Waterford Valley High wants to reduce stigma, bring awareness to mental health issues

They're not old enough to vote butthree students from WaterfordValley High School in St. John'shave some pretty strong opinions about why mental health is an important election issue.

Students Tara Foley, Ava Proventure and Liam O'Keefe were joined by guidance counsellor Allison Kirkland for an interview this week on CBC Radio's St. John's Morning Show.

Foley, Proventure and O'Keefe, who aremembers of the school's mental health club, told host Anthony Germainthe club's mission is toraise awareness about mental health, and to reduce the stigma that surrounds the illness.The club also holds fundraisers to helpfund different projects at the school.

By utilizing therapy dogs and yoga, the club hopes to helpreduce a student'sstress level by focusing on positive coping strategies and techniques.

"Anxiety and depression are definitely the two that we see the most," said Allison Kirkland, who is one of the school's two guidance counsellors.

"We have a lot of students that are finding it even difficult to come into school. They have such school anxiety and school refusal," she said.

"The nature of society today has changed, and students don't necessarily have those inner [coping] strategies. And it gets worse, and worse and then it ends up at a level where they can't function."

'Education eliminates ignorance'

LiamO'Keefe said mental health issues such as depression areso often misunderstood.

"It'schemical, it's an illness, like any other illness," he said.

"For me, education eliminatesignorance. It would be great to shed some light on those mental health issues that aren't really seen much of. Borderline personalitydisorder; andOCD (obsessive-compulsive disorder)has horrible stigma around it."

Kirkland said that Newfoundland and Labrador is the only province in the country where school counsellors are responsible for conducting psycho-educational assessment.

"That's for learning disabilities, specific learning disorders, intellectual disabilities. We're the ones that are conducting those assessments,whereas in every other province, specialists are the assessors," she said.

'We need more counsellors'

Tara Foley understands Kirkland's massive workload, adding that it's critical to get education about mental health into school curriculum.

"Their jobs are super important. Having two people in a building for 800 is absolutely crazy," she said.

"We need more counsellors. There's absolutely no education about mental health in the school system."

Ava Proventure said she respects that the school's guidance counsellors are not judgemental.

"Often times she's like an impartial person, being there, and not judging," she said.

"And helpful to tons of students who don't get a chance to talk to someone, because there's just simply not enough counsellors."

Impact of long wait times

Kirkland said when a referral is made for a student, wait times can be lengthy.

"On the eastern part of the province, say ifI were to make a referral for a counsellor or a psychologist, it could be upward of six to eight weeks," she said.

"If it's for a psychiatrist, we are hearing that it is between a year and a half to two years. If the student is struggling with anxiety, depression, schizophrenia,and hasto maintain an appropriate school daywe are the ones the studentsees in between those appointments."

Kirkland said the Newfoundland and LabradorCounsellors' & Psychologists' Association, a special interest group with theNLTA, has been lobbying to have the number ofcounsellors increasedin the province's schools.

"Right now we have a ratio of one to 500. Twenty yearsago, there was a report on education done that they recommended that it was one to every 250 students," said Kirkland.

"So we are verystrongin campaigning that wecertainlyneed morecounsellorsin the school. My day tends to deal with thestudentsthat are in the most crisis. So that leaves very little to no time at all to do the preventative work."