School Health
Health promotion staff known as healthy living facilitators work with schools and school divisions to support healthy school communities. Facilitators work on primary prevention initiatives including analysis of issues and using evidence-informed approaches in health promotion.
Public health nurses also provide support to schools by connecting you to other Southern Health-Santé Sud community resources. Schools are invited to connect with a public health nurse for current information on a variety of health-related topics such as substance use, healthy relationships, positive well-being, reproductive health, communicable disease and sexually transmitted infections. Dependent on the needs identified by the school community, the public health nurse may spend time at the school on a regular basis to enhance access to health information and services to the students. Public health nurses also provide the provincial immunization school-based program in schools.
Supporting students
One-on-one health counseling is also available for students through a self-referral, referral from a school guidance counsellor or teacher. If you are a student, you are welcome to contact a public health nurse directly to arrange a confidential discussion in which case parental permission or consent is not required. If applicable, the public health nurse may refer you to another health care provider such as Mental Health and Addictions. We are here to support you.