Teacher Help: Novel technologies for meeting the immediate needs of youth with mental health disorders in Canada

Today, teachers are increasingly faced with classrooms of students whose needs require support far beyond what traditional teacher-training programs prepare educators to provide. The presence of students with greater challenges in classrooms is due in part to the move to a full inclusion model of education and also to the rising epidemic of mental health disorders in youth. Teacher Help is a web-based program that assists teachers in providing evidence-based interventions to students with mental health disorders in the classroom. The program allows teachers to access information and expert-coach and peer support when they need it, so they can intervene early in order to reduce the negative consequences of mental health disorders in youth. Teacher Help consists of a suite of online learning modules that incorporate peer and expert-coach support. Currently three modules (Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder [ADHD], Specific Learning Disorder [SLD], and Autism Spectrum Disorder [ASD]) are at different stages in the innovation pipeline. The ADHD module has been tested at the randomized controlled trial stage, the SLD module has had usability testing, and the ASD module is in the development stage. eHIPP will allow the research team and our industry partner (Velsoft), with our key knowledge user (Nova Scotia Department of Education and Early Childhood Development) to develop, evaluate, and commercialize a sustainable eHealth resource for teachers. This will enable them to provide flexible and comprehensive evidence-based interventions to students in the classroom, thus improving youth health outcomes in a cost-efficient manner and thereby reducing burden on the health-care system. Teacher Help is the first and only research-validated eHealth program directly targeting teachers to help them intervene with youth who have mental health disorders, thus allowing Canada to take a lead in eHealth as applied to a school context.