Making Mental Health a Priority 
We are pleased to share that our application for a Mental Health and wellness grant has been approved by Alberta Education. Ignite Centre for eLearning will participate in a two year pilot project that will run until December, 2024. We are looking forward to working with our two major partners, the Center for Trauma Informed Practice and Just Imagine Happiness, as well as all of our other partners who supported our application and who continue to support our ongoing work.
The grant will provide Ignite Centre for eLearning with the funds to upgrade our technology services that will enhance digital security and tools to help support students to success. In addition, the grant will provide teacher professional learning opportunities for:
- understanding student social, emotional learning needs post pandemic
- strategies for establishing healthy social emotional relations with students online and learning how to identify worrisome behaviors so intervention supports can be introduced
- violence threat risk assessment (VTRA) training
- project based learning and virtues education delivery in an online learning environment that creates healthy learning communities
- administering a safe and secure digital learning environment
The grant that we receive will give our students access to:
- psychological and counseling services
- Family School Liaison services, referrals and opportunities to meet face-to-face
- professional athletes in the virtual classroom modeling health and fitness
- Indigenous Elder supports
This grant will also allow us to hire supply teachers while our staff are engaged in professional learning. Further, we will be able to purchase a robust survey tool that will allow us to anonymously survey our parents and students regarding their mental health and wellness. to inform next steps needed for support and improvement. This information will help to inform next steps needed for support and will help us gauge the success of our strategies in improving overall mental health and wellness for our students..
Our Primary Partners
Our primary partners will be an important part of helping us develop a system-oriented model where relationships are as important as education and academic success for the mental health and wellbeing of our students and staff.
Our partnerships with the Center for Trauma Informed Practice and Just Imagine Happiness (social work, psychological and counseling services) will deepen awareness in the online teaching and leadership community and help establish online practice standards.
Center for Trauma Informed Practices
CTIP offers trauma-informed practice training for educators including Violence, Threat, Risk Assessment training for teachers and its application to online teaching and learning.
Just Imagine Happiness
Psychological, counseling and social work services: direct support for students and families, connecting them to local supports and services and access to mental health benefits for students who do not have access to support.
Other Key Partnerships
Ready in Five uses live movement experiences led by high performance athletes to prepare and inspire students to be at their best. These sessions are inclusive and tailored to the ages and needs of the students we work with. Our goal is to bring energy and wellness into online spaces, and increase the enjoyment, engagement, and wellbeing of participants. Students have the opportunity to interact live with top athletes, hearing amazing stories and important lessons.
The IntelliBoard platform highlights specific data points and sets of data that point to engagement (or lack thereof). These data points can include activities (forum data, assignment data, assessment data), completions, time spent on activity, course, or system, page views, comparisons within course, program or institution and many more within the LMS. These data points can be augmented by combining data from within the SIS, other external systems, virtual tools, spreadsheets, etc., to provide a holistic snapshot of engagement, potential engagement and potential performance at the individual, course, faculty, and institutional levels.
We are absolutely thrilled to begin this important work with our partners, stakeholders, and students and their families, and look forward to improved mental health and wellness outcomes for Ignite students. These improvements can only lead to better overall outcomes for our students.
