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Faculty of Graduate Studies

Sarah Matheson

  • BA (University of Victoria, 2017)

Notice of the Final Oral Examination for the Degree of Master of Arts

Topic

A Critical CYC Analysis of Child and Youth Mental Health Promotion in BC Schools: Moving Towards Collective Care

School of Child and Youth Care

Date & location

  • Wednesday, July 29, 2026

  • 10:00 A.M.

  • Clearihue Building

  • Room B021

Reviewers

Supervisory Committee

  • Dr. Jennifer White, School of Child and Youth Care, University of Victoria (Co-Supervisor)

  • Dr. Shemine Gulamhusein, School of Child and Youth Care, UVic (Unit Member) 

External Examiner

  • Dr. Breanna Lawrence, Department of Educational Psychology and Leadership Studies, University of Victoria

Chair of Oral Examination

  • Dr. Carmen Rodriguez de France, Department of Indigenous Education, UVic

     

Abstract

There is a research gap exploring the design and potential effects of provincial policy documents on school-based mental health promotion in British Columbia. Utilizing an innovative research design grounded in a critical Child and Youth Care (CYC) perspective, this study applies a two-step approach to a suite of provincial strategic plans: a qualitative descriptive analysis, followed by a critical policy analysis via Bacchi’s ‘What’s the Problem Represented to Be?’ (WPR) framework. This text-based analysis is guided by an integrated ecological and post structural theoretical lens to examine and interrogate how children and youth are constructed within policy discourse, how mental health promotion and mental illness prevention are conceptualized, and how these constructions may potentially affect school communities. The findings indicate that while the provincial policy suite heavily promotes a holistic, “whole school” approach to mental wellness, its solutions tend to center on individual child deficits and personal capacity building. By constructing student distress as an internal inadequacy, the text can inadvertently hide macro-level issues, such as systemic fragmentation and colonial inequities. Rather than treating mental health as an isolated medical issue, this study highlights the value of reframing mental wellness as the organic output of a shared, relational ecosystem. This research moves beyond individual resilience and offers a meaningful framework for considering how future school policies might be reshaped to foster collective, decolonial cultures of care and positive well-being for all children and youth in BC.

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