We want parents and caregivers to know that resources are available in the community and online to support their child’s mental health and well-being. We also know the importance of understanding mental health and how to seek out support for children and youth.

Where can I go in my community for help if I am concerned about my child’s mental health?

  • Here 24/7 is your connection to the addictions, mental health, and crisis services provided by 11 agencies across Waterloo Wellington. They do the intake, assessment, referral, crisis, waitlist and appointment booking work for these important programs. In Crisis or Need Support? Call 1-844-HERE247 (1-844-437-3247) anytime.
  • Front Door works with parents/caregivers, children and youth (up to their 18th birthday) who are struggling with life’s challenges such as emotions, behaviours, relationships and mental health.
  • Carizon specializes in children’s mental health, youth engagement and development, family violence, individual and family counselling, credit counselling, settlement supports, and collective wellness.
  • K-W Counselling is a multi-service agency providing individual, family, group and outreach, supports to the community.
  • White Owl is dedicated to innovative Indigenous Wholistic practice with a commitment to whole-person development within the family and community. They offer individual, couple and family counselling, outreach programs, and land-based teachings and programs.
  • LGBT Youthline offers confidential and non-judgemental peer support through our telephone, text and chat services. Get in touch with a peer support volunteer from Sunday to Friday, 4PM to 9:30PM.
  • Kind Minds Family Wellness is an organization made up of 15 Black professionals that provide culturally relevant, identity-affirming support to our community. They specialize in Afrocentric/culturally grounded counselling, education, employment and research advocacy.
  • Coalition of Muslim Women is an organization that provides opportunities for personal and professional growth, and leadership and skills development for women, while addressing issues of gender-based violence, racism, discrimination and Islamophobia.
  • OK2BME.ca is operated by KW Counselling Services. This program provides supportive services for 2LGBTQIA+ identified children, teens and their families.
  • Spectrum is an organization that serves, affirms, and supports the well-being of 2SLGBTQ+ individuals in Waterloo Region and the community.
  • Ray of Hope Youth Support Services helps young people and their families find healthy long-term coping solutions that empower them to build wholistic futures. This program offers counselling and treatment to address substance and addictions concerns

Suicide Prevention

Tell someone if you have concerns or thoughts about suicide.

  • Call the crisis line (1-844-437-3247)
  • Call 911 if it is an emergency

Additional resources:

safeTALK by LivingWorks Education

safeTALK is a half-day alertness workshop that prepares anyone over the age of 15, regardless of prior experience or training, to become a suicide-alert helper. Most people with thoughts of suicide don’t truly want to die, but are struggling with the pain in their lives. Through their words and actions, they invite help to stay alive. safeTALK-trained helpers can recognize these invitations and take action by connecting them with life-saving intervention resources.

Teen suicide: What parents need to know by The Mayo Clinic

Is your teen at risk of suicide? While no teen is immune, there are factors that can make some adolescents more vulnerable than others. This guide created by the Mayo Clinic will help you to understand how to tell if your teen might be suicidal and where to turn for help and treatment.

Self-Injury: A Guide For Parents & Families by Self-Injury Outreach and Support

Self-Injury Outreach and Support is a collaborative effort between the University of Guelph and McGill University. Self-Injury: A Guide For Parents & Families provides information and resources about self-injury to parents and caregivers of those who self-injure, those who have recovered, and those who want to help.

What are some tips on having a meaningful conversation with my child about school?

Ways to ask “how was your day?” at school and not get “fine” or “I dunno” as the answer:

  1. What was the best thing that happened at school today? (What was the worst thing that happened at school today?)
  2. Tell me something that made you laugh today.
  3. If you could choose, who would you like to sit by in class? (Who would you NOT want to sit by in class? Why?)
  4. If I called your teacher tonight, what would she tell me about you?
  5. How did you help somebody today?
  6. If an alien spaceship came to your class and beamed someone up, who would you want them to take?
  7. If you got to be the teacher tomorrow, what would you do?

Looking for more questions? Read Ways to Ask Your Kids ‘So How Was School Today?’ Without Asking Them ‘So How Was School Today?’

WRDSB Resources

Anxiety: How You Can Support Your Child | WRDSB

In this video, you’ll hear from WRDSB Secondary School Social Worker Barb Shannon on ways you can support your child as they deal with their anxiety.

Additional video resources

Promoting Positive Mental Health

Positive mental health is just as vital as our physical health. Therefore, promoting wellness in the home is just as important as promoting wellness at school.

Here at the WRDSB we work alongside our families to continue this important conversation about mental well-being of our children. We have cultivated additional resources to support this conversation at home.

For more advice on promoting positive mental health, check out these resources:

Additional Resources

Noticing Mental Health Concerns for Your Child by School Mental Health Ontario

School Mental Health Ontario offers some tips and advice on signs and signals to look for in younger children and older children/teens that may indicate they may be experiencing a mental health problem. They also provide some guidance on how to talk to your child about mental health.

Have THAT talk by Ottawa Public Health

Ottawa Public Health’s “have THAT talk” mental health video campaign was created to give parents more information about mental health. The videos aim to give parents the knowledge and resources they need to talk about mental health with their child or teen. Mental health problems affect 1 in 5 Canadians. Also, 75% of all of these problems start before the age of 24 years. Parents are encouraged to watch these videos to learn how they can have that talk about mental health with their child or teen. By talking about mental health openly, you can help your child become a healthy and resilient adult.

Cannabis: What Parents/Guardians and Caregivers Need to Know by Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH)

CAMH provides information about parenting and mental health issues.

Cannabis: What Parents/Guardians and Caregivers Need to Know provides information about cannabis, cannabis legalization, risks, signs of a problem, how to help your child, and where to get more information and support.

School Mental Health Ontario (SMHO)

SMHO works together with Ontario school districts to support student mental health. SMHO has a youth group called THRIVE, which includes the participation of one of our very own WRDSB students. THRIVE has created several resources in the past year to attend to student mental health issues.

Advanced Caregiving for Prevention Parenting & Mental Health by Mental Health Foundations

Created by Mental Health Foundations, this parenting video series is now available to support caregivers interested in “prevention parenting” or who are struggling with the behavioural or emotional needs of their child/loved one.

Shanker Self-Regulation Parent Resources by The Mehrit Centre

Dr. Stuart Shanker’s Mehrit Centre is a social enterprise that aims to work towards a vision of calm, alert and flourishing children, youth and adults by grounding learning and living in mindful self-regulation. These parent resources offer a variety of tools and platforms for parents to learn more about the strategy and connect with other parents who share the same goals.

Nine Tips for Talking to Kids about Trauma by the Greater Good Science Center

Fortunately, parenting and education experts have produced a wealth of resources for having difficult conversations with kids about tragedies such as terrorist attacks. Contained are nine tips distilled from these many resources.

Parent Engagement is Important to Student Success by the Council of Ontario Directors of Education

Parent Engagement is Important to Student Success offers resources that will help families as they guide their children in learning skills that are essential for success at school and throughout life. CODE has produced five booklets with input from parents across Ontario. Three of these booklets are Tool Kits, and are intended for use by parents, guardians, and school staff and leaders. Two of these booklets are Guidebooks and can be used as a resource to support parent engagement and reinforce the information in the Tool Kits.

Culturally Relevant and Identity-Affirming Resources

Mental health affects us all and while we continue to navigate this pandemic, it is especially important to recognize that not everyone has experienced the pandemic in the same way.

Vulnerable and marginalized communities are experiencing a disproportionately negative impact, which has profound mental health implications. The ongoing racism and hate – interpersonal and systemic, both locally and around the world – further contributes to a decrease in overall wellness and has a negative impact on these communities.

While the events of the past couple of years have been extremely negative, the outcome has been an increase in information in services for these groups, emerging both locally and globally. Please refer to the following resources, which are just a few of the supports available to racialized and marginalized communities within Waterloo Region.

Resources

Black Youth Helpline serves all youth and specifically responds to the need for a Black youth-specific service, positioned and resourced to promote access to professional, culturally appropriate support for youth, families and schools.

Kind Minds Family Wellness is an organization made up of 15 Black professionals that provide culturally relevant, identity-affirming support to our community. They specialize in Afrocentric/culturally grounded counselling, education, employment and research advocacy.

Coalition of Muslim Women is an organization that provides opportunities for personal and professional growth, and leadership and skills development for women, while addressing issues of gender-based violence, racism, discrimination and Islamophobia.

Muslim Social Services Waterloo Region is an organization that offers spiritually and culturally sensitive humanitarian and social services to the Muslim and non-Muslim communities of the Waterloo Region.

OK2BME.ca is operated by KW Counselling Services. This program provides supportive services for 2LGBTQIA+ identified children, teens and their families.

Spectrum is an organization that serves, affirms, and supports the well-being of 2SLGBTQ+ individuals in Waterloo Region and the community.

Trans Lifeline is a grassroots hotline run by and for trans people. Trans Lifeline offers direct emotional and financial support to trans people in crisis – for the trans community, by the trans community.

White Owl Native Ancestry Association is dedicated to innovative Indigenous Wholistic practice with a commitment to whole-person development within the family and community. They offer individual, couple and family counselling as well as outreach programs along with land-based teachings and programs.

Qualia Counselling offers a variety of mental health therapies for children and families. They also provide culturally responsive counselling of varying identities and cultural contexts.

Southwest Ontario Aboriginal Health Access Centre (SOAHAC) provides a range of wellness services to First Nations, Inuit and Metis people in Southwestern Ontario, including traditional healing, mental health and addiction services and clinical services.

Sunbeam Developmental Resource Centre offers a range of services for individuals of all ages with developmental disability and or an autism spectrum disorder.

School Mental Health Ontario provides evidence-informed information and resources to school districts, including a variety of culturally relevant resources:

COVID-19 Focused Resources

Talking to Children About COVID-19 | WRDSB

Children and youth have many questions as they learn about the virus too, and look to the adults around them for answers. We have compiled these resources to help start and guide these conversations with children and teens.

Maintaining Mental Wellness During COVID-19 | WRSPC

Maintaining Mental Wellness During COVID-19 from the Waterloo Region Suicide Prevention Council (WRSPC) is a list of locally developed information and tip sheets, as well as a list of local, provincial, and national support services that can be accessed virtually during this time. While we all play our part to reduce the spread of COVID-19 and keep our population physically healthy, the measures we are taking such as physical distancing, self-quarantine, and self-isolation may lead to new or heightened mental health concerns such as loneliness, anxiety, or depression.

Carizon for the Community | Carizon

In response to the COVID-19 crisis, Carizon has launched Carizon for the Community, a self-help website that includes resources developed, collected and curated in the spirit of supporting a family’s mental health. Lots of videos, resources and activities to help adults, caregivers and kids struggling with their mental health and well-being.

Jack.org

Jack.org is a national youth website for young Canadians addressing the impact of COVID-19. The site brings together resources and self-help information through an innovative partnership between jack.org, SMH-ON and the Kids Help-Phone.

Promoting Well-Being during COVID-19 | Mindfulness Everyday

This list of resources from Mindfulness Everyday provides support for teens and young adults with respect to mindfulness and well-being.

We Got This: Supporting Child Well-being Video Series

Dr. Jean Clinton and parenting author Ann Douglas have teamed up to create a video series for parents called “We Got This” to provide parents support during the COVID-19 crisis. View the latest videos from the We Got This series on Dr. Jean Clinton’s YouTube channel.

Resources for Building Resilience in the Home

Find more resources on building resilience in the home during COVID-19 and beyond.