Republicans tired of the drama around him to look for another presidential candidate.
A Virginia teacher who was shot and wounded by her 6-year-old student said it has changed her life and she has vivid memories and nightmares about that day.
A group of sheriff's deputies and other personnel at a Virginia mental hospital forcibly pinned patient Irvo Otieno to the ground until he was motionless and limp, then began unsuccessful resuscitation efforts, according to newly obtained surveillance video.
Mounties say child pornography investigations are on the rise in the western communities of Greater Victoria. The West Shore RCMP conducted 39 child pornography investigations in 2022, more than double the 19 cases investigated in 2021.
Doctors, patients and advocates are uniting for a reminder to older British Columbians to request a free colon cancer screening test – as we mark National Colon Cancer Awareness month.
Students and community members will gather in protest outside the Calgary Board of Education Centre Tuesday morning, calling for the removal of the Sir John A. Macdonald name from a northwest junior high school.
A Wheatland County sanctuary that cares for abandoned and surrendered farm animals faces an uncertain future after having a permit application to keep operating denied.
The Edmonton police officers killed in the line of duty last week will be moved to a funeral home on Tuesday. A procession will take constables Brett Ryan and Travis Jordan from the medical examiner's office to Serenity Funeral Home at noon.
A woman who lives across from the apartment where a 16-year-old shot and killed two Edmonton police constables has multiple bullet holes in her door, with a couple piercing her doorframe.
A 31-year-old neuroscientist is believed to be among the six people missing after a massive fire in Old Montreal last week. An Wu was staying at the heritage building on Place d'Youville to attend a conference, according to friends and family.
Rescuers have yet to recover any additional bodies from the wreck of a fire in Old Montreal last week. As of Tuesday morning, there were still six people missing. The body of one victim, a woman, was extracted on Sunday.
Quebec Finance Minister Eric Girard is scheduled to table the first budget of the Coalition Avenir Québec's second mandate this afternoon. Girard broke with tradition on Monday — instead of buying new shoes ahead of the budget, he announced a $5,000 donation to a Quebec City community centre.
Razak Iyal was given a warm embrace as he officially became a Canadian citizen, more than six years after nearly freezing to death walking across the Canada-United States border in Manitoba.
A 15-year-old is facing a number of charges, including attempted murder, after two staff members were stabbed at a high school in Bedford, N.S., Monday morning.
Mixed reviews continue to roll in days after Experience Regina delivered new campaign slogans that lean into the double entendre of the capital city's name.
Saskatchewan RCMP and Combined Traffic Services Saskatchewan (CTSS) reported to have arrested and charged 138 motorists around the province under the criminal code for impaired driving in January and February.
A 15-year-old is facing a number of charges, including attempted murder, after two staff members were stabbed at a high school in Bedford, N.S., Monday morning.
The president of the Nova Scotia Teachers Union (NSTU) is weighing in after two staff members and a student, who is also the suspect, were injured in a stabbing at Charles P. Allen High School in Bedford, N.S., Monday morning.
The New Brunswick government has tabled a $12.2-billion budget that forecasts a small surplus and promises a funding boost to help stabilize the ailing health-care sector.
At least 10 people are displaced after a century building in the heart of Aylmer was destroyed by fire Monday evening. The blaze broke out shortly after 8:30 pm on Talbot Street.
An 81-year old property owner tells CTV News he’ll do the work himself without machinery, if that’s the method directed by city council. Three years after John McLeod demolished the historic barn on Halls Mill Road without a permit, a plan to remove the pile of wooden debris is taking shape.
Sudbury police are looking for a transport truck and its driver involved in Monday's crash on MR80, originally believed to be a single-vehicle collision.
Gwyneth Paltrow appeared in court in Utah on Tuesday morning in a lawsuit filed by a retired optometrist who said that the actor-turned-lifestyle influencer violently crashed into him in 2016 while skiing at one of the most upscale ski resorts in the United States.
B.C.'s mental health and addictions minister, Jennifer Whiteside, announced the province's plan to add Integrated Children and Youth teams to seven school districts during a news conference at Mission Youth Centre on Feb. 2, 2023.
