More mental health resources being put in schools: Susan Sullivan

Newfoundland and Labrador's education minister says government has been putting more resources into schools to help students with mental health problems.

Teachers and school counsellors say there needs to be more help available to deal with increasing and complex mental health needs of students.

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Minister Susan Sullivan said the province has been working with education and health officials to send more resources to schools to deal with these issues specifically.

"If we're working within groups of five, we know that one of five is suffering from some mental illness," said Sullivan.

"We didn't know that years and years ago, but we know that now so therefore health care has also stepped up to the plate here and is able to help."

Sullivan said she's not actually surprised to hear there is an increase in the number of stories of troubled youth.

"I think we've gotten to a point where it's OK to be able to talk about mental health issues now, but I think they've always been an issue," she said.

"There may be more people who are acknowledging and letting us know now that there are issues of anxiety or depression or whatever happening."

According to Sullivan, the ratio of guidance counsellors and psychologists working with students is down to one for every 400 students.

She added that outside of school, there are more than 900 health professionals in the province available to help youth.