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NWSD shares mental health resources

Jan 25, 2018 | 4:00 PM

The message is simple: you’re never alone.

That is what the Northwest School Division (NWSD) has been promoting on their social media channels recently, ensuring students, staff, and families know about the various resources with the division and beyond.

 Kaitlin Harman, communications officer with NWSD, said while it’s a message the division tries to share regularly this time of year is definitely a focus.

“January can be a stressful time of year,” she said. “Especially for high school students, the semester is coming to an end, final projects, final exams are coming up. So we just want to remind all students and families that we have a lot of resources available both in our school division and in the region in general.”

She said there are counselling services available through the school division, which can be accessed by self-referral, or recommendation from a family member or school staff member. The local Saskatchewan Health Authority (former Prairie North Health) authority also mental health services. In a blog post, Harman outlined as well the number of 24-hour lines available, including Kids Help Phone, First Nations and Inuit Hope for Wellness Help Line, North Saskatchewan Crisis Line, and Saskatchewan Farm Stress Line.

“We have a number of counsellors that are employed by the school division,” she said. “Each are responsible for a certain number of schools, and also a lot of the staff in our schools are good resources, like our wellness coordinators, so there are a lot of different touch points our students can access.” 

“It’s something we try to promote several times throughout the year, just to make sure that if there’s something going on in a person’s life, that if they might need to ask for help, that they always know where they can turn.

 

kathy.gallant@jpbg.ca  

On Twitter @ReporterKath