Two regional school boards and local child and youth mental health agencies have signed a new agreement aimed at improving access to mental health services for students across Sarnia-Lambton and Chatham-Kent.
The St. Clair Catholic District School Board and the Lambton Kent District School Board have partnered with Linck Child, Youth and Family Supports in Chatham-Kent and St. Clair Child and Youth Services in Sarnia under a new memorandum of agreement.
The agreement is aligned with the Ministry of Education’s Policy/Program Memorandum 169 and the province’s Right Time, Right Care initiative. Officials say it formalizes how school boards and child and youth mental health agencies will work together across a tiered continuum of services.
The partnership is intended to create a more coordinated, student-centred system of care by reducing barriers to services, improving access to supports and helping ensure students receive assistance more quickly. The agreement also outlines how information may be shared between organizations, with consent, to help families avoid navigating multiple disconnected services and to improve transitions between school-based supports and community mental health care.
The framework includes clear referral pathways between school mental health professionals and community agencies when students require services beyond what schools can provide. It also establishes standardized procedures for information sharing with consent, coordinated intake and triage through community partners and joint case management, including support for students returning to school after hospital-based mental health care.
“Strengthening our partnerships with Linck and St. Clair Child & Youth Services allows us to provide a truly responsive system of care,” said Jen Morrow, superintendent of education with the St. Clair Catholic District School Board. “Every day, we see how deeply student learning is tied to feeling safe, supported, and understood. This coordinated approach helps ensure that no child or family has to face their mental health challenges alone, and that help is there the moment they need it.”
Officials say the organizations will continue to work together through shared planning, annual mental health action plans and provincial reporting requirements as they build a coordinated system of support for children and youth across the region.
