Child and Youth Well-Being
Policy 1.9 Child and Youth Well-being
The well-being of a child or youth requires that each individual is respected, secure and safe, has access to basic needs and grows up in an environment where the individual’s spiritual, mental, physical and emotional needs are met.
The United Nations’ Convention on the Rights of the Child states that all children and youth are entitled to universal human rights within our states and societies. While ratified by Canada in 1991, the Convention’s comprehensive and widely accepted provisions have yet to be fully entrenched in federal or provincial legislation, policies, programs, services and practices.
Social determinants of health are the primary factors that shape the overall health and well-being of individuals in society. These are the living conditions people experience such as the quality of the communities, housing, work, health and social service agencies and educational institutions with which they interact.
Resources
Bullying, Violence, Conflict Management & Safe Schools
Resource Type: Print
Resources related to bullying, violence, conflict management and safe schools are available for borrowing at the Emma Stewart Resources Centre. This bibliography provides an annotated list of print and media resources to support your own learning and your classroom practice on topics such as:
- Bullying and harassment
- Bullying and violence prevention
- Self-control; anger management
- Conflict management; conflict resolution; mediation
- Problem solving and decision making
- Aggression and violence in children and youth; violence prevention
- Relationship skills
- Teen dating
- Grief
- Cliques
- Homophobia and gender-related harassment and violence
- Cyberbullying and internet safety
- Media violence
- Domestic and family violence
- Rethinking classroom management and teacher-student relationships
- Creating safe school and classroom environments
- Working with challenging parents
- Gangs in schools
Resource Type: Print
Resources related to dealing with grief and trauma are available for borrowing at the Emma Stewart Resources Centre. This bibliography provides an annotated list of print and media resources to support your own learning and your classroom practice on topics such as:
- Death and dying
- Loss and grief
- Supporting students through grief, loss, chronic stress and trauma
- Trauma effects; traumatic stress
- Resilience and recovery
- Shame
- Suicide; suicide prevention
- Trauma-informed and trauma-sensitive classrooms and schools
- School shootings
- Intergenerational trauma
- Post-traumatic growth and healing
- PTSD
Resource Type: Print
Resources related to education as a human right are available for borrowing at the Emma Stewart Resources Centre. This bibliography provides an annotated list of print and media resources to support your own learning and your classroom practice on topics such as:
- Human rights education – rights and responsibilities
- Education as a human right
- Children’s rights
- Child and youth activists; youth protest movements
- UN Convention on the Rights of the Child
- Global disparities
- Gay-straight alliances
- Inclusive education
- Equity in education
Resource Type: Print
Resources related to inclusive education are available for borrowing at the Emma Stewart Resources Centre. This bibliography provides an annotated list of print and media resources to support your own learning and your classroom practice on topics such as:
- Service learning
- Multicultural education – teaching for diversity
- Differentiating instruction to teach diverse learners
- Strategic co-teaching
- Response to Intervention (RTI)
- Inclusive scheduling, resources, strategies, and approaches
- Inclusive learning environments (school and classroom)
- LGBTQ-inclusive education
- Supporting students with special educational needs (e.g., learning disabilities; autism spectrum disorders; ADHD; mental health diagnoses; speech and language/visual/hearing/orthopedic impairments; cognitive and/or developmental delays; English language learners (ELLs))
- Application of universal design for learning
Resource Type: Print
Resources related to self-regulation are available for borrowing at the Emma Stewart Resources Centre. This bibliography provides an annotated list of print and media resources to support your own learning and your classroom practice on topics such as:
- Anger management
- Responsible decision-making and self-control
- Emotional, sensory, and behavioural regulation
- Stress management
- Mindfulness
- Executive functioning skills
- Metacognition
- Interpersonal and intrapersonal competencies
- Self-regulation during independent and group work
- Study skills
- Self-regulation for students with autism, ADHD or sensory disorders
Sexual Harassment, Abuse and Exploitation
Resource Type: Print
Resources related to sexual harassment, abuse, and exploitation are available for borrowing at the Emma Stewart Resources Centre. This bibliography provides an annotated list of print and media resources to support your own learning and your classroom practice on topics such as:
- Sexting
- Sexual harassment and bullying
- Sexual assault and rape
- Sexual abuse
- Sexual exploitation
- Gender and sexual diversity; sexual orientation
- Homophobia
- Teen dating violence
Resource Type: Print
Resources related to social and emotional learning are available for borrowing at the Emma Stewart Resources Centre. This bibliography provides an annotated list of print and media resources to support your own learning and your classroom practice on topics such as:
- Social and emotional development
- Social and emotional learning
- Social and emotional learning environments
- Building emotional intelligence and resilience
- Anger management; stress management
- Mindfulness
- Teaching social skills
- Nurturing character development
- Classroom morning meetings
Student Activism: Resources to Support Your Students in Changing the World
Resource Type: Print
Resources related to student activism are available for borrowing at the Emma Stewart Resources Centre. This bibliography provides an annotated list of print and media resources to support your own learning and your classroom practice on topics such as:
- Planning social action projects
- Service learning
- Everyday activism
- Volunteering and philanthropy
- Activist role models
- Active citizenship
Resource Type: Print
Resources related to trauma-informed practice are available for borrowing at the Emma Stewart Resources Centre. This bibliography provides an annotated list of print and media resources to support your own learning and your classroom practice on topics such as:
- Understanding shame
- Understanding trauma
- Teaching students about trauma
- Mindfulness
- Building hope and resilience
- Supporting marginalized students
- Creating trauma-sensitive schools and learning environments
- Trauma-sensitive practices
- PTSD
- Transgenerational trauma
Note: Resources from the McDowell Foundation are currently unavailable due to website maintenance.
Developing Sense of Belonging; Michael Radford, Scott Thompson, and Amy Campbell
Resource Type: Print, Website
Dorintosh Central School subscribes to the approach of inclusion for meeting the needs of all students. This requires a student-directed approach focused on student strengths, needs, and interests. In an effort to cultivate a strong sense of belonging with peers, staff, and community members Dorintosh Central School students developed the Culturally Courageous Land-Based Leadership (CCLL) initiative.
CCLL explores student sense of belonging, mastery, independence and generosity through the Indigenous lens of the Circle of Courage. It is our intent to focus on the impact holistic learning has on student sense of belonging in our school. As a learning community, we want to investigate the impact of self-directed learning, truth and reconciliation and land-based learning on sense of belonging.
Exploring Refugee Children’s Pre- and Post-Migration Educational Experiences; Dr. Christine Massing, Dr. Daniel Kikulwe, and Katerina Nakutnyy
Resource Type: Print, Website
The ongoing war in Syria has led to the recent migration of comparatively large numbers of refugee children and families to Canada. The overall purpose of this study is to examine refugee children’s complex and varied educational experiences in Syria, in transition countries and in elementary schools in Saskatchewan from their own points of view as well as from the perspectives of their parents and current teachers. In addition the research aims to identify the assets or funds of knowledge that these children have developed through their educational experiences in each context and how these resources might be mobilized in the form of supports, strategies and approaches to enhance the learning of refugee children in Saskatchewan public schools.
Strengthening Schools to Support Syrian Refugees During the Pandemic; Kirsten Cavanaugh and Dr. Janet Okoko
Resource Type: Print, Website
Strong relationships between families and schools must take place to support our learners. Never have these co-operative relations been as important as they are during COVID-19 when our students were expected to attend to learning with the help of their parents. As a country and province we have seen an increasing number of refugee families in recent years.
Recently arrived refugee children face many challenges when adapting to their new country and schools along with their parents who are may be looking for work, attempting to learn English and adapting to different cultural norms. For these families, the lack of familiarity with the Canadian school system and implicit expectations and norms can be a struggle. Without strong in-school supports these children are at risk of failing socially or academically. The purpose of this project is to understand the refugee experience with at-home learning to strengthen our supports for student success.
By speaking with the families directly, educators can understand the barriers and are better able to provide avenues for support. Positive relationships between school personnel and parents are critical to a refugee child’s school-related successes, and to their broader relationships with the community. The findings and recommendations will bridge gaps and ensure strong stakeholder relationships are maintained.
Learning Opportunities
To see what workshops are currently scheduled, please visit the Events Calendar.
Format: Full-day face-to-face or virtual session; half-day (a minimum of 3 hours) face-to-face or virtual session. **All options require additional 2 hours of online pre-learning in the form of self-paced modules.
Learn to recognize the stages of an escalating crisis and practice evidence-based intervention techniques that can be used in person or in virtual classrooms.
- Learn to identify stages of crisis development
- Practice a range of verbal strategies that can be implemented in virtual or in-person settings
- Demonstrate the ability to respond to challenging behaviours while adhering to physical distancing protocols
Developing Self-Regulation and Social Emotional Skills in Early Years
Format: Full-day face-to-face session or half-day virtual session.
Why do children often have difficulty engaging in learning? Many children have difficulty identifying their emotions and their body’s physiological needs in order to self-regulate. This workshop is designed to inspire educators to create an environment and incorporate practices that will guide children to be mindful of their physical and emotional state and responses under stress.
- Gain an understanding of the continuum of social-emotional development and its relationship to self-regulation in young children
- Explore ways to create a supportive, trusting classroom environment that supports children in developing self-awareness and regulation skills
- Experience specific strategies and processes that can be embedded in daily practice and linked to curriculum outcomes
Nonviolent Crisis Intervention I
Format: Full day face-to-face with mandatory 2 hours of online pre-learning modules.
During this two-day learning opportunity, you will learn to prevent and/or navigate difficult situations with a proactive approach that aligns with PBIS and trauma-informed care initiatives. Learn why challenging behaviours occur and when to use specific interventions.
- Identify stages of crisis development and choose an appropriate intervention for each level of behaviour.
- Practise a range of non-physical approaches that can be implemented to prevent or reduce the likelihood of challenging, aggressive and violent behaviour.
- Demonstrate the ability to respond to risk behaviour using nonverbal, verbal and physical approaches appropriate to the person, situation and level of risk.
Nonviolent Crisis Intervention II
Format: Two full days face-to-face.
During this two-day learning opportunity, you will learn to prevent and/or navigate difficult situations with a proactive approach that aligns with PBIS and trauma-informed care initiatives. Learn why challenging behaviours occur and when to use specific interventions.
- Identify stages of crisis development and choose an appropriate intervention for each level of behaviour.
- List a range of nonphysical approaches that can be implemented to prevent or reduce the likelihood of challenging, aggressive and violent behaviour.
- Demonstrate the ability to respond to challenging behaviour using nonverbal, verbal and physical approaches appropriate to the person, situation and level of risk.
Resource Type: Face-to-face or virtual full-day session or face-to-face or virtual convention sessions of 2-3 hours.
Both educators and students may experience anxiety, depression and/or trauma that impact learning and relationships in classrooms and school as a workplace. By learning to recognize the indicators of overwhelm, educators can respond in ways that support themselves, students and colleagues in returning to a state in which learning and connection can take place.
Develop understanding of:
- how to recognize and respond to indicators of overwhelm within selves, students and colleagues
- the impacts of trauma and prolonged/chronic stress on the autonomic nervous system and brain development
- how to support students who are affected by trauma or chronic stress
safeTALK: Suicide Awareness Training
Format: Half-day (a minimum of 3 hours) face-to-face session or full-day face-to-face session.
At a LivingWorks safeTALK workshop, you will learn how to prevent suicide by recognizing signs, engaging someone at risk of suicide and connecting them to an intervention resource for further support – an evidence-based program that improves skills and readiness to support at-risk community members.
- Learn to recognize signs of suicide risk.
- Practise verbal skills to engage a person who may be at risk of suicide.
- Identify resources in the local community that help support persons at risk of suicide.
Tell Me More About Student Mental Wellness
Format: Full-day face-to-face session or full-day virtual session.
Supporting and promoting the mental health of students is an essential aspect of learning. Learn the role of a teacher in providing support for students experiencing mental health challenges or distress within the framework of a caring, respectful and safe learning environment.
- Identify signs of positive mental health
- Discover what kinds of experiences support healthy brain development
- Explore strategies to build positive and supportive professional relationships with students experiencing mental distress
- Share available resources within the local community
Networking Opportunities
Under development.