Fourth Edition, September 2011

“James, I’ve noticed that you seem quieter and more withdrawn than usual. Is this only 
happening in this class, or are you having similar diffi
culties in other classes?”
Or something like:
“Alice, you’ve been blurting things out in class, and are having diffi
culty paying attention 
since you came into this class last semester. Do you have this diffi
culty in other classes?”
Both of these statements focus on the behaviour you have noticed, and invite the student to refl ect on 
whether they have this problem in other settings.
If the student acknowledges they are experiencing a problem, then you may want to arrange a meeting 
with the student, their parents, and school resources that can help them with that problem.
Sometimes a student may acknowledge they have a problem, and are already seeing a 
counsellor or therapist about it. You might want to ask something like:
“Charles, what sort of things can we do in the classroom to help you manage this behaviour?”

---

Making a Diff erence: An Educators’ Guide to Child and Youth Mental Health Problems
www.cymhin.ca
K 6
Talking about Mental Health Problems
Sharing Information
Sharing information about health problems is governed by a diff erent set of rules than sharing informa-
tion about educational matters. When a student has a mental health problem that aff ects their school-
work, then the rules around sharing information can be quite complex.
Often it is helpful to have a conversation about the limits of confi dentiality, before you get 
into the conversation. You might want to say something like this:
“I can keep this conversation confi dential, unless you share information that you are 
pregnant, are being abused, or are likely to harm yourself or someone else. In those