While completing research for my MEd project, the article that spoke to me the most was one from Simon Fraser University through the Children’s Mental Health Research Quarterly called Children’s Mental Health: The Numbers and the Needs.
How does the mental health of children in B.C. connect to my project?
As part of my research, I looked into the experience of marginalized students in B.C. Students who are marginalized, and have disabilities or diverse abilities, are more likely to experience co-existing mental health issues compared to their peers and these have a huge impact on their ability to thrive in a standard school setting. Approximately 70% of mental health challenges emerge during childhood, with lifelong impacts (Representative for Children and Youth, 30, 2025). Approximately one in eight BC children are experiencing mental disorders at any given time, which means about 95,000 children in BC are experiencing mental disorders with symptoms that are “severe enough to substantially interfere with their ability to participate at home, at school and in the community” (Schwartz et al., 2022, p. 4). Research also shows that the five most common childhood disorders, which include overall anxiety, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), oppositional defiant and conduct disorders, and depression are much more common for children with neurodevelopmental conditions (Schwartz et al., 2023). See the figure below for an overview of the estimated prevalence of childhood mental disorders in B.C. and across Canada.
Estimated Prevalence of Childhood Mental Disorders, Adapted from Schwartz et al., 4, 2022
In B.C., data shows that existing mental health services only reach about “44% of all children with mental disorders” (Schwartz et al., 2023, p. 5). Students who need help are not receiving it and are often experiencing multiple layers of discrimination and exclusion based on their sexual orientation and/or gender identity, and disability (BCEd Access, 2023). The Representative for Children and Youth estimates that there are over 120,000 children and youth with disabilities in the province and that each year, between 55,000 and 83,000 children and youth with disabilities and their families are likely not receiving the publicly funded supports and services that they need through Ministries like Children and Family Development, Health, Education and Childcare, Housing, and others (Representative for Children and Youth, 2025). When students are not supported in many facets of their life, school is one place that they should feel comfortable, yet many continue to suffer. According to the Youth Development Instrument, which surveys youth in Grades 10 to 12 in B.C., 51% of the youth rated their mental health as poor or fair (Samji et al., 2023). Additionally, only 58% of youth feel like they belong in their school (Samji et al., 2023). School connectedness has been found to be related to improved academic outcomes and more (Foster et al., 2017), making it critically important to pay attention to why students are feeling a lack of belonging and to take measures to remedy the problems.
The Quarterly is created from research that is conducted through the Children’s Health Policy Centre, which an interdisciplinary research group in the Faculty of Health Sciences at Simon Fraser University that focuses on improving social and emotional wellbeing for all children, and on the public policies needed to reach this goal. Their work complements the mission of the Faculty of Health Sciences to advance the health of populations locally, nationally and globally. A sign up for the quarterly can be found on the SFU website, at https://childhealthpolicy.ca/.
Why does the mental health of children in B.C. matter to me?
As a mother of school aged kids, I see first hand the impact of anxiety disorders. I have noticed that many of my children’s friends struggle with anxiety and often talk about anxiety. All of the girls in the grade five class spend a lot of time on social media to communicate and this often turns into “drama” on the playground. I am worried about the impact of social media on their mental health. Globally, bullying is increasing faster for girls than for boys, and this continues to increase, which aligns with the higher vulnerability to cyberbullying for girls (UNESCO, 2024). There is a need for teachers to be paying attention to the students in their classroom in terms of their mental health needs. Not every parent has the resources at home to notice that their child has a mental disorder. Bullying between the girls is often something that we talk about as parents as we collectively scratch our heads about how to help and compare notes. We all talk about how anxious the girls are and how dependant they are on social media, even at the young age of 10. There is also a prevalence of family violence in my child’s friend group as families struggle to operate in a healthy way. Most parents are divorced, and the kids are stuck between very different households. Even though we live in the peaceful environment of the Gulf Islands there can be a lot of unrest amongst families here. There is also a lack of services for children and families, and those in need who live in this remote community can access the supports they need without significant travel. I would be curious to learn more about how levels of anxiety differ by region. If you are curious to read more, some of this information can be found in the Middle Years Data Instrument (MDI) Dashboard, a Province wide initiative that looks at the social-emotional health and wellbeing of children in 75% of school districts.
BCEd Access Society. (2023). Exclusion Tracker Report 2022-2023. Retrieved from
https://bcedaccess.com/exclusion-tracker/
Foster, C.E., Horwitz, A., Thomas, A., Opperman, K., Gipson, P., Burnside, A., et al. (2017) Connectedness
to family, school, peers, and community in socially vulnerable adolescents. Child Youth Serv Rev.
81:321-31. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0190740917301172
Representative for Children and Youth. (2025). Too Many Left Behind: Ensuring Children and Youth with
Disabilities Thrive. Retrieved from https://rcybc.ca/reports-and-publications/too-many-left-behind/
Samji, H., Maloney, J., Whitehead, J., Low, B., Lee, J., Herring, J., et al. (2023) Youth Development
Instrument (YDI) Provincial report 2022-2023. Burnaby, BC: Simon Fraser University Faculty of
Health Sciences, Capturing Health and Resilience Trajectories (CHART) lab; 2023 Nov. Retrieved from https://chartlab.ca/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/YDI-2022-2023-Provincial-Report_2023-11-21.pdf
Schwartz, C., Barican, J., Yung, D., Gray-Grant, D., Waddell, C. (2022). Children’s mental health: the
numbers and the needs. Child Mental Health Res Quart. 2022;16(2):1-15.
https://childhealthpolicy.ca/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/RQ-16-22-Spring.pdf.
UNESCO. (2024). Global Education Monitoring Report 2024/5: Leadership in Education – Lead for
Learning. Paris, UNESCO. Retrieved from https://www.unesco.org/gem-report/en
