Mental health classroom coming to Rocky

By Kaicheng Xin
Staff Reporter

In February, Rocky Mountain House will welcome a Child and Adolescent Services Association (CASA) Mental Health classroom to support children and teens facing mental health challenges. 

The classroom represents CASA’s innovative school-based mental health service model, developed in partnership with Alberta’s Ministry of Mental Health and Addiction, Ministry of Education and K-12 school divisions.

According to a recent release from CASA Mental Health, these classrooms have been established in response to the growing need for services closer to students. By bridging a child’s mental health needs with their educational requirements, the coordinated approach involves a dedicated mental health team and a teacher. The release emphasizes that providing services directly in schools eliminates the need for caregivers to schedule appointments and take time off work.

The new classrooms will be set up at West Central High School in Rocky for all students in the area. This expansion will bring the total number of CASA classrooms in Central Alberta to five, joining 17 others across the province.

“Once the new Central Alberta classrooms are operational, the program can provide up to 480 Alberta children and youth with much-needed services annually,” the release notes.

CASA, a non-profit organization, offers mental health services to Albertans up to age 18 and their families. The organization focuses on the “missing middle” — providing therapeutic and medical treatment for children and youth between primary and community prevention and promotion and acute treatment in hospitals.

Brad Volkman, superintendent of the Wild Rose School Division, expressed his enthusiasm for the upcoming classrooms, stating, “The opportunity to access critical mental health support within a classroom setting, located in their own school division, will be a huge benefit to our students and their families.”

MLA Jason Nixon also shared his excitement, stating that the classrooms will really help students in the community who are facing complex mental health issues while continuing their education. Nixon mentioned that the provincial government is currently working to bring the number of these classrooms to 60 across the province, though a timeline has not been shared.

Nixon was asked about media reports of funding cuts to three self-advocacy groups for people with intellectual disabilities and whether it shows a signal of a funding cut in the next year’s mental health budget. 

Nixon emphasized that there were no funding cuts for frontline disability services anywhere in the province as the provincial government is continuing to spend “record amounts of money in the Alberta provincial budget caring for individuals with disabilities.” 

He added that 50 per cent of the social services budget goes towards disabilities.