Ei-iE

The Canadian Teachers’ Federation (CTF), one of EI’s national affiliates, has welcomed the Opening Minds Anti-Stigma Programme of the Mental Health Commission of Canada. This programme offers contact-based education to primary and high school students.

It employs people who have experienced a mental illness, who share their personal illness and recovery stories with students, and work with teachers to create opportunities for active discussion and learning.

Because most mental illnesses begin during adolescence or early adulthood, schools have become an important arena for anti-stigma (i.e. negative attitudes or unfair treatment) programmes. Lesson plans have been designed in the framework of the Opening Minds Anti-Stigma Programme, accompanying the sessions so that teachers can reinforce key messages and help to dispel misconceptions. Students taking these sessions become more informed, less prejudiced, and more socially tolerant of people with a mental illness. Ultimately this work will yield standardised workbooks and lesson plans that can be used by teachers to help de-stigmatise mental illnesses in the classroom.

Stigma undermining right to education

Stigma, broadly defined as society’s negative response to people who have a mental illness, is often described as more disabling than the illness itself. It prevents individuals and families from seeking early identification and treatment for a mental illness. It tarnishes their reputation and social standing. And it results in serious inequities in educational, economic, health, and other social entitlements that people without disabilities take for granted. It is a form of social oppression that violates the human dignity and human rights of its victims.

In the 2012 CTF Survey on Student Mental Health, 67 per cent of the 3,927 educators responding either “strongly agreed” or “somewhat agreed” that stigma was a barrier to mental health service provision in their schools. Respondents commented that this was particularly true in areas with large immigrant populations, where stigma had an even greater impact. They also noted that many parents refuse to recognise that their child lives with a mental illness. Parents may make excuses and do not want their child to be evaluated for fear of the stigma that is attached to mental illness. Educators also commented that non-disclosure of mental health issues made it more difficult for them to meet their students’ needs.

Bullying linked to mental health issues

In addition, students with mental health issues may be bullied or teased once their mental health problems become known. Indeed, one in five educators responding to the CTF survey said they had “very frequently” or “frequently” seen a student being treated unfairly, bullied, or teased as a result of having a mental health problem. Only 17 per cent of educators could say that they had “never” witnessed unfair treatment because of a mental health problem. These figures show there is an urgent need to reduce the stigma associated with mental health problems in Canadian schools.

EI supports Canadian colleagues in their struggle to ensure the right to education for all students, and encourages all educators worldwide to get involved in programmes preventing bullying at school.

To know more about the Opening Minds Anti-Stigma Programme of the Mental Health Commission of Canada, please click here

EI anti-bullying strategy is available here