School Counsellors play a vital role in mental health literacy. Mental health literacy can potentially save lives so having a trained School Counsellor matters. School Counsellors are in a position to help students, families and other educators understand MHL and the differences between mental health distress, problems and disorders. Schools are a great setting for promoting positive mental health. Join us as we all become literate accessing and sharing resources, developing relationships, engaging our stakeholders and connecting students ,families and other educators to people and the resources that will help.

MHL has been defined as: understanding how to obtain and maintain positive mental health; understanding mental disorders and their treatments; decreasing stigma related to mental disorders; and, enhancing help-seeking efficacy (knowing when and where to seek help and developing competencies designed to improve one’s mental health care and self-management capabilities) Kutcher S, Bagnell A, Wei Y. Mental health literacy in secondary schools: a Canadian approach. Child Adolesc Psychiatr Clin N Am. 2015;24(2):233–244.

Kutcher S, Wei Y. School mental health literacy. Education Canada. 2014;54:22–26.

Today prejudice, stigmatization and discrimination are deeply embedded in our language, in our beliefs and in the way we interact with one another. Though a mental illness is one aspect of an individual’s life, all too often the label alone bars that one person from achieving a self-directed life with meaningful connections to his or her community.

Dr. Neil Houston Sociologist