Teens are sexting, binge drinking, and attempting suicide less than they did five years ago, noted a province-wide study released this week.
But when it comes to mental health, screentime and exercise, a large portion of students are still struggling.
The 2018 McCreary Centre Society adolescent health report was drawn up after 469 public health nurses surveyed 38,015 students in 840 schools across the province, including many from School District 43.
Across British Columbia, 79 per cent of youth reported they were living a good life, with 73 per cent saying their life was going well.
Still, health ratings have declined from five years ago in several important ways. More youth reported they had experienced depression, an anxiety disorder or panic attacks, PTSD, and ADHD.
A full 15 per cent of students said they missed class in the past month because of those mental health challenges, and 14 per cent reported that depression and anxiety prevented them from participating in extracurricular activities.
Those provincial numbers are the same thing that School District 43 has been seeing, said Rob Zambrano, the district assistant superintendent who is responsible for student wellness and safety.
Adding the caveat: “the 20 percent that require support do require a fair amount of support.”
Zambrano said the district is in the early stages of developing a new plan to tackle that struggling 20 per cent and that the district is off to a good start.
Just last week, SD43 was awarded a $30,000 grant as part of a provincial-wide $3 million investment into mental health.
That money will be used to train teachers in how mental trauma affects teenagers’ brains, as well as what those affects mean for learning. In line with the new curriculum, teachers will then pass on what they’ve learned to their students.
“We have pathologized regular states of being a human,” Zambrano told The Tri-City News, adding that we need to be asking more thoughtful questions, like “When is it truly anxiety? When is it debilitating? When do we need that support?”
Students will learn how to spot and talk about stress and anxiety, as well as basic coping tips like getting enough sleep, eating well, exercising, and maintaining good relationships with both adults and other students.
Some of that training will take place on the evening of April 25, when parents will be invited to participate in a mental health literacy workshop.
While every dollar helps, the small grant is just the start of what district mental health coordinator Rachel French said will be a system-wide approach to mental and physical health.
“I don't see $30,000 fixing everything, but it's support to help us make better decisions,” said French.
To that end, part of the money will be earmarked to sketch out a vision for how the district can support students’ overall health. Mental health can’t be treated in isolation, stressed Zambrano, a point the McCreary study makes clear.
Canadian physical activity guidelines say that children between 5- and 17-years-old should do at least 60 minutes of exercise every day. But according to the McCreary study, only 18 per cent of youth between 12- and 17-years-old met those standards, with 10 per cent reporting they hadn’t done any exercise in the week before the survey.
“I'm not surprised in the decrease in weekly participation in physical activity,” said Zambrano. “I was kind of hoping we were worried about it for no reason, but obviously there's a situation.”
Zambrano draws a direct line between the increase in screen-time and the drop in physical activity.
One of the ways the district is trying to tackle the problem is through the Live 5210 program, where students are reminded everyday to eat 5 servings of fruits and vegetables, not exceed two hours of screen-time, get at least one hour of outdoor play and drink zero sugary drinks.
“That's kind of a cute little thing we're doing in elementary schools around healthy lifestyles,” said Zambrano, adding that the district is looking to scale up programs that prevent poor health before it becomes a problem.
“We can't underestimate their impact,” said Zambrano, “we need kids to have that foundation.”
