About this Course

This course is designed for pre-service and in-service educators, including teacher candidates, teachers, administrators and other specialized staff roles, or anyone who wishes to build their mental health literacy.

Developed by education and mental health professionals, this 7-module course (8 to 10 hours) will provide you with a foundation of mental health literacy, including effective strategies to use in your educational settings and in your own life.

• Module 1: Introduction and Background
• Module 2: Stigma and Mental Illness
• Module 3: Human Brain Development
• Module 4: Understanding Mental Health, Mental Illness and Related Issues in Young People
• Module 5: Treatments for Mental Disorders
• Module 6: Seeking Help and Providing Support
• Module 7: Caring for Students and Ourselves

Learn more about this course, including program background and learning objectives, on the Faculty of Education's Professional Development & Community Engagement website.

Coures Description

Pre-service and in-service teachers can take this 7-module course in its entirety or simply complete the modules they are most interested in. Faculties of Education are welcome to use these resources to support their course and/or discussions on mental health, and teacher communities of practice may wish to focus on various modules in their conversations.

This resource aims to:

1. Enhance mental health literacy of teacher candidates and practising educators.
2. Provide classroom congruent materials that can be used to help address mental health literacy of students.
3. Identify strategies that can be used for maintaining one's mental health.

This resource does NOT educate how to diagnose or treat mental illnesses. If you are concerned about a student’s mental health, talk to the leadership team in your school and consult with health professionals in your school, district or community, providing information they need to better support that student. As part of the school-based team of professionals, determine strategies to better support your student.

The Team

The team consists of Dr. Stan Kutcher (Dalhousie University), Dr. Yifeng Wei (Dalhousie University), Dr. Wendy Carr (Faculty of Education, University of British Columbia), Dr. Susan Rodger (Faculty of Education, Western University) and Dr. Chris Gilham (Faculty of Education, St. Francis Xavier University). Key project participants included Dr. Melanie-Anne Atkins (Western University), Vanessa Bruce, Amy MacKay, Mina Hashish, Kate Elliot, Mallory Comeau, Jillian Thorpe and Amanda Higgins. This work is supported by Andrew Baxter, Mental Health Literacy Project Lead (mentalhealthliteracy.org).

Please note that all fees are non-refundable. If you have any questions about refunds, please contact us.