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5 | The IFP -H alton H ills | T hursday,N ovem ber 7,2019 theifp.ca Our 20th An nual 45 Mountainview Road North, Georgetown, Ontario 905.877.7958 e-mail: hassellsauto@bellnet.ca • www.hassellautomotive.comSALES & SERVICE Super FALL Special HASSELL AUTOMOTIVE - Oil & Filter (Includes up to 6 litres regular oil.) - Complete top to bottom check over. - Installation of winter tires (already on rims) included. - $5.00 Tim's Card - Windshield Washer Fluid - 12 Pack of Pop EXTRAS $9495*Call for an Appointment Prices are +HST $7495*7495* Only Synthetic oil (up to 6 litres) Gold 2018 Halton Hills Silver 2018 Halton Hills NOWON! *Most Vehicles. It's a troubling reality and one school boards, sad- ly, have to deal with. The Halton Catholic District School Board re- vealed the mental health and addictions strategy. The multi-year plan will be prioritizing youth suicide in the 2019-2020 school year. Youth suicide is the sec- ond leading cause of death among young people in the country. The board makes use of an approach that aims to build staff capacity, supports specific popula- tions and enhances co-or- dination within the sys- tem. "We know that suicide is a complex and emotionally charged subject, and it's a challenging issue for most of us to talk about," said Glenda Brown, the board's chief of medical health pro- gramming. "Promoting positive mental health and well-be- ing and ensuring early and equitable access to needed service is part of a compre- hensive suicide-preven- tion strategy. Early identi- fication of children at risk is one of the most impor- tant things we can do for our students." Over the course of the school year, all high school administrators will re- ceive training on the sui- cide-response protocol. Additional school support staff have also received specialized training. The new SafeTalk pilot program is being intro- duced at schools this year. SafeTalk is a program that helps people recognize when someone is thinking about suicide and connects them to support. "We can't put the full re- sponsibility on teenagers alone to know what to do when a friend or someone they know is suffering. It's challenging for us as adults to know and make discernments, but helping students understand the difference between a strug- gle and what a crisis is and how to connect them to supports is important," said Brown. Throughout the year, the board will continue ed- ucation on a number of mental health areas in- cluding youth engage- ment, staff health, new programming and contin- uous training for support staff. Patricia Codner, chief social worker with the board, said the approach to mental health needs to be sensitive and adaptable. "We're dealing with cul- tural differences, issues of poverty - there's so many intersectionalities that we have to factor in when we're looking at how do we deliver programming or supports to students. It's not cookie-cutter, so our tiered model is a guide be- cause it's evidence-based, in terms of what are the things we can do to scaffold information we are shar- ing based on the needs of the student," said Codner. To see the school board's full mental health and addiction strategy, vis- it Hcdsb.org. NEWS CATHOLIC BOARD MENTAL HEALTH STRATEGY PRIORITIZING YOUTH SUICIDE THE ISSUE: YOUTH SUICIDE LOCAL IMPACT: A MORE RESPONSIVE AND INFORMED SCHOOL SYSTEM STORY BEHIND THE STORY: Youth suicide has been raised at a number of local forums over the last few years following a handful of devastating incidents. We wanted to take a look at how the school board plans to address what has become a sadly too common tale. Suicide is the second leading cause of death among young people in Canada. Torstar file photo ROLAND CILLIERS rcilliers@metroland.com