Educating Students about Drug Use and Mental Health - Grades 1 to 8: Parent Letter

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Date

Dear Parents/Guardians:

Soon, your child’s Grade  XX class will begin a unit on Substance Use and Abuse. Sometimes parents are concerned about this and wonder if there is a problem in the school. This is not the case. Just so you know, teaching Substance Use and Abuse is now part of the Health and Physical Education Curriculum from Grades 1-10. The lesson plans have been developed by staff from the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in partnership with OPHEA (Ontario Physical and Health Educators Association). In addition, over 30 Educators and Health partners from across the province contributed input to the process to ensure high quality and relevant learning content for your child.

The rationale from the Ministry of Education for including these important lessons on Substance Use and Abuse is: 

“By using problem-solving, decision-making, refusal and assertiveness skills effectively, learners can select healthy drug-free behaviours based on accurate information." (The Ontario Curriculum Grades 1-8, Health and Physical Education, Ontario Ministry of Education, 1998).

Next week, in Grade XX,  we will be covering: (insert overall and specific expectations here)

I am pleased to offer the Substance Use and Abuse education to your child.  If you have any questions about this unit, please contact me at (insert contact info). 

Sincerely,

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