It's Not Just a Phase

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According to tilleczek, Ferguson, Campbell and Lezeu (2014) "Growing income inequality and mental health challenges for young people have now been termed the millennium morbidity to signal the ongoing problematic link between poverty and mental health." Mental health is the most critical issue amongst young youths in relation to poverty at both a global and national level. "The World health organization (2008), for instance, is now squarely addressing the effects of income inequality on youth well-being in the last century, known as the new morbidity and characterized by emotional and social problems and learning difficulties." (tilleczek, Ferguson, Campbell and Lezeu, 2014). There are many connections being made between the inequality of growing incomes, to mental health, and physical health for young people, The term being used for these connections is the millennium morbidity.

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"The World health organization (2008) is calling for “an urgent need to scale up policies, interventions and investments” (p. 3) for child and youth mental health promotion and provision."(tilleczek, Ferguson, Campbell and Lezeu, 2014). As an educator I believe one of the most important things  within your classroom is to build relationships with your students, creating a trusting environment where you students feel comfortable to open up, discuss with you and ask you for help when they need it.
 I also believe it is important to be able to read your students reactions in order to determine if something changes with their personality, actions, attendance and etc. This is important in order for you as an educator to help your students with any problems they may be having by noticing a change in them and respectfully discussing/asking them about it. In relation to mental health noticing these changes can allow you to help them get the proper help so that they can become healthy again. I personally can empathize with students because I have lost someone important in my life to mental health and therefore helping students who have mental health issues is extremely important to me. I also understand that each individual deals with mental health differently. 
By knowing this I know the importance of listening to the individual to see how they feel and how they want to address the situation and then moving onto the next step from there (i.e. going and having a conversation with the guidance counsellor, the student and yourself). The image above shows the front page of A Shared Responsibility: Ontario’s Policy Framework for Child and Youth Mental Health (ontario ministry of children and youth services, 2006). This Framework states that 15% to 21% of children and youth (approximately 467,000 to 654,000) are affected by mental health disorders that cause significant symptoms or impairment and is a good document to help teachers with any questions they have about mental health for children and youth. Lastly, below is a video that discusses mental health into more detail and therefore will hopefully leave you with a better understanding about what mental illness is and the facts behind it. 

References

Tilleczek, K., Ferguson, M., Campbell, V., and Lezeu, K. E., (2014). Mental Health and Poverty in Young Lives: Intersections and Directions. Canadian Journal of Community Mental Health. 33(1). Retrieved from: https://lms.brocku.ca/access/content/group/EDUC8P02D01FW2016LEC001/Week%204%20-%20Language%2C%20SRI%2C%20Mental%20Health/Mental%20Health%20_%20Poverty%20_Tilleczek%20et%20al_.pdf