Let's talk about mental health in the classroom

This week, we share a clip from the latest episode of the Courage My Friends podcast series.  In this episode, host Resh Budhu sat down with author and storyteller Carolyn Roberts, dean of the Centre for Preparatory and Liberal Studies at George Brown College, Susan Toews, and director of Student Well-Being and Support at George Brown College, Alex Irwin to discuss this year's upcoming Mental Health Conference. This year's conference theme is Thriving Together in the Classroom: Creating the Conditions for Student Well-Being.  About our guests Carolyn Roberts uses her voice to support Indigenous resurgence through education. She is a St'at'imc and Sto:lo woman belonging to the Thevarge family from N'quatqua Nation and the Kelly Family from the Tzeachten Nation and under the Indian Act she is a member of the Squamish Nation. Carolyn is a speaker, author, Indigenous academic, and a faculty member in UBC Teacher Education and NITEP programs. She has been an educator and administrator for over 20 years in the K-12 system. Carolyn's work is grounded in educating about Indigenous people and the decolonization of the education system. She works with pre-service teachers to help build their understandings in Indigenous history, education, and ancestral ways of knowing, to create a brighter future for all Indigenous people and the seven generations yet to come. She is also the author of Re-Storying Education: Decolonizing Your Practice Using a Critical Lens (2024).  Alex Irwin is an accomplished educator with broad experience managing people and projects and developing innovative education programming for a wide range of students, both domestically and overseas. He is director of Student Well-Being and Support at George Brown College, where he oversees counselling, accessible learning services, deaf and hard of hearing services, and the college's peer wellness programming. He is also a clinical social worker, with a history of working at community-based mental health and treatment centres. Susan Toews has over 35 years of experience in education, with the last 18 years of her career at George Brown College, where she has served in leadership positions in both academic roles and service areas. She is currently the Dean, Centre for Preparatory and Liberal Studies. Susan is a strong advocate for a whole campus/whole student approach to student mental health and believes in the wide application of Universal Design for Learning, as it provides guidance for creating accessible, inclusive and engaging student-centered learning opportunities – critical to student well-being. Susan holds an M.Ed. from OISE/University of Toronto and, as a committed lifelong learner, continually engages in professional development in education, including graduating from UBC's Organizational Coaching program in 2024. For online registration, conference fees and information about the February 27, 2025 conference, please click this link.  Listen to the full episode here, on Needs No Introduction – home of the Courage My Friends podcast series.  If you like the show please consider subscribing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you find your podcasts. And please, rate, review, share rabble radio with your friends — it takes two seconds to support independent media like rabble. Follow us on social media across channels @rabbleca.