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Student 'platform' for
trusteesmental health, suicide prevention
resources in schools
Ontario student launch recommendations
will turn into campaign issues for June provincial election
Dasha Metropolitansky, a Grade 12 student at White Oaks Secondary School in
Oakville and presidentof - Ontario StudentTrustees'Association,-
PHOTO)health issues are top of mind for many students. (CHRIS SO / TORONTO STAR
FILE
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111012018 Student 'platform' calls for more mental health, suicide prevention resources in schools I Toronto Star
By ANDREA GORDON Education Reporter
Wed., Jan. 10, 2o18
Ontario's student trustees believe the need for better mental health resources and
training at schools is so great they ®e to make it an issue in the provincial election this
year.
With five months until voters go to the polls, members of the Ontario Student Trustees'
Association (OSTA-AECO), have done their homework well before deadline.
Student well-being and mental health supports are a central part of the "student
platform" they will roll out at Queen's Park on Wednesday on behalf of the 2 MilliO
students they represent from public and Catholic school boards. I
The platform, which includes 16 recommendations, calls on the government to mandate
and fund suicide intervention and mental health training programs for high school staff
and students across the province, at a time of unprecedented demand for services among
children and youth.
Metropolitansky said the message trustees had been hearing on the ground was backe4l
up by results of an OSTA survey conducted in November, in which three-quarters of t
8,230 student respondents rated their school's mental health resources as ineffective,.i
while two-thirds said they were inaccessible.
The student platform is a new initiative "created by students for students" and trustees
now hope major political parties will incorporate the 16 r,. into their own
education platforms during the campaign, she said.
The 22 -page document draws on the November student survey of 8,23o high school
students from 62 Ontario boards, with recommendations focused on student well-being,
equitable access to programs, and the need to teach practical skills critical to 21 -St -
century learning.
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111012018 Student 'platform' calls for more mental health, suicide prevention resources in schools I Toronto Star
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intervention;
Themes of the platform echo some of the findings in the association's 2017 survey Of
students, parents and educators released in December, which raised alarm about the
lack of mental health resources and also highlighted the demand for financial literacy,
which the province has recently taken steps to add to the Grade lo curriculum.
Youth also want training in other life skills that are relevant to any workplace, says
Metropolitansky, which is why the platform calls for all students to receive training in
technological literacy as well as basic CPR and First Aid, self-defence and conflict
resolution.
It also recommends co-op credits that provide workplace exposure be changed from
"o en level" courses to "mixed level" sot ey are recognized as credits on post -secondary
applications.
"The comment we hear from students and our peers is 'we feel like what we're learning is
disconnected from real life and can't necessarily be applied outside the classroom,'" she
said.
In an era when youth voter turnout is low, Metropolitansky and her fellow trustees are
also hoping their platform will get more students who are able to vote engaged in the
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111012018
Student 'platform' calls for more mental health, suicide prevention resources in schools I Toronto Star
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