The Thames Valley District School Board announced the new Staff Mental Health and Well-Being position. The role will help teachers find services to help with their mental health issues.
In a statement issued by the TVDSB, Linda Nicholls, Superintendent of Human Resources, said: “Our Board is facing significant increased mental health needs with our staff members. It is of note that this trend is not unique to this board. The World Health Organization says mental health issues are now the second leading cause of disability after heart disease.”
Chair Lori-Ann Pizzolato says that “This new position has the potential to reduce barriers to mental health support for staff. When our staff’s mental health needs are taken care of, they’ll be at their best in their role and in the classroom.”
Along with the new position, the TVDSB announced a new service available to teachers starting March 1, 2022. Through the Y@HOME+ program, starting March 1, 2022, staff can access virtual health and wellness resources.
“I’m not sure it’s going to suffice.”
The local teachers’ union, though, says that they’re skeptical about the new position.
“A lead to coordinate existing services is probably a good thing, given what we’ve been through for the last two years, but I’m not sure it’s going to suffice– given what we anticipate the recovery from the pandemic is going to be for teachers.”
Craig Smith, president of ETFO Thames Valley teachers’ union.
Craig Smith is the president of ETFO Thames Valley. He says the new mental health position, when it’s implemented, could be great. But, he says that their cutting weeds when they should be pulling them out root and all.
“Although these things are good . . . they address the symptoms of a deeper cause. And part of the problem is, there hasn’t been a rationalization of the workload that teachers are expected to do. The work is dumped on them– new things are dumped on a daily basis and that’s having a really negative impact on the ability of teachers to continue to deliver programs for kids at the level they want to . . . We now, I think, need to take a hard look at what we’re being asked to do and why we’re being asked to do it.”
Smith says that the new work teachers are asked to do is a huge issue. There simply aren’t enough hours in the day or days in the year to balance everything. That has been a big factor in the rise of mental health issues in recent years. The board, he says, puts more stress on teachers on the one hand and on the other they offer services that aren’t enough.
“Those resources are woefully inadequate and they will continue to be woefully inadequate as we move through this. I think there will be considerable need for people to ask for support, even when the pandemic is in the rearview mirror.”
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