We see it every day: students who are repeatedly distracted, preoccupied, sad, angry, or disorganized, or who feel confused and hopeless. We realize that as educators we have the opportunity and the responsibility to help students thrive, flourish, feel hopeful, and become socially and emotionally responsive.
Addressing mental well-being in our classrooms can be a sensitive and even a controversial subject. That is why we hope Well Aware will help you to feel confident as you share important positive mental health information, strategies, and skills with your students through powerful literature and non-fiction texts.
The Well Aware series offers
Alison Acheson
A child develops mindfulness by creating a variety of lists about favourite and non-favourite things. Lists include “Things I Can’t Control” and “What I Am Thankful For.”
(Non-fiction–Report)
Mental Health Focus
Deborah Ellis
Characters in these plays discuss and learn about dealing with their emotions and consider some coping strategies.
(Fiction–Plays)
Mental Health Focus
Robert Cutting
Grandpa teaches Jake how the teachings of their Kanienkeha’ka culture support emotional well-being.
(Informational Fiction–Indigenous)
Mental Health Focus
Steve Pitt
Joseph makes friends with Doug Crawley at his new school. But why does Doug start avoiding Joseph? This story features a family coping with the stigma of mental illness, and learning that it’s more helpful to talk about their difficulties than to hide them.
(Realistic Fiction)
Mental Health Focus
Mahtab Narsimhan
Rina’s friendship with Trish is threatened by Trish’s threats and bullying. But Rina has no other friends at school. What can Rina do to survive with her self-esteem intact?
(Realistic Fiction)
Mental Health Focus
Kevin Sylvester and Teddy Katz
Canadian athletes discuss how they deal with stress and competition in their chosen sport.
(Non-fiction–Profile)
Mental Health Focus
Marty Chan
Swim-team member Katrien is obsessed with bettering her swim time. Katrien learns to deal with this stress in an effective manner after helpful discussions with her father and her friend Maya.
(Readers’ Theatre)
Mental Health Focus
Larry Loyie with Constance Brissenden
For many Indigenous peoples, the circle is an important symbol, signifying the connection of all things. Within the circle, within our communities, we feel connected to others, and we know we have somewhere to turn when we need help.
(Non-fiction–Information; Indigenous)
Mental Health Focus
Richard Van Camp and Steve Keewatin Sanderson
A stolen bicycle brings together two friends. Brody shows Trevor how Indigenous traditions and values can help him have respect and appreciation for what he has.
(Fiction–Graphic Novel; Indigenous)
Mental Health Focus
Kevin Sylvester and Laura Carlin
Profiles of Canadian figures in the arts, outlining how art works for them in various media to find self-expression and balance in their lives.
(Non-fiction–Biographies)
Mental Health Focus
Tanya Lloyd Kyi
A young girl struggles to respond to her grandmother, who is suffering from dementia. In the process, readers come to share the writer’s empathy for her grandmother and to appreciate the writer’s resilience in the face of seclusion.
(Non-fiction—Memoir)
Mental Health Focus
Deborah Ellis
Todd and his mother struggle to deal with some difficult changes in their lives. They leave their home because they are afraid of violence from a family member. Both gradually learn to cope with this stressful situation in their own way.
(Realistic Fiction)
Mental Health Focus
Jacqueline Guest
Changes in Kari’s life—a new school, strange city, and an unwell parent—are making her miserable. She makes a new friend, and the pair form a club to provide support for other new or lonely students at school.
(Realistic Fiction; Indigenous)
Mental Health Focus
Don Aker
Teri is exhibiting symptoms of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. Her father, who also has OCD, lets her know that her symptoms can be managed with professional help.
(Realistic Fiction)
Mental Health Focus
Rukhsana Khan
A young Muslim immigrant to Canada explores his feeling of exclusion following a series of terrorist attacks reported on the news, and his sense of fulfillment when he realizes that his friends accept him as himself, and not as a stereotype.
(Free Verse Poetry)
Mental Health Focus
Rosemary Sadlier
In this autobiography, Rosemary Sadlier describes her sense of isolation growing up as the only African Canadian child in her school, and distinguished by being “the only one” in several other ways.
(Non-fiction–Memoir)
Mental Health Focus
Richard Van Camp
Darcy writes letters from a group home to the victim of his bullying. Through his writing, he comes to understand how he can break his cycle of destructive behaviour and bullying.
(Realistic Fiction; Indigenous)
Mental Health Focus
Marty Chan
Tanner is in crisis. The son of a super villain, this criminal mastermind-in-training feels isolated at school, because he can’t reveal the family business nor can he talk to anyone about his crippling anxiety.
(Fiction–Satire)
Mental Health Focus
Clem Martini
Illustrations by Olivier Martini
Clem Martini recounts the diagnosis of his brother Olivier as schizophrenic, exploring the difficulties for the whole family, and the lessons learned as Olivier found treatment and support.
(Non-fiction–Memoir)
Mental Health Focus
Alicia Raimundo with Deborah Ellis
Alicia Raimundo is a mental health advocate, working mainly with young people. This story traces her experiences in a psychiatric ward after a suicide attempt, as she recovers physically and emotionally.
(Non-fiction–Memoir)
Mental Health Focus
The teacher’s resources tie current, relevant, and positive mental health strategies to your existing literacy curriculum with a range of practical options. Each teacher’s resource features ideas for supporting critical thinking, oral language, and other literacy strategies, with prompts and tips to help teachers feel comfortable facilitating conversations generated by the student materials. Each resource also includes information on how to establish an atmosphere of safety in which students feel comfortable discussing sensitive issues.
The goal is to provide
These comprehensive resources include
Invitations to Learning
The Invitations to Learning provide you with a menu of ideas and strategies from which to choose so you can connect the student texts to learning about mental health and a variety of curriculum areas.
We have endeavoured to appeal to the needs, interests, learning styles, and abilities of you and your students. However, it is not expected that all activities will be covered in all situations or with all students. You know your students and their strengths best, so you can determine which ideas to pursue and the amount of time you would like to devote to each.
Learn more about the Invitations to Learning