School-Based Interventions
Our clinic is passionate about advocating for children’s mental health within the education system. School-based interventions are generally offered through a case conference and collaboration with other professionals such as school staff strictly in the provision of mental health interventions. These services are not legal advice or educational consulting.
Children cannot learn if they feel unsafe at school. Many young people who experience mental health challenges are often struggling to integrate and thrive in the education system. Our goal of school-based interventions is to highlight the importance of children’s mental well-being and sense of safety in collaboration with school staff.
School-based interventions are not offered as stand-alone as the clinician will need to assess and build the therapeutic relationship with the young person first. These services are offered in addition to child & youth or family therapy.
If the young person’s school board has social workers and other mental health support resources which may be able to offer counselling and guidance, parents and caregivers are strongly encouraged to explore those options first before consulting with the clinician.
Should school-based interventions be ethically and clinically appropriate, these may be carried out as follow:
Conducting a case conference to identify issues and challenges, explore support options and resources, recommend strategies at school to facilitate the child’s mental well-being.
Collaborating with the school staff such as a classroom teacher or guidance counsellor to foster a relationship with the young person.
Providing psycho-social recommendations to parents/caregivers to further support their advocacy of the young person’s mental well-being at school.
In more complex situations, it may be necessary for parents or caregivers to engage with other professionals outside of the education system to effect the advocacy such as an educational consultant or lawyer who is specialized in education law.