IN NS SCHOOLS

SCHOOLSPLUS: CREATING A CIRCLE OF CARE FOR STUDENTS

BY ARLENE MCASKILL

The SchoolsPlus program has placed mental health and addictions clinicians where we can best reach our 120,000+ Nova Scotian students: in schools. SchoolsPlus is a model of integrated service delivery, partnering with a range of government departments, such as Justice, Health, Community Services and agencies to provide wraparound supports for children and their families. SchoolsPlus is also offered as ÉcolesPlus to Nova Scotia’s 5,000+ francophone students. Two key partners in the delivery of this program are the IWK Health Centre and Nova Scotia Health Authority (NSHA), two distinct health entities in our province.

This highly successful initiative grew out of a vision to have schools serve as a center of service delivery, bringing together professionals, community partners, and other service providers to help children, youth and their families overcome barriers, and navigate services while seeking opportunities for enrichment to help students fulfill their potential.

Services offered by the SchoolsPlus mental health clinician create a unique opportunity to work with children in their own school setting, while also being attached to an interdisciplinary team in mental health and addictions programs at NSHA and IWK.

Clinicians work within a child and family centred care model, resulting in early identification and treatment of children and adolescents, while working in collaboration with a wide range of professionals as part of the SchoolsPlus team. Other SchoolsPlus team members include facilitators and community outreach workers.

Morgan Moore is a social worker and SchoolsPlus clinician with NSHA, and is pleased to be able to meet the students in their environment and yet have the child-adolescent team support behind her work. “Some youth are in complex situations and the clinician role is key to providing continuity of care for the student, while our presence in the school reduces barriers to a child or youth accessing care,” says Moore.

That circle of care is a vital component to the ongoing success for students accessing SchoolsPlus. “Once connected to a student in the school, I can represent all the services our health centre can provide,” says Natalie Steele Quinn, MSW, a community mental health clinician with SchoolsPlus at the IWK. Quinn’s passion comes from the variety of work and her ability to be in front of youth, doing different things every day. “I have an open door to collaborate and partner with all the people who work in the school to provide the best care for the young person and their families,” she says. The opportunity to provide some public health information about mental health and well-being is also a valued aspect of her work.

As our population continues to grow, SchoolsPlus/ÉcolesPlus has expanded, and as a result there are strong recruitment needs across the province, for English-speaking and bilingual clinicians. If you are a masters-level trained mental health professional with competencies working with children and adolescents with a minimum of two years post-masters clinical experience working in child and adolescent mental health services and registered/eligible for registration with the appropriate regulatory body, you can apply to positions with the IWK or NSHA. We are two distinct employers with a variety of positions across the province, all accessible through one link: https://jobs.nshealth.ca.

If you’d like to have a confidential conversation about the opportunities, contact Amanda Boutilier at NSHA (902.794.8910) or Arlene MacAskill at IWK (902.470.3939), ou si vous souhaitez communiquer en français, contacter Adela N’Jie (902. 433.7056).

Have a look at our SchoolsPlus video: http://bit.ly/SchoolsPlus Regardez cette vidéo d’ÉcolesPlus: http://bit.ly/EcolesPlus