Mental health in Ontario schools

Mental health is an essential component of overall health. Given that 70% of mental health problems begin in childhood or adolescence, it is important to equip our young people with the knowledge and skills they need to support positive mental health throughout their lives.

As of the 2019-20 school year, learning about mental health in Ontario schools will take place:

  • through the newly enhanced elementary Health and Physical Education (HPE) curriculum
  • across the curriculum, as well as in Kindergarten, and
  • as a part of students' everyday experience at school

The enhanced HPE curriculum takes a comprehensive approach to learning about mental health. Important new aspects include:

  • the development of social-emotional learning skills across the curriculum
  • knowledge and skills related to mental health
  • more opportunities to understand connections between physical and mental health

Learning about mental health fits naturally in the elementary health and physical education curriculum, where students are learning all about healthy development. In each grade, it is integrated with learning about overall health in a developmentally appropriate way.

Key learning about mental health includes helping students to:

  • understand that mental health is a part of overall health
  • understand the relationship among their own thoughts, emotions, and actions
  • learn ways to care for their own mental health and to be resilient in the face of challenges
  • recognize the signs and symptoms of stress and of common mental health problems
  • know about sources of support, and how and where to ask for help

Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) skills

Throughout the curriculum, students also learn to apply SEL skills.

Because these skills are so important to students' mental health and healthy development, SEL is now also a distinct section of the updated curriculum. This new section builds on Living Skills learning from the previous curriculum to help students foster their own overall health and well-being, positive mental health, resilience and ability to learn and thrive. The table below shows what students learn about and why.

Students learn about: So they can:
identifying and managing emotions express their feelings and understand the feelings of others
coping with stress develop resilience
positive motivation build a sense of hope and the will to keep trying for their goals
building relationships support healthy relationships and respect diversity
deepening their sense of self build an understanding of their own identity and feel that they belong
thinking critically and creatively support decision-making and problem solving

Students apply these everyday skills as part of their learning across the other three parts of the curriculum, and in their experiences at school, at home and in the community.

A few examples of how these skills could be integrated with the other three parts of the curriculum (Active Living, Movement Competence and Healthy Living) are outlined below.

Grade 1: To learn about positive motivation, students practise showing willingness to try out new skills and keep practising. (Movement Competence)

Grade 2: To practise identifying and managing emotions, students try taking a moment to breathe deeply and refocus if they are feeling anxious or upset before starting a physical activity. (Active Living)

Grade 3: To build relationships, students working in small groups practise welcoming everyone and being willing to be a partner with anyone in the group. (Active Living)

Grade 4: As they learn about coping with stress, students explain how knowing about physical and emotional changes that come with puberty can help them handle those changes when they occur. (Healthy Living)

Grade 5: To practise thinking critically and creatively, students make connections between being active, working towards personal fitness goals and mental health. (Active Living)

Grade 6: To deepen their sense of self, students think about how stereotypes affect how they feel about themselves and identify other factors, including acceptance by others, that influence their sense of themselves. (Healthy Living)

Grade 7: As they learn about coping with stress, students explain how to access various sources of support (for example, school staff, family, counselling and medical professionals) when dealing with mental health challenges or issues related to substance use. (Healthy Living)

Grade 8: To practise identifying and managing emotions, students explain how social media can create feelings of stress and describe strategies, such as connecting thoughts, feelings, and actions, that can help maintain balance and perspective. (Healthy Living)

Supporting students

There is strong evidence that developing social-emotional learning skills at school contributes to student well-being and successful academic performance. Learning about mental health can also help to reduce the stigma around problems in this area. When students understand that many people experience mental health difficulties from time to time, and that there is support available when needed, they are more likely to seek help early when problems arise.

As they develop SEL skills, students will also gain “transferable skills” (for example, self-directed learning, collaboration, critical thinking, communication and innovation) and develop “learning skills and work habits” as they learn to set goals, follow through and overcome challenges. These interconnected skills taken together, help foster overall health and well-being, and the ability to learn, build resilience and thrive. Helping students make connections among these skills is key to enhancing their learning experience in school and throughout their lives.