The Government of Alberta has kickstarted Mental Health Week by announcing new funding for Mental Health resources at schools.

The funding will provide $5 Million in grant money through Alberta Health Services to hire more staff and offer more mental health programming for students.

Minister of Health and Deputy Premier Sarah Hoffman explains more about what this money will provide.

“This investment means new counselling staff and student mentors can be hired to work with kids and teens across our province. It means students and families will receive better access to early intervention and treatment services as they have dedicated supports right at school to help them connect with additional resources in their communities.”

Hoffman did not have details as to how many new staff this funding will hire but did say the resources are open to all interested schools in Alberta.

“I think there are needs in every community in every part of our province. We know that there have been some opportunities with larger districts to pool some resources, we think that that’s really important and we welcome them to submit applications as well as smaller districts. ”

Currently, Government funding for mental health services supports 37 mental health programs to around 65,00 students. The new funding will increase the number of programs and be able to help 100,000 students.

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