paulmurphy@obesitythunderbay.ca
Majority
of students feel anxious, worry about the future: report CTV National News:
- Posted by Paul Murphy on February 13, 2013 at 5:54am in Untitled Category (Change)
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Majority of students feel anxious, worry about the future: report
CTV National News: Damage of not talking
Medical Specialist Avis Favaro looks at startling statistics on the
emotional well-being of students from grade 7-12.
CTV Toronto: Sharing mental health issues
CTV Toronto: Sharing mental health issues
A new TDSB report suggests more than half of the kids surveyed spend
much of their time worrying about the future. Zuraidah Alman explains.
CTV News Channel: Depressed at age 12
CTV News Channel: Depressed at age 12
Mental health advocate Alicia Raimundo shares her story of how she felt
depressed since the age of 12 and how she got help.
CTVNews.ca Staff
Published Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2013 10:36AM EST
Last Updated Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2013 11:44PM EST
Published Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2013 10:36AM EST
Last Updated Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2013 11:44PM EST
A new report that surveyed more than 100,000 Toronto-area students found
that more than half reported they often feel anxious.
The Toronto District School Board report found that 72 per cent of the
Grade 9 to Grade 12 students polled often felt anxious.
The report, which was released on Tuesday, also found that 76 per cent
of the surveyed Grade 9 to Grade 12 students reported feeling tired for no reason,
73 per cent said they worried about their future and 29 per cent said they felt
like crying in school.
Related Links
Related Links
Toronto District School Board
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Majority of students feel anxious
Majority of students feel anxious
A new report that surveyed more than 100,000 Toronto-area students found
76 per cent of the Grade 9 to Grade 12 students reported feeling tired for no
reason.
TDSB wants more mental health support for students
TDSB wants more mental health support for students
The 2011 Toronto District School Board report found that 72 per cent of
students polled between Grade 9 and 12, and 63 per cent of students surveyed in
Grades 7 and 8 said they felt nervous or anxious often or some of the time.
The report is based on the results of the 2011- 2012 student census,
which is believed to be one of the largest youth polls in Canada.
The survey polled 103,000 TDSB students from Grade 7 to Grade 12. It was
the first time the board surveyed its students on mental health issues.
TDSB, which serves more than 250,000 students each year, said 95 per
cent of its Grade 7 and Grade 8 students responded to the survey.
As well, 84 per cent of its Grade 9 to Grade 12 students responded.
Students described to CTV News the pressures they often face.
“It feels like something is eating at you -- like literally eating you,”
one female student said. “You feel this huge weight.”
Another
female student said the pressure to succeed in school can lead to feelings of
depression.
“There’s
so much pressure on you to succeed and get a good grade. So if I don’t
understand certain things or I think it’s going to be really hard I can get
depressed,” she said.
School board officials applauded the report Tuesday, saying it’s hard to
ignore the data.
“When
they’re telling us they’re nervous or anxious by that big percentage points, I
think we have to pay attention to it,” TDSB research coordinator Maria Yau
said.
“When you hear the numbers, when you see that data, we are surprised.
But now comes responsibility,” TDSB senior manager David Johnston said.
Now, Canada’s largest school board said it wants to use the report’s findings
to help design a mental health strategy for the entire school system.
TDSB spokesperson Shari Schwartz-Maltz said the survey highlights the
need for increased mental health resources in schools.
"These surveys drive programming in our schools, they give us a
snapshot of the way our kids are feeling and they drive what we do," she
said.
"What our research showed us is that there's certainly a gap in the
area of mental health and we need to focus more of our resources in the area of
mental health."
Experts weigh in on the causes of student anxiety
Experts say the high number of students reporting feelings of anxiety
may be due to a number of factors.
Some suggest that because mental health issues are easier to talk about,
students felt more comfortable opening up about their feelings in the survey.
Other experts say that a lack of sleep due to heavy use of the Internet
may also play a role.
“They’re so connected to these machines, it is frightening actually,”
Dr. Clare Gray of the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario said. “Sometimes
when I fix the sleep problems for these youth they no longer have these mood
symptoms or anxiety symptoms.”
Other findings from the report:
66 per cent of Grade 9 to Grade 12 students and 40 per cent of
Grade 7 and 8 students said they were under a lot of stress often or sometimes
70 per cent of Grade 9 to Grade 12 students and 64 per cent of Grade 7 and 8 students were worried about their school work
57 per cent of Grade 9 to Grade 12 students and 38 per cent of Grade 7 and 8 students said they were losing sleep because of worries
70 per cent of Grade 9 to Grade 12 students and 64 per cent of Grade 7 and 8 students were worried about their school work
57 per cent of Grade 9 to Grade 12 students and 38 per cent of Grade 7 and 8 students said they were losing sleep because of worries
Some experts were unsurprised by the findings.
"I think of the children in our society as the canaries down the
mine. The youngest people are often the most sensitive to societal stresses
that are going on," Dr. Marshall Korenblum, psychiatrist-in-chief at
Toronto’s Hincks-Dellcrest Centre for Children and Families, said.
Korenblum said that the large sample size of the study suggests that the
findings could be indicative of a larger trend.
"Probably it is reflective of other large urban centres, so
Vancouver, Montreal, Winnipeg I would suspect have similar rates," he
said.
He suggests that concerned parents talk to their kids and look for signs
of distress. He also said that better screening in schools, increased resources
and more extracurricular activities can also help reduce student stress.
The TDSB report was released on Bell’s Let’s Talk Day. The campaign is
aimed at ending the stigma surrounding mental illness.
With a report from CTV’s medical specialist Avis Favaro and producer
Elizabeth St. Philip and files from The Canadian Press
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Showing 1 - 7 of 7
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Showing 1 - 7 of 7
Barry
Feb. 13, 2013
3:55 AM
Feb. 13, 2013
3:55 AM
I wish i could say they have a future, but i am living it, below poverty
income working two jobs part time at minimum wage, being treated as sub-human,
choosing between food and rent and having a university education in an 'in
demand' field with almost 30k in student loans.
Robin T
Feb. 13, 2013
1:52 AM
Feb. 13, 2013
1:52 AM
The elephant in the room that no one wants to talk about is students are
being sold a bill of goods. Post-secondary education debt is crushing and no
longer guarantees a job. That was gone by the 70's. Wages are falling or have
fallen in many sectors. Starting wages are half what they used to be, there are
little or no benefits, no job security and no pension fund. There's high
unemployment in most areas and the few companies (oil/gas/mining) that are
desperate for workers are not willing to actually train them! We have housing
that's outrageously overpriced so more kids than ever end up still living at
their parents' home as late as age 30. While I applaud the "Let's
Talk" initiative but it doesn't take a PhD to figure out that for 8/10 of
the anxious teens are anxious because they are starting to realize that doing
the "right things" will no longer make the cut.
Easy to See
Feb. 13, 2013
1:18 AM
Feb. 13, 2013
1:18 AM
Please share. The stigma surrounding Mental Health can be career ending
to say the least. Add to the issue is the policy of the Workplace Safety Regime
in Ontario. The Government is addressing Unfunded Liability on the backs of
Injured Workers. While we are quick to point fingers at Aboriginal Bands for
money mismanagement it appears no one is prepared to address the WSIB and
the Ontario Government's shortfall of 14.2Billion $.
And let’s not forget the war on childhood obesity which is solely
based on the Food Industry's model on Physical Activity and little,
if anything else.(Should smokers become more physically active?)
Chris Fox, CP24.com
Published Tuesday, January 28, 2014 4:39PM EST
Last Updated Wednesday, January 29, 2014 6:49AM EST
The Toronto District School Board is aware of about 700 suicide
attempts made by students in the last school year and Director of
Education Donna Quan admits the number may even be higher than that.
Quan revealed the alarming statistic to reporters following a news conference to announce a new mental health strategy Tuesday morning, saying the number should be a "concern" for educators across the board.
"It makes me feel awful and that is why we are taking a bold stance that healthy schools and healthy relationships matter," Quan said. "There is not one member on staff that would be OK with hearing this and not one parent."
Quan said the TDSB monitors suicide attempts "very closely" and will
often find out about them upon inquiring about a student’s prolonged
absence.
Though Quan said she can't say for sure whether the number from 2012-13 school year represents a jump, she said it is "alarming" and should be a call to action for educators, parents and mental health workers alike.
"We need to work with our agencies, our hospitals and our clinics to bridge the conversation before the students get there because by the time they get there it is too late," Quan said. "We need to provide support in terms of conversation, counselling, therapy and home support and talk is really the key aspect. It has been demonstrated that having daily talks with individuals who are depressed has a positive impact on their outlook on life."
Of the 700 known suicide attempts in 2012-2013, Quan said a "significant number" of them involved students in high schools across Toronto with a much smaller number involving middle school students. There are 105 secondary schools and 451 elementary schools under TDSB jurisdiction and the board is currently in the midst of developing a suicide prevention plan that will look at how to better assist students suffering from severe depression.
The plan will also provide recommendations on how to better support students effected by suicide.
"It is not just the students who have engaged in these thoughts; it is the friends around them," Quan said. "The secondary trauma is really equally important."
[ Paul Murphy PTSD Educator and Advocate. Mental Health is drawing some major attention of late . The Ontario MOL and WSIB appear to be out of touch and First Responders continue to be ignorred. Should students be informed that First Responders are unprotected by the Ontario Government ? ]
Quan revealed the alarming statistic to reporters following a news conference to announce a new mental health strategy Tuesday morning, saying the number should be a "concern" for educators across the board.
"It makes me feel awful and that is why we are taking a bold stance that healthy schools and healthy relationships matter," Quan said. "There is not one member on staff that would be OK with hearing this and not one parent."
Though Quan said she can't say for sure whether the number from 2012-13 school year represents a jump, she said it is "alarming" and should be a call to action for educators, parents and mental health workers alike.
"We need to work with our agencies, our hospitals and our clinics to bridge the conversation before the students get there because by the time they get there it is too late," Quan said. "We need to provide support in terms of conversation, counselling, therapy and home support and talk is really the key aspect. It has been demonstrated that having daily talks with individuals who are depressed has a positive impact on their outlook on life."
Of the 700 known suicide attempts in 2012-2013, Quan said a "significant number" of them involved students in high schools across Toronto with a much smaller number involving middle school students. There are 105 secondary schools and 451 elementary schools under TDSB jurisdiction and the board is currently in the midst of developing a suicide prevention plan that will look at how to better assist students suffering from severe depression.
The plan will also provide recommendations on how to better support students effected by suicide.
"It is not just the students who have engaged in these thoughts; it is the friends around them," Quan said. "The secondary trauma is really equally important."
[ Paul Murphy PTSD Educator and Advocate. Mental Health is drawing some major attention of late . The Ontario MOL and WSIB appear to be out of touch and First Responders continue to be ignorred. Should students be informed that First Responders are unprotected by the Ontario Government ? ]
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