The Prince Albert Catholic School Division has been pleased with the results of the Mental Health Capacity Building (MHCB) pilot project at St. John Community School and St. Francis School.
In 2025, the division’s board of education voted in favour of extending the program into St. Francis School. Education Director Lorel Trumier said they were happy with the results.
“We’re very fortunate to be able to have this opportunity,” she said. “Some really good work is happening.”
Trumier said they want student to understand their faith is an important part of their well-being. However, she said the board also wants students to learn some mental health and well-being strategies.
The Saskatchewan Health Authority, Ministry of Education and Catholic Division signed the previous agreement. The program is now just a partnership between the Ministry of Education and the division.
The pilot program started at St. John Community School in September, 2022. The initiative operates 12 months a year and focuses on community outreach in the summer. As a core objective of the program is to build capacity, program locations change every three years to extend support to additional schools.
The MHCB was based out of St. John from 2022 until spring 2025. After it expanded to St. Francis capacity was reduced at St. John but it still continues to receive the support.
Trumier said the program has been booked full almost since the beginning.
Kara Quirion transitioned from the Wellness Promoter role to the Wellness Coordinator in 2025. Previous coordinator Regan Jacobson worked with both the Saskatchewan Rivers School Division and Catholic Division. Quirion transitioned to a full-time role with Allison Cote becoming the new Wellness Promoter. They continue in these roles for the new school year.
The Coordinator and Wellness Promoter are responsible for delivering mental health promotion and prevention programming, building capacity in other staff and supporting students by connecting them to community resources.
Trumier said the program is wonderful and has already done some excellent work at St. John.
The student regulation strategy at the school includes five steps: Mindful Moments, classroom check-ins, a reset station, direction to school supports and outside supports for students by administration.
The students are taught to understand their emotions in colour-coded zones. The green zone means everything is well, the blue zone means to begin monitoring, the yellow zone means that there may be a problem and the red zone is the emergency zone.
The reset station is in each classroom and is a regulation bin with tools to help students regulate and reset. If that does not work, they are encouraged to talk to a teacher.
Each classroom is also provided with toolkits. These include emergency numbers, mental health literacy and language, named emotions and strategies. The toolkits have colour-coded pages to match each of the zones and include guidance for each colour.
michael.oleksyn@paherald.sk.ca
