A boost to mental health funding will allow for more counselling hours and a new youth care worker in the New Westminster school district.
School District 40 received an increase of about $70,000 this year – part of a pot of money designated by the province to help with mental health in B.C. schools in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The B.C. Ministry of Education announced the $5 million extra in funding for mental wellness at the beginning of September.
At a Nov. 9 operations committee meeting, School District 40 secretary-treasurer Bettina Ketcham outlined how New Westminster is using its share of that money.
She noted that the $70,000 came on top of the school district’s regular amount for mental health funding, which is about $52,000. The district also had $4,783 left in mental health funds from the previous year’s budget, for a total of $127,628 in mental health spending in 2021/22.
Ketcham said the district has an “aggressive plan” to use all that money.
Among the new spending is an extra day of counselling time (0.2 full-time equivalent staff) at New Westminster Secondary School. The district has also hired a new youth care worker, as of Nov. 1.
Ketcham said the district is also looking to supplement mental health services in its schools by adding about 15 hours a week of clinical counselling at the new Wellness Centre that is being set up at NWSS. The district is actively recruiting for that position now, she noted.
“It is a front-and-centre focus for us at this time,” she said.
Other money will also be used for supplies for the Wellness Centre – such as books for parents and youth, board games, stress relief items and food supports.
Trustee Danielle Connelly said the amount of money available to New Westminster won’t go far in the face of pandemic recovery.
“It’s not a lot for the work that we all know is needed, especially coming out of where we’re coming from,” Connelly said.
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