The system of care
System leaders are part of a community-wide system of care for mental health that often serves as a critical link between students with mental health concerns who require more intensive or urgent services and community mental health supports and services.
The path to identity-affirming school mental health begins with fostering collaboration and coordination among board and school staff, families and community partners. By leveraging the collective expertise and resources available, we can ensure young people have access to the care and support that meets their unique needs and is responsive to their identity to support their learning.
Role of system leaders
System leaders have a role to play in having a clear understanding of the system of care. Time, planning, leadership and collaboration across sectors (education and health) and organizations are essential to achieving a well-functioning system of care.
The Every Student Every School: Contributing to an integrated system of care for child and youth mental health resource (available to mental health leadership teams through our portal) supports school board mental health leadership teams in Ontario to review, reflect on, reinforce and or redesign aspects of their existing continuum of mental health services so that students and their parents/caregivers have awareness of, and equitable access to a full range of mental health promotion, early identification, prevention and early intervention supports and services at school. This will assist with communication to raise awareness about the available supports and services in schools and constitutes an important step towards strengthening the local system of care.
In Ontario, this system of care is outlined in the collaboratively developed vision paper, Right Time, Right Care: Strengthening Ontario’s mental health and addictions system of care for children and young people.
Leaders from school board and community-based agencies must be committed to working together, and this commitment must be clearly communicated across sectors (Right Time, Right Care 2022).
The importance of a system of care
When considering the system of care, it’s important to remember that schools are part of the solution, but not the total solution. We need to count on our community partners for more intensive clinical supports and services.
School boards have built a solid foundation with a mental health leadership team in every board, consistent resources, training and coaching support from SMH-ON, and more direct service providers added to the staff complement.
Ontario school boards focus on systematic, integrated approaches that are aligned with the provincial school mental health strategy and contextualized for students’ needs and strengths. The focus on a provincial and school board strategy, with evidence-informed materials and training available through SMH-ON, allows districts to strategically choose how to implement these trainings based on system needs.
Some students with significant, acute, or complex mental health needs require more intensive or urgent mental health services, referred to as tier 3 support. It will always be necessary for regulated school mental health professionals to provide some level of intensive services. At the same time, it is the role of school mental health professionals to help students access appropriate community or health services and to provide ongoing care while students are at school (School and Community System of Care Collaborative 2022. Right time, right care: Strengthening Ontario’s mental health and addictions system of care for children and young people.).
We are part of a wider system of care for child and youth mental health and addiction services.
Learn more about Ontario’s system of care for child and youth mental health
When we think as a system
We think as a system when:
- roles of educators, student support staff, social work services, and psychological services related to student mental health and addictions are well articulated and understood within the school district
- there is an ease of access to equitable services and supportive transitions between sectors and organizations
- mental health leadership teams consider the relative roles and emphasis for school mental health within the aspirational vision (i.e., priority focus on mental health promotion, prevention, early identification, and early intervention)
- resources, service pathways and clinical supports, roles and responsibilities are clear
- there are clear and seamless transitions to, from, and through more intensive or specialized services
The decision-tree template (Circle of Support and System Pathways Flowchart) is designed as a guide for staff when they are concerned about a student and wonder if additional mental health support might be required.