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The Guide

Mental Health Literacy Curriculum

The Guide is a schoolwide mental health literacy curriculum focused on promoting positive mental health, understanding mental disorders and treatments, decreasing stigma, and enhancing help-seeking behavior. The Guide was developed by Mental Health Literacy in partnership with the Canadian Mental Health Association to train and empower educators to share mental health knowledge with their students in multiple engaging formats, including videos, interactive activities, and ready-to-use worksheets, amongst others.

Students Between Classes

The Guide was adapted from its original high school version to improve its developmental appropriateness and relevance to middle school students. Educators and/or counselors delivered the adapted version of The Guide to classrooms. To access the original version, click below.

What's in the Guide?

The Guide provides developmentally appropriate content related to mental health knowledge through lessons and activities contained in five topics:

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Topic A: What is Mental Health?

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Topic B: How is the brain involved in mental health?

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Topic C: What is stigma?

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Topic D: How can a person find support?

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Topic E: How can positive mental health be maintained?

School Hallway
"Teaching the Guide empowers out students to open up and deal with issues often swept under the rug. This, in turn, lessens issues our school and students often encounter, because the kids take ownership and stop small problems from becoming big problems."

- Teacher Leader

The ImpacT

  • The Guide opened conversations about mental health and societal stressors

  • Students and educators developed common language to communicate about mental health

  • Student-educator relationships became deeper and more meaningful

  • Students became more empathetic toward their peers and educators

  • Educators felt they better understood their students

  • Students advocated for themselves and their peers

Students Going Upstairs
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