Grade by Grade
C. Healthy Living · Healthy Living: Choices, Connections and Well-Being

Feeling Well: Factors That Enhance Mental Health and Emotional and Spiritual Well-Being

C1.1 1.1 1.2About 65 minutes
Learning goals
  • I can explain what mental health, emotional well-being and spiritual well-being mean.
  • I can describe factors that enhance mental health and emotional and spiritual well-being.
  • I can explain that mental health and mental illness are related but different.
  • I can build a personal well-being plan using protective factors.

Words to know

mental health
Our ability to think, feel and act in ways that let us enjoy life, cope with challenges and connect with others. Everyone has mental health.
mental illness
A health condition that changes a person's thinking, feelings or behaviour and causes distress or trouble functioning; it can be diagnosed and treated.
emotional well-being
Being able to notice, understand, express and manage your feelings.
spiritual well-being
A sense of meaning, purpose, values and connection to something bigger than yourself, such as community, nature, culture or faith.
protective factor
Something that strengthens well-being and lowers the chance of harm.
self-monitoring
Checking in on your own thoughts, feelings and habits so you notice changes early.

A note before you start

This lesson deals with a serious topic. Go at your own pace and take a break if you need one. If anything in it connects to something hard in your own life, talk to a trusted adult, or reach out to Kids Help Phone (call 1-800-668-6868 or text CONNECT to 686868, 24/7, free and confidential) or the 9-8-8 Suicide Crisis Helpline (call or text 9-8-8, 24/7). In an emergency, call 911.

Not just the absence of illness

When people hear "mental health", they often think of illness. But mental health is something everyone has, every day, like physical health. You can do things to build it up, the way training builds fitness.

The Grade 10 curriculum asks you to demonstrate an understanding of factors that enhance mental health and emotional and spiritual well-being (C1.1).

Remember from Grade 9

In Grade 9 you learned to tell normal stress from warning signs of a mental health concern, built a coping toolbox, learned how to get help for yourself or a friend, and studied resilience and protective factors. This lesson goes upstream: what builds well-being so you are stronger before problems start.

Three connected parts

  • Mental health: how you think, cope, learn and connect.
  • Emotional well-being: naming and managing feelings, and bouncing back after disappointment.
  • Spiritual well-being: a sense of meaning, purpose and connection: your values, what matters to you, your culture, community, nature and, for some people, faith. For many First Nations, Métis and Inuit people, well-being is understood holistically, connecting spirit, mind, emotions and body with family, community and the land.

They affect each other. Feeling a sense of purpose (spiritual) helps you cope with stress (mental) and manage frustration (emotional).

Mental health moves along a continuumThrivingcalm, energetic,enjoying lifeCopingsome stress orworry, managingStrugglingstress hangs on,sleep or mood offUnwellhard to get throughthe day: get helpPeople move in both directions. Protective factors help you move back toward thriving.
Mental health changes over time. Most people move back and forth; noticing where you are helps you act early.

Mental health and mental illness are different

A person without a mental illness can still have poor mental health for a while (for example, during a stressful family situation). A person with a diagnosed mental illness, such as an anxiety disorder, can have good mental health when it is well managed with treatment and support. So well-being skills help everyone, and treatment and support help people with an illness live well.

Factors that enhance well-being

  • Body basics: sleep (8 to 10 hours for ages 14 to 17), daily physical activity, regular meals, time outdoors, limits on screens before bed.
  • Connection: caring relationships with family, friends, teachers, coaches, Elders or faith leaders; belonging to a team, club or community.
  • Emotional skills: naming feelings, healthy ways to express them (talking, journaling, art, music), self-compassion.
  • Thinking skills: realistic self-talk, problem solving, breaking big tasks into steps, managing time.
  • Meaning and purpose: living by your values, setting goals, helping others or volunteering, learning about your culture, gratitude.
  • Safe, supportive environments: schools free of bullying and discrimination, a safe home, access to help.
  • Asking for help early: talking to someone before stress builds up is a strength, not a weakness.
Factors thatenhance well-beingSleep8 to 10 hoursMovingdaily activityEating wellregular mealsConnectionfamily, friends,communityPurposevalues, goals,helpingNature and landtime outdoorsCoping skillsbreathing, problemsolvingAsking for helpearly, often
Eight protective factors you can strengthen. Each one supports the others.

Where to get help

  • A trusted adult: parent or caregiver, teacher, coach, school counsellor or social worker, your doctor or nurse practitioner.
  • Kids Help Phone: call 1-800-668-6868 or text CONNECT to 686868 (24/7).
  • 9-8-8 Suicide Crisis Helpline: call or text 9-8-8 (24/7).
  • Hope for Wellness Help Line (for all Indigenous peoples in Canada): 1-855-242-3310 (24/7).
  • 911 in an emergency.
Worked example

Let's map Leila's protective factors

Leila, 15, says: "Since I quit dance I'm on my phone until 1 a.m., I eat lunch alone, and I feel kind of empty. Nothing's really wrong, I'm just flat." Which factors could enhance her well-being?

  1. Self-monitoring: Leila noticed a change ("flat", "empty"). That's the first skill. She's likely on the coping-to-struggling part of the continuum.
  2. Body basics: late-night phone use cuts her sleep. A phone-off time and charging it outside her room could help.
  3. Movement and connection: quitting dance removed exercise and a team. A new activity (a rec soccer team, a dance club, walking with a friend) could restore both.
  4. Purpose: volunteering, a creative project or a goal could bring back a sense of meaning.
  5. Help: talking to a parent or school counsellor about feeling flat, and seeing a doctor if it lasts two weeks or more or gets worse.

Several small changes in sleep, movement, connection and purpose can move Leila back toward thriving, and she knows where to go if she doesn't improve.

Worked example

Let's explain spiritual well-being without religion

Sam says, "I'm not religious, so spiritual well-being doesn't apply to me." Respond.

  1. Spiritual well-being is about meaning, purpose, values and connection.
  2. For some people that includes faith; for others it is nature, music, culture, family traditions, helping others or a cause they care about.
  3. Examples for Sam: hiking in a provincial park, volunteering at a food bank, learning his family's history.

Spiritual well-being applies to everyone, religious or not. It's about what gives your life meaning.

Hands-on activity

My well-being plan

You need: paper or a notes app.

  1. Draw the continuum (thriving, coping, struggling, unwell) and mark where you've been this week. (Private; you don't have to share.)
  2. For each of the eight factors in the diagram, rate yourself: strong, okay, or needs work.
  3. Choose two factors to strengthen and write one specific action for each ("Phone charges in the kitchen at 10 p.m.", "Join the Tuesday running club").
  4. Write the names of two people you can talk to, plus Kids Help Phone.
  5. Check in with yourself in one week.

What to look for: honest self-ratings, specific actions, and a real support list.

Your turn

1

What is the difference between mental health and mental illness?

2

Can a person with a mental illness have good mental health? Explain.

3

What is spiritual well-being?

4

Name four factors that enhance mental health.

5

What are the four points on the continuum used in this lesson?

6

Why is asking for help early a protective factor?

More practice: warm-up

1

Does everyone have mental health?

2

Name one way to support emotional well-being.

3

How many hours of sleep do 14- to 17-year-olds need?

4

What's the Kids Help Phone text option?

5

Name one way to build connection.

More practice: on your own

1

Explain how physical activity can enhance mental and emotional well-being.

2

How can volunteering support spiritual well-being?

3

A friend says, "Needing help means you're weak." Respond with what you learned.

4

Explain how late-night screen use can affect mental health.

5

Why is a school free of bullying and discrimination a factor in students' mental health?

Challenge

1

Explain how the mental, emotional and spiritual parts of well-being connect, with an example.

2

Design a one-week "well-being challenge" for your class that includes at least four protective factors, and explain how you'd keep it inclusive.

3

Leila's "flat" feeling has lasted three weeks, and she has stopped enjoying anything. What should she and her friends do?

Check your understanding

Quiz

1.

Which statement is true?

2.

Spiritual well-being is mainly about...

3.

Which is a factor that enhances mental health?

4.

A person with a well-managed anxiety disorder...

5.

Low mood that lasts two weeks or more and stops you enjoying things is a reason to...

6.

Which number can you call or text 24/7 in a suicide crisis in Canada?

For parents and teachers

About this content: This lesson covers a sensitive topic, so it opens with a short note and helplines, and has no humour block. Read it with your teen if you can, and let them know they can come to you with questions without getting in trouble.

Big idea: C1.1: demonstrate an understanding of factors that enhance mental health and emotional and spiritual well-being. The lesson builds self-awareness and self-monitoring (Living Skill 1.1) and coping skills (1.2).

How to help at home: protect sleep (phones charging outside bedrooms), make room for activity and time outdoors, and ask open questions ("What's been the best and hardest part of your week?"). Model asking for help yourself.

When to get help: if your teen's mood, sleep, eating or interest in activities changes for two weeks or more, or school and friendships suffer, talk to your family doctor or the school counsellor. If they mention suicide, call or text 9-8-8 or 911.

Common difficulties: confusing mental health with mental illness; thinking spiritual well-being only means religion. The well-being plan is private; respect that.