The 2023-2024 School Year: a wealth of possibilities for Complementary and Compassionate Services
If you wanted one sentence to sum up all the work done by the CSS team (Complementary and Compassionate Services), it would be: this team strives to ensure access to quality education reflecting the diversity of our students.
In fact, such a summary does not actually do them justice, since the team also accompanies schools, offering a range of training programs to the entire school staff. This article is a survey of the highlights of the past school year.
To begin with, we haven’t been quite truthful: it is far too simplistic to summarize in a single sentence the colossal work accomplished by the CCS team. Their mission is to promote “inclusivity and well-being among the students by providing for each individual the services and support that will help them grow and learn and succeed in a secure and culturally relevant environment.” In addition, the organization of the team’s services is rooted in an approach known as trauma-informed practices.
Here are some examples…
We focus our concern on the child and foster cooperation among schools, families and communities. We provide training programs for the staff in our schools in order to develop local autonomy in the support services that are delivered to the students.
Psychosocial counselling and intervention in situations involving substance abuse
Student counsellors and student support professionals took part last year in a series of training sessions on intervention in substance abuse situations (from a culturally relevant perspective) given by the Nunavik Regional Board of Health and Social Services.
This training series is part of a much broader project involving the school board as a whole and whose purpose is to establish a “Psychoactive Substance Use Procedure on School Grounds.” This procedure, originating from a policy and plan adopted by the Council of Commissioners, will be piloted in three Nunavik communities over the course of the 2024-2025 school year.
We are placing the emphasis on prevention, specialized intervention and harm reduction. We want a safe environment that promotes growth and learning in our schools. Eventually, the procedure should be implemented in all KI schools between now and the 2025-2026 school year.
Special education
Over the past school year, the CCS team also offered a number of practical training sessions on designing individualized education plans (IEP). Under discussion, among other things, was the implementation of an IEP to ensure the inclusion of students with specific needs.
The individualized education plan is a tool for planning and communicating the concerted actions undertaken by all the school stakeholders. It is a collaborative approach ensuring that every student feels valued, confident and safe in the pursuit of developing their full potential.
Continuing training
To fill out the picture, the CCS team was responsible for continuing training throughout the year.
First is the remote training for remedial teachers in the three linguistic sectors, in the form of a “learning community.” These twice-monthly meetings served the dual purpose of disseminating information about the responsibilities and methods of remedial teaching, as well as creating a forum for teachers from various communities to be able to come together socially and have an opportunity to discuss their issues and experiences.
Next were the training sessions for special education and behaviour technicians. Working in partnership with Vanier College, the CCS team developed a range of certified training programs tailored to the realities that are specifically our own. The aim of these training programs is to bolster the sense of competence on the part of these people who play key roles in the goal of our most vulnerable students achieving success.
In short, the Complementary and Compassionate Services team was not idle, so to speak, during the 2023-2024 school year. What is your vision of what we can look forward to in the school year that is beginning?
