Board Releases New Mental Health Strategy
The Limestone District School Board is pleased to release its 2021-2024 Mental Health and Substance Use Strategy (MHSUS).
This document is the result of an extensive consultation process that sought input from various stakeholders, including students, families, community partners, and school board staff.
In addition to the strategy, we are also sharing a one-year Mental Health and Substance Use Action Plan for 2021-2022. The Action Plan outlines Limestone’s mental health and substance use initiatives for the year and will be used as a public monitoring document.
Finally, we are sharing an infographic that includes a snapshot of survey results from the Mental Health and Substance Use Strategy student survey conducted in February-March 2021. The infographic offers board-wide student responses about who they seek mental health and substance use support from at school, as well as the most common themes in student responses about what their schools do well and what they could do better to support students’ well-being. The survey that generated these results also collected student identity data (race, gender identity and sexual orientation), which is being used internally to drive the creation and delivery of culturally responsive supports.
“For the first time, Limestone is intentionally focusing on the inclusion of substance use in our mental health strategy,” says Laura Conboy, Mental Health Lead. “This is a recognition of the increase in the combination of mental health and substance use challenges/concerns among youth, which have been amplified by COVID-19. We have heard clearly from our communities that students require more communication, resources, and support in this area.”
The board is currently reconvening its stakeholder groups to offer an update on the strategy, as well as discuss the next steps outlined in the Action Plan. The next progress report will be shared in Fall 2022.