I believe that many acts of violence in the school community are actually brought out because of underlying mental health issues. To have safe schools is not only to be safe physically but mentally. This post will be focusing on the mental health of students because that is extremely important as well!
The following sites can help educate people on mental health and the health of youth in general, how that effects everyday life, and what to do. Being educated is always the first step.
http://www.cmha.ca/mental-health/
https://www.kidshelpphone.ca/teens/home/splash.aspx
http://www.brotalk.ca/
http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/parents/mentalHealth.html
Next, would be preventing the problems and issues from happening in the first place. Education is one very important factor but the importance of communication can not be neglected when it comes to prevention. Clear communication between school staff, to parents, to students is the best way to prevent acts of violence and other not-so-healthy acts such as bullying or self harm. There are services at my own school such as the guidance counselor or your teacher adviser that can help with these issues.
Next, action. When an issue is reported, it can not go without being resolved or at the very least addressed. When it is not resolved, their is a constant cycle which becomes harder and harder to break.
Lastly, evaluation. It is important to let the community know of the mistakes that led to certain incident and to learn from it. There can also be improvement in the prevention process. This can include services such as anonymous chat platforms at school, peer to peer help, or just simply MORE EDUCATION.
Safer schools is not something hard to achieve when we tackle it as a community. So c'mon Wolverines, it's time to break the mental health stigma, and along with it, decrease the amount of physical violence in the community. Our health is more important than our units. Check out this article to learn more about how you can help: http://ontario.cmha.ca/mental-health/mental-health-conditions/stigma-and-discrimination/
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