School Mental Health Conference - July 14

I had the opportunity to attend a conference at Dalhousie University on Thurs, July 14 and Fri, July 15.  It was an incredible conference that lasted from 8 am - 6 pm both days with presentations at lunch.   The speakers were from the IWK and connected with Sunlife Financial Chair who put on this conference. We were given a binder with lesson plans to help teach students about the importance of mental health and websites and resources to aid in this as well.

The speakers were all experts in dealing with various aspects of teen mental health. We heard about anxiety, eating disorders, psychosis, communicating with teens about issues, medications, accessing mental health, ADHD, disruptive behaviours.  We had an opportunity to talk with teachers that work at the day programs and overnight programs for students with mental health issues at the IWK as well as teens who volunteer at a peer program to help those with mental health issues called Laing House.

Please find below some websites that were suggested with amazing resources and contacts.

http://www.teenmentalheath.org/

http://www.youtube.com/teenmentalhealth1

http://www.yoomagazine.net/

http://www.tigweb.org/

http://allkindsofminds.org/

http://www.aacap.org/

http://www.lainghouse.org/

http://www.incredibleyears.com/

http://www.anxietybc.com/

http://www2.massgeneral.org/schoolpsychiatry/