“If they can’t label it and they can’t ask for help, it will come out as a physical symptom. They will say, ‘I have a headache. My stomach’s really sore.'”

I’ve been working as a nurse practitioner in a Thunder Bay high school for about 13 years. I see the students for everything from throat and ear infections to rashes to sports injuries to mental-health issues. The students come from 19 remote communities in the North. Our high school has 150 students and over 40 per cent were struggling with addiction. We saw this through restlessness, absenteeism and the inability to concentrate and stay on task.  Read the rest of this article at The Globe and Mail…