Featured Report
Return to School During COVID-19
Considerations for Ontario’s Child and Youth Community Mental Health Service Providers
Children’s Mental Health Ontario and its partner, Ontario Centre of Excellence for Child and Youth Mental Health, are reporting new findings on how the pandemic is affecting the mental health of children, youth and their families.
Return to School During COVID-19: Considerations for Ontario’s Child and Youth Community Mental Health Service Providers findings show that social isolation, removal from school and daily routines, as well as enforced isolation and loss associated with illness, are among the key stressors resulting from the pandemic affecting children’s mental health.
Social isolation, removal from school and daily routines, as well as isolation and loss associated with illness are some of the top stressors children are facing. Like so many adults, our children are also feeling the impacts of so much uncertainty around how long the pandemic will go on for.
To address the knowledge needs of community service providers, the Centre has developed this current resource, which includes information on:
- the impacts of the pandemic on child and youth mental health (drawing on new research and existing evidence from previous infectious outbreaks) to support service planning;
- supporting school transitions generally, as well as identifying children/youth with additional complexities and vulnerabilities to ensure unique supports as required; and
- resources and tools community-based providers can access to support children, youth and families with the transition to school during the pandemic.
Using the evidence and sources in this document, CMHO and their youth and family partners have created a Back-to-School Mental Health Kit with resources tailored to the needs and interests of youth and parents/caregivers preparing for the transition back to school.
