Prezi logo
Log in
Loading…

The Way In Program - Dan Knott Junior High School

CC

Chelsea Chambers

Transcript

The Way In Program at Dan Knott Junior High School

Community Placement

Our community placement was at Dan Knott Junior High School in Southwest Millwoods

Address: 1434 80 Street, Edmonton, Alberta

The school runs through Grades 7 to 9 so most students are ages 11 to 15

The Dan Knott Dragons consist of approximately 500 students

Health Promotion

How do mental health promotion principles guide the health promotion practices of the agency?

School Environment

Programming Continued...

  • The Way In program focuses on schools and provides a variety of interventions which Focus on skill building, empowerment, self-efficacy and individual resilience, and respect. For example, self-esteem campaigns and a social skills group
  • The Way In teams also provides support systems in the form of success coaches and strengthens the relationship between parents and children.
  • Additionally, this program directly targets Mental Health issues that affects students and works to promote mental health in children. For example, Mental Health Awareness Week

  • Warm, caring
  • Music plays over intercom system at break and lunch times
  • The national anthem is played every morning
  • There are many bright colors, lots of natural light
  • Words such as: respect, caring, honesty, fairness, teamwork are displayed in the main foyer of the school

What are the strengths of your community agency and how can these strengths be enhanced through health promotion strategies?

The Way In Program!

  • There is a “Safe Place” classroom is a learning space dedicated to students having difficulties due to anxiety, depression, stress or mental health issues.
  • Complementary courses include high performance Physical Education (soccer and basketball), Construction, Foods and Fashions, Outdoor Education, Instrumental Band, Guitar, Film Studies, Communications and Media, Drama, Student Leadership, and Art.
  • Dan Knott offers a strong Student Leadership program, extensive athletic programs, and many clubs and activities which help to foster strong school spirit and community involvement.

(Dan Knott School, 2013)

The role of the Mental Health Nurse in the Way In Program...

Programming at Dan Knott

  • The Way In program at Dan Knott has its own rooms specifically for Way In use
  • By having the safe place classroom as well as other classrooms, the Way In is creating safe, satisfying environments. One of the health promotion strategies is creating supportive environments (Health promotion strategies and determinants of health, 2013). Thus, the programs is doing an amazing job at utilizing this health promotion strategy.

  • The role of the Mental health nurse is to collaborate with the other members of the Way In team to assess and meet the needs of the students and their families.
  • The mental health nurse also takes on the role of educator to inform individuals about certain prevention and health promotion strategies as well as mental health issues specific to the family’s knowledge needs and/or the mental health issues prevalent in the students' developmental age
  • Additionally, the mental health nurse is responsible for referral to other mental health services if the situation warrants it or the family requests it

PART I: Our Community & Community Agency

  • Dan Knott School students participate in core programming (Language Arts, Mathematics, Social Studies, Science, Physical Education, Health and French) and a variety of complementary courses.
  • The library is the hub of our school and central to our student programming.
  • They offer a full array of opportunities for all students including regular programming, Pre-Advanced Placement, Literacy, Learning Strategies, and Behavior and Learning Assistance.

Many of the programs are focused on fun however most have an underlying theme of developing personal skills and making healthy choices. These programs deliver support, education and information in order to promote health. “Health promotion supports personal and social development through providing information, education for health, and enhancing life skills” (WHO, 2005, ¶ 1). This is exactly what this program is active in.

How does our agency work to achieve mental health promotion goals, including; enhancing protective factors, decreasing risk factors, and reducing inequities?

  • An innovative program offered by Edmonton Public Schools, available to students at T. D. Baker School, Dan Knott School, and Edith Rogers School.
  • Works with teens and families to build on their strengths, deal with issues, and get involved in activities that help them learn skills to be successful.
  • Goals: to support youth and families by helping them cope through difficult times, helping them develop positive relationships, providing opportunities to build healthy, active lifestyles and to build on individual strengths to encourage success in both school and life.

“Protective factors include individual, family, and community characteristics that alleviate the impact of risk factors by interacting together to foster resilience in children” (Waddell, McEwan, Shepard, Offord, & Hua, 2005, p. 638 as cited in Austin, 2010). Schools themselves are a protective factor so the fact that the Way In program is based out of schools is directly influencing the student’s protective factors.

  • The Way In program further enhances protective factors by enhancing social skills (skills groups), improving learning abilities (extra subject help), giving long-term support (creating support systems), and positive reinforcement about one’s self (U Love U week).
  • Having a good education decreases risk factors (Austin, 2010). Many programs the Way In offers are entirely focused on information sharing.
  • The Way In also is reducing inequities. The creators of this program saw the lack of resources in the Mill Woods area and because of the insufficiencies for the students in this community, the Way In program was made. This in itself is decreasing inequities between students in other communities in the city and our students in the Mill Woods public schools.
  • Improving all of the above decreases the impact of negative health determinants as well as act as achieving mental health promotion goals in the community.

The "Way In Program" at Dan Knott Junior High School

1434 80 St, Edmonton,

Windshield Assessment

Recreation

  • Mill Woods contains a community recreation centre. Dan Knott School had 2 gymnasiums and 14 sports teams and clubs. There is also a fitness room available to students at lunch and after school. During the summer there are sports camps (such as volleyball) run by Dan Knott School.

Windshield Assessment

The Way In Continued...

Windshield Assessment

The Way In Team at Dan Knott

SDH's Continued...

Funding

  • Public schools are funded through the Alberta Government

Transportation and safety

  • The children at Dan Knott come to and from school by yellow school buses, ETS, parents, or walking.
  • There is of course a school speed limit in effect as well as

pylons set up to ensure safety in front of the school

  • For field trips, Dan Knott students are safely taken by bus or supervised while walking to the destination

Windshield Assessment

History

  • The Mill Woods area was previously an Indian Reserve, then was an agriculture settlement, and finally, the Government of Alberta developed it into a residential area. It began being developed in the 1970s.
  • Dan Knott School has been open for many years and is preceded by its history of excellence as it is ranked within the top 40 schools in Canada

Windshield Assessment

Health and Social Services

  • Grey nuns hospital is in this area, Millwoods Public Health Centre, fire station, EPS SE division headquarters, ETS terminal.
  • Within Dan Knott School, there are many mental health services including support workers, the “safe place,” there is also a mental health therapist, Rani. For health issues that take place at school, there is an infirmary as well as many first aid kits available.
  • Social services at Dan Knott include counsellors, teachers support workers as well as the Way In program

Windshield Assessment

The Way In Program Statistics

Demographics

  • According to the 2012 City of Edmonton’s census, the Mill Woods population is 78, 332. It is adjacent to three other residential areas. It has multiple neighborhoods surrounding the Mill Woods Town Centre. It has a large business and services core intended to allow Mill woods to function as a self-sustained community.
  • Dan Knott school is located at 1434 80 street in Edmonton

Communication

  • Communication takes place in English. Oh Canada is played in English, the announcements are English as well as all the signs around the school. There is a French class aimed at developing students sufficiently competent in French. Much of the communication between parents, students, and teachers takes place online through SchoolZone where parents can view their children’s homework and grades.

Ethnicity

  • Mill woods has the largest number of immigrant families in all communities in Edmonton, so the ethnicity is very diverse. The students of Dan Knott come from many different backgrounds

Physical Environments

  • The school itself has the office and the library as the center with arms leading off into “pods” for each subject. There is a lot of natural light, bright colors, as well as a large area outside for activity during recess.

Jennifer Parenteau

  • Program Coordinator

Rani Dhami

  • Mental health therapist

Kiandra Wager

  • Mentoring coach

Tanner Walton

  • Addictions counsellor

Matt Wiebe

  • Success coach

Melissa Prokop

  • Safe Place classroom teacher

Dan Knott Values and beliefs

MISSION

“We work with families and community partners to provide safe, caring, healthy, diverse, inclusive and equitable learning experiences that engage students to achieve their full potential in an increasingly interdependent world.”

VISION

“All students will learn to their full potential and develop the ability, passion and imagination to pursue their dreams and contribute to their community.”

SDH Continued...

  • Individuals programs have helped 2441 students
  • Targeted programs have yielded 2822 participants
  • Universal programs have had 4900 participants

The Way In program has thus far proven to be a very successful program!

  • Not-for-profit, health, and government professionals providing services to children and families
  • Funded by Edmonton Public School Board, in partnership with numerous provincial partners

Edmonton & Area Child and Family Services 

The Family Centre 

YMCA Edmonton 

Big Brothers Big Sisters 

Millwoods Family Resource Centre Society 

Alberta Health Services - Capital Health 

Alberta Health Services - Alberta Mental Health Board 

Alberta Health Services - Alberta Alcohol and Drug Abuse Commission 

Edmonton Police Service 

Kids Up Front 

Edmonton Public Schools

Social support networks

  • Social support affects health, behaviors, and use of health care. Through emotional, informational, affirmation, and positive reinforcement, social support is an important part of health and can lead to healthy choices (House, 1981 as cited in Reutter, & Kushner, 2010). Junior high is an important place for healthy behaviors to be established and maintained. Through information (from teachers, support workers, and nursing students like us), and emotional support (from support workers, peers, teachers, and counsellors), the social support determinant of health is being addressed.

Social Environments

  • Schools are a primary place that students learn how to interact and communicate with people and form relationships. For some students, school is more of a social outlet than an educational place and the skills they learn here are important to how they interact with people for the rest of their lives. By encouraging a positive social environment (through student leadership programs, etc), Dan Knott is meeting this determinant of health.

What the Way In Program is for...

SDH Continued...

Determinants of Health that our agency is addressing...

Physical environments

  • Having a school environment that promotes health can increase healthy behaviors. A few years ago, Dan Knott participated in an initiative to have healthier choices in the school vending machines and now have juice/water instead of pops.
  • There are also no contaminants in the air, water, or food which would adversely effect their health.
  • From what we have observed, Dan Knott is a healthy physical environment for the students

  • Building resiliency in youth
  • Improving mental health through prevention, promotion, and intervention in Millwoods community
  • Uses schools as a gateway for support
  • Universal programming
  • Mental health awareness week, self-esteem campaigns, motivation week, health fairs, aboriginal family potluck/awareness week
  • Targeted programming
  • Lunch time activities, dance clubs, drop-in sports, Chicks Rock program, gentlemen’s club, mentoring, social skills groups

SDH Continued...

Education and literacy

  • Individuals with higher education levels are less likely to smoke, be more active, and have greater access to health services (Reutter and Kushner, 2010). By educating the students, the school is enabling them to be successful in higher education, have higher literacy rates, and understand more health concepts. Health classes offered by Dan Knott School are directly aiding in the student’s knowledge of their own health.

Healthy child development

  • Schools where students feel secure, respected, challenged, and cared for help ensure that children succeed academically” (Reutter, & Kushner, 2010, pp. 9).
  • Dan Knott School is working hard to meet all student needs and have values that include respect, caring for others, and academic successes.

Part II: Our Community Project

Our School Presentation

Drugs and Addictions

As a part of National Addictions Awareness Week

(November 17th- 23rd)

How our presentation went...

Wednesday, November 13, 2013

Lunchtime: Anti-Bullying Jeopardy & Pledges!

Thursday, November 14, 2013

Lunchtime: Anti-Bullying Jeopardy & Pledges!

References

Monday, November 18, 2013

Period 1: Grade 9 Health

Period 2: Grade 8 Health

Period 3: Behavioral Class

Lunchtime: Drug Jeopardy!

& Pledges

Tuesday, November 19, 2013

Period 3: Grade 8 Health

Lunchtime: Drug Jeopardy! & Pledges

Period 5: Grade 9 Health

Wednesday, November 20, 2013

Period 2: Grade 7 Health

How does the project fit into the Mental Health Promotion framework?

PICTURES!

  • Alberta health services. (2013). Junior high school resources. Retrieved from http://www.albertahealthservices.ca/2684.asp
  • Ali, S., Mouton, C. P., Jabeen, S., Kingsley Ofoemezie, ,., Bailey, R. K., Shahid, M., & Qiang, Z. (2011). Early detection of illicit drug use in teenagers. Innovations In Clinical Neuroscience, 8(12), 24-28
  • Austin,, W. (2010) Mental health promotion with children and adolescents. In Austin, W., & Boyd, M. A. (2010). Psychiatric nursing for Canadian practice (p 633-639). Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.
  • Bauman, A., Phongsavan, P. (1999). Epidemiology of substance use in adolescence: prevalence, trends, and policy implications. Drug and alcohol dependence 55 (3): 187-207.
  • CAMH. (2013). Health Policy & Systems: Mental Health Promotion; Best practice guidelines for mental health promotion programs: Children and youth. Retrieved from https://knowledgex.camh.net/policy_health/mhpromotion/mhp_childyouth/Pages/default.aspx
  • Canadian Mental Health Association (2013). Mental health promotion framework for action.
  • City of Edmonton (2012). Municipal census results. Retrieved from http://www.edmonton.ca/city_government/facts_figures/municipal-census-results.aspx
  • Dan Knott School. (2013). EPSB: Dan Knott School. Retrieved from http://danknott.epsb.ca/

Continued...

Mental Health Promotion Framework continued...

What went really well:

  • We both spoke clearly and loud enough
  • The students appeared engaged and asked lots of questions that were appropriate and relevant (yay!)
  • The teachers were very supportive and complimented us on the quality of our presentation. They all said it was age appropriate and that we did a good job keeping the students' attention

Mental health framework

  • Our Drugs & Addiction presentation to the classes fits into the Mental Health Promotion framework by building individual skills (which is a health promotion principle). We are helping the students develop skills to deal with addiction and increasing their knowledge of drugs by providing an educational presentation. “Health education is one of the key primary health care activities that, when applied to mental health, becomes a catalyst for each person to work toward experiencing optimal mental health” (Healey-Ogden, 2010, pp. 21).
  • By doing a health promotion presentation in a junior high school, we are addressing the issue of drugs and addiction in adolescents hopefully before it has the ability to impact their mental health. We provided resources so the students are equip to deal with these issues and prevent mental health issues.

More Pictures!

References continued...

What we would do differently next time:

  • Make both parts of the presentation equal in length
  • Use more age appropriate language from the beginning (Chelsea)
  • Going a bit slower while presenting (Sara)
  • The mental health principles we are also addressing include empowerment and meaningful participation. Empowerment comes in the form of giving the students power in knowledge thus increasing and encouraging their ability to make their own healthy decisions. By allowing the students to answer questions we pose and to ask questions of their own as well as participate in our problem-solving jeopardy game, we are encouraging active participation. Active participation is an essential part of mental health promotion strategies (Mauricette, 1998). We are also acting in congruency with life-context by bringing the information to the students and presenting in the school setting, basing our presentation on a current issue and teens, as well as gearing it toward their developmental level.
  • "Mental health promotion removes the structural and environmental barriers to positive mental health" (Mauricette, 1998, p. 4). By targeting determinants of health, increasing education, and providing resources, we are engaging in mental health promotion strategies and reducing inequities.

  • Edmonton Public School Board (2013). Health and life skills curriculum. Alberta Learning, Alberta, Canada.
  • Health promotion strategies and determinants of health, (2013) Retrieved from http://www.health.gov.nl.ca/health/wellnesshealthyliving/pwgp_health_promotion_strategies_and_determinants_of_health.pdf
  • Healey-Ogden, M. (2010). Mental health and mental illness. In Austin, W., & Boyd, M. A. Psychiatric nursing for Canadian practice (p. 19-21). Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.
  • Mauricette, R. (1998). Mental health promotion: A framework for the practice. Social Action Series. Toronto: Canadian Mental Health Association
  • Reutter, L., & Kushner, K. (2010). Health and wellness.
  • In P.A. Potter, A.G. Perry, J.C. Ross-Kerr, & M.J. Wood (Eds.) Canadian fundamentals of nursing – revised reprint (4th ed., p.6-9). Toronto: Elsevier
  • Saisan, J., Smith, M., & Segal, J. (2013). Substance abuse and mental health: Substance abuse and co-occurring disorders. Retrieved from http://www.helpguide.org/mental/dual_diagnosis.htm
  • Stanhope, M., Lancaster, J., Jessup-Falcioni, H., & Viverais-Dresler, G. A. (2011). Community health nursing in Canada (2nd Canadian ed.). Toronto, ON: Elsevier.
  • World Health Organization. (2005). Health promotion. Retrieved from http://www.who.int/healthpromotion/Milestones_Health_Promotion_05022010.pdf

How the project was determined beneficial for the agency?

  • While talking to the staff of the school and the Way In program, it was determined a good topic for our presentation would be Drugs and Addiction because of the following:
  • Addictions Awareness Week (November 18th-24th, 2013)
  • The prevalence of drug use and addiction in this age group (see next page)
  • The connection between mental illness and drug use/addiction (see next page)
  • The curriculum requires lessons on addiction as a part of the Health class
  • Analyze addictions; eg., stages, kinds, and resources available to treat addictions” (EPSB, 2013).
  • Our anti-bullying pledges and lunchtime bullying Jeopardy game were made to coincide with Bullying Awareness Week (November 17th-23rd)

2. What is addiction?

This section consists of 15 slides,

a. Define what addiction is

b. Explaining that addiction is a disease

and what things someone can become addicted to

c. What the effects of addiction are

d. Symptoms & stages of addiction

e. Key risk & protective factors for drug use

f. How to avoid drugs

g. How to deal with addiction &

the resources available to youths & families re: addiction

Support in Literature...

Our presentation in more detail...

  • The literature supports our choice of presentation topic of drugs and addiction in the school population. Many children begin experimenting with drugs in junior high school and experimentation can progress quickly to abuse (Alberta Health Services, 2013). We as nursing students are part of the solution to decrease the prevalence. Ali, et al. suggest intervention programs aimed at education about drugs, addiction and healthy choices are an effective way to lessessen illicit drug use in teens (Ali, et al., 2011). Buy giving an informational presentation. we did just that.being that we are here as a part of the Way In program, we are participating in the work they do in promoting health social environment which is one of the most promising interventions to preventing teen substance abuse (Bauman, & Phongsavan, 1999). Our drugs and addiction presentation is therefore very relevant and beneficial for individuals in this developmental age group

Support in Literature...

Our PowerPoint presentation consisted of 2 main sections/parts:

1. What are drugs?

This section consists of 17 slides,

a. Define what a drug is. Describe the 3 categories of drugs: legal drugs, prescription drugs, and illegal/street drugs

b. Explaining the differences between “uppers vs. downers”

c. Describing legal and illegal drugs that are commonly abused (alcohol, tobacco, caffeine, prescription drugs, marijuana, heroin, cocaine, crystal meth, ecstasy, inhalants).

d. Explaining the common short and long-term side effects of using these drugs

A complete description of the project itself.

  • Having a substance abuse issue as well as a mental health concern make dealing with both of these more difficult (Saisan, Smith, & Segal, 2013). Each one of these has their own set of symptoms which increase the severity of others but it is also often hard to distinguish which symptom is causing another, what might be making it worse?, Which came first?, and is the symptom is a part of the addiction process or the mental health illness? All of this makes treating these concurrent conditions more challenging to treat accurately. Many times individuals turn to substance use as a form of self-medication. Substance use may make decrease some of the symptoms for a short period of time. Drug/alcohol use can increase the chances of mental health illnesses especially if the individual is already at risk (because of genetics, etc) and use can make symptoms of a mental health problem worse. Substance abuse can increase symptoms or trigger new ones as well as interact harmfully with medications (Saisan, Smith, & Segal, 2013).
  • According to reports published in the Journal of the American Medical Association:
  • Roughly 50 percent of individuals with severe mental disorders are affected by substance abuse.
  • 37 percent of alcohol abusers and 53 percent of drug abusers also have at least one serious mental illness.
  • Of all people diagnosed as mentally ill, 29 percent abuse either alcohol or drugs.

(National Alliance on Mental Illness, 2013, as cited by Saisan, Smith, & Segal, 2013)

Because of all of this, addiction and mental health are incredibly related and both parts need to be addressed in order to improve the person’s mental state. By giving presentations on addiction, we are at the beginning stages of decreasing addiction which can complicate mental health issues.

Who we collaborated with to determine our project

As part of the Way In Program, we were asked to come up with a health class lesson about Drugs & Addictions for the students. In addition, we were asked to:

  • Design and fill a bulletin board outside the front office with information about Drugs & Addictions,

  • Create a universal anti-drug lunchtime activity for the students (to coincide with National Addictions Awareness week, Nov. 18-24),

  • Create a universal anti-bullying lunchtime activity for the students (to coincide with Bullying Awareness week, Nov. 17-23),

  • Construct a lesson plan for the teachers to use, so they can teach their students our health lesson if they were unable to have us present to them

Our in class presentation consisted of a PowerPoint Presentation and a trivia game at the end of class to assess the students’ retention of what they just leared

  • As our parting gift to the teachers and staff, we made green-ribbon-pins (green ribbon represents Mental Health Awareness) with a pledge slip attached to it, stating, “Addiction is an illness. I will say no to drugs.”

We spoke with Jennifer Parenteau, The Way In Program Coordinator as well as Matt Wiebe, the Success Coach at Dan Knott School and we discussed doing a presentation on addiction to align with the events they have taking place for the National Addictions Awareness Week