Page 10 | Spring 2022
Alumna envisions schools as environments o
In March 2022 , alumna and teacher Kiah Holness ( BEd ' 22 ) was honoured by Sask LEADS with an exceptional student award for being " an exemplary advocate for the well-being of Saskatchewan students ." Kiah says , " I truly cannot put into words the honour it was and is to be an award recipient . It was surreal to even be in the same room with such distinguished individuals in my career field and have the opportunity to network with them . It reaffirms to me that the work I have been doing and will continue to do in EDI and youth mental health matters ."
While a student with the University of Regina ' s Faculty of Education , Kiah served on the Education Students ' Society ( ESS ) Executive as Vice-President of Professional Development ( PD ). This position gave her opportunity to organize many professional development opportunities for her peers . Kiah describes these events as , " treasured memories ." Kiah says , " I was able to unlock my passion for equity , diversity , and inclusion ( EDI ), truth and reconciliation , and youth mental health . I loved the real / raw conversations that we had during PD events , and I loved connecting and collaborating with our hosts to create an enlightening experience ."
Kiah has not only a passion , but also a vision for the mental health of youth and EDI in Saskatchewan .
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While an Education student , she worked on an initiative to promote policy change in Saskatchewan K-12 schools around recognizing mental health as an excused absence . The idea came to Kiah after watching a TED Talk about a student in the United States who was able to get three mental health days per semester passed . Kiah says , " I thought , wow , to create tangible steps towards destigmatizing mental health is so amazing ! I wanted our schools to offer mental health days to students to destigmatize and target supports . Youth mental health and suicide rates are among the highest they ' ve ever been . We need to be sure we can offer the necessary care and supports at the schoolbased level ."
Kiah decided to run the idea by some favourite professors . She says , " I had taken a class with Dr . Nathalie Reid , director of the Child Trauma Research Centre , who is absolutely one of my favourite humans . I could tell we had the same values and priorities when it came to education . This mental health days idea was on the back of my mind ; I felt it was something I had to pursue , so one day I talked to her after class and I told her about my idea and asked her professional opinion and she was so on board . I ran it by Donna Nikiforuk , my field placement instructor , and she
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