Centre for Health Services and Policy Research

21 Arch Street, Third Floor

Queens University
Kingston, ON K7L 3N6

February 1, 2017

Re: Request for Participation in an Online Teacher Training Program to Support Teaching
about Mental Health in the Classroom

Dear Colleagues,

You are being invited to participate in a research study directed by Dr. Heather Stuart of Queens
University to evaluate the effectiveness of an online teacher training tool that will help teachers
implement three lesson plans to help students learn about mental health.

We are looking for engaged grade 7, grade 8, and grade 7/8 split teachers in your school board to
participate in a study examining the effectiveness of this online professional development
experience to support facilitating three lessons for students regarding mental health:
1. Creating public service announcements for mental health;
2. Authenticating mental health information online; and
3. Help-seeking.

The aim of this evaluation project is to support, guide and document the experience of teachers
as they develop the skills and resources to promote and discuss mental health among their
students. Interested parties will receive a letter of information explaining the project in detail.

Briefly, participants will:

Be assigned to a group of 20-30 teachers who will be guided by a mental health
professional and learning assistant;
Meet online each week for four weeks to engage in discussion, view existing resources
including a weekly webinar, identify existing knowledge, gaps, and potential challenges,
and develop lesson plans tailored to their students. The time commitment for professional
development activities will be approximately 1 hour per week for four weeks, which
includes both short online meetings and self-study; and
 Participate in two follow-up interviews to evaluate the effectiveness of the intervention.
The first interview will be held immediately following the facilitation of the lessons with
your students (April 2017), and the other near the end of the school year (June 2017).

Each interview will last one hour or less and will be conducted online or on the telephone at a
time convenient to the participants.

The deadline for registration is February 15, 2016. If you are interested in participating,
please e-mail us at heather.stuart@queensu.ca. We look forward to working with you.

Sincerely,

Dr. Heather Stuart

Professor, Department of Public Health Sciences,
Queens University,
Phone: 613-540-4767