Educators, health care providers, government officials and community members filled a room Thursday to hear directly from students at a youth forum on mental health in Fredericton.

Ché Greene, one of the students who spoke to about 100 people at the event, said it was important to hear young people’s perspectives directly.

Greene started a mental health council at her school in Grand Manan, focused on peer-to-peer support. He said it’s important to be able to talk about shared experiences with people of the same age and know “that they’re going through the same things as you and enduring them.”

“Being able to connect with people that you can really relate to and get to that level with them, I think that’s probably one of the most important aspects of youth mental health,” he declared.

Joshua Clark, a Grade 11 student at Harrison Trimble Secondary School in Moncton and member of the New Brunswick Youth Council, traces his mental health issues to his 5th grade, when he started attending a new school. He said these challenges persisted throughout middle and high school.

Clark told the forum he found help through therapy and a child helpline.

He said teachers can play an important role in a student’s mental health, detecting changes in behavior or signs of difficulty. Clark said they can “basically be that third parent for someone or even a fifth parent. It can be that extra level of support that someone can have.”

“Our children are suffering”

New Brunswick’s child and youth advocate wants to see more creative approaches to dealing with the increase in young people experiencing urgent mental health issues.

In her latest report, From Couch to Crisis, Kelly Lamrock highlighted recent figures showing that almost a quarter of children between the ages of 9 and 19 suffer from a mental disorder. Girls, as well as 2SLGBTQ+, neurodivergent or newcomer youth, are all at greater risk, he said.

“Our children are suffering, and we must put this simple fact above all else,” Lamrock said.

Many Western democracies are experiencing spikes in anxiety, depression and suicidal ideation, he said, and he is calling on the government to respond in a way that is “a little more agile, a little more creative.”

“We know that most mental health problems first appear during childhood and adolescence, which is why school-based mental health support systems are vitally important and must be well-equipped. sufficient resources.”

Increased academic support is needed, especially in rural areas

Twenty-two percent of youth mental health services are delivered through schools, according to Lamrock’s report, which states that “facilitation and support from educators and clear communication and support for parents, schools and communities are essential.”

Peter Lagacy, president of the New Brunswick Teachers’ Association, agrees that more support is needed in the school system, especially in rural areas that may not have many other options for care mental health.

“It would be great to have in every school community … access to services that include school psychologists, social workers and nurses,” Legacy said.

More support in schools would relieve some of the pressure on people like Sarah Gander, a pediatrician in Saint John.

She said children and youth often end up in her office because of a lack of support at school and in the community, especially those covered by health insurance.

“So they come to me and that’s the bottleneck,” she said. “And I think we’re recognizing that more than ever and saying ‘we need to do something different if we really want to meet the needs.’

When she began her practice as a pediatrician, Gander said about a third of her referrals were related to mental health, neurodiversity or development. That figure has since risen to “well over 60 or 70 percent,” she said.

“And frankly, of the other 30 percent, probably 60 percent are actually mental health issues disguised as abdominal pain or headaches or whatever. So it’s not just a psychiatric problem. It’s a problem for everyone.”

Gander said sometimes a referral to a pediatrician or psychiatrist is the right route. But she would like resources to meet students where they are, often in schools, to detect more of these problems early.

With a shortage of psychologists and other health professionals, Lamrock believes that New Brunswick must deal with a training deficit, but must also find other ways to support young people.

“Finding ways to give communities the skills so that there are caring people who can help their peers navigate, who can place children with more reliable adults – the more we can do, the better it is,” he said.