Red Deer Public's Behaviour Support Team has continued to make a positive difference throughout the Division as they help develop mental health strategies for students and help support teachers.
In the fall of 2022, the Division received a $706,000 grant through the Mental Health In Schools Pilot Program from Alberta Education. From this grant, a three person Behaviour Support Team was formed, which includes a registered psychiatric nurse, a teacher with additional training in supporting mental health and behaviour, and a social worker. This centralized team travels to schools throughout the Division as needed to help support students, staff and families.
Since December 2022, the team of three has made over 360 school team or teacher visits regarding an individual student, four classroom group consultations, 19 school-based professional development sessions, four Division teacher training sessions, and one Vice Principal training session.
"Once developed, the team was immediately available to classrooms to respond in a timely fashion to a crisis situation in school. They can help de-escalate the situation while maintaining the safety and dignity of the student and allowing the classroom teacher to return to teaching," said Nicola Golby, Associate Superintendent of Student Services. "This has also led to less disturbance in the classroom and maintains regulation of other students."
Recently, the Behaviour Support Team has been collaborating with the newly created Red Deer Youth Stabilization Team (CAST - Child and Adolescent Stabilization Team) with Alberta Health Services. CAST has both been a pathway to psychiatry and community resources with the goal of avoiding an emergency room visit.
"The team has met with AHS members and the CAST team to facilitate ease of access for families reaching a crisis point," said Golby. "This wrap-around approach has been successful for families that were feeling a sense of hopelessness or desperation for high-level supports."
Meanwhile, the Behaviour Support Team has been building capacity throughout Red Deer Public in two main ways. Firstly, they work with Learning Teams (Teachers, Educational Assistants, Administrators and Principals) with a focus on identifying proactive supports and strategies to build capacity in the school team.
"As a large part of their work, the team will go in a teacher's classroom to model and trial strategies side-by-side with the teacher," said Golby. "One piece is to build skills with the teacher and/or school in order to target dysregulation and diminish the resulting anxiety in other students within the class."
The second way the team has been building capacity is through group professional development.
"Red Deer Public began implementing Student Support Rooms in our elementary and middle schools in fall of 2023. These rooms are part of a strategy to have a place for students to go when they need to regulate their emotions, display big behaviours, or to connect with an adult while maintaining dignity in a more private space," said Golby. "The Behaviour Support Team has been training the 18 Student Support Room teachers, primarily using Bruce Perry's Neurosequential Model of Education, Gordon Neufeld emotional playgrounds, and Martin Brokenleg's Circle of Courage. This professional development has been a great way to collaborate and support our teachers."
Moving forward, the team will continue to provide support where needed throughout Red Deer Public Schools, while building the capacity of staff, students and families.
