Back to School: Building the Conditions for Youth Resilience

At Helix, we think a lot about youth resilience — and particularly about what helps young people navigate periods of transition. Going back to school is one of those transitions.

Resilience is sometimes described as an individual quality: the ability to bounce back, persevere or cope when things are difficult. But young people don’t develop resilience in isolation. Their ability to manage challenges is shaped by the people, relationships, resources and systems around them.

As students across Ontario return to school, here are five things we think are worth keeping in mind.

1. Start with belonging

Before students can fully engage in learning, they need to feel that there is a place for them at school.

That can come from a relationship with a teacher, a friend who notices when they aren’t there, a coach, a club, a guidance counsellor or simply an adult who knows their name.

School Mental Health Ontario identifies connectedness and belonging as important features of mentally healthy schools, alongside recognizing the different cultures, identities, strengths and lived experiences students bring with them.

For schools and organizations working with young people, a useful question at the beginning of the year isn’t only Are students attending? It is also: Do they feel like they belong when they get there?

2. Look behind disengagement

This question may be especially important in Ontario this year.

Beginning in the 2026–27 school year, attendance and participation will make up 15% of final grades for students in Grades 9 and 10 and 10% for students in Grades 11 and 12. Excused absences will not negatively affect a student’s mark.

Regular attendance matters. But when a young person is repeatedly absent, late or disengaged, it is also important to ask why.

Mental health challenges, caregiving responsibilities, housing instability, bullying, family responsibilities, transportation, financial pressures and feeling disconnected from school can all affect a student’s ability to participate consistently.

A resilience-focused response looks beyond the behaviour itself. Instead of beginning with What’s wrong with this student?, we can ask: What is getting in the way, and what would make participation easier?

3. Remember that basic needs affect learning

It is difficult to concentrate on algebra when you’re hungry. It’s difficult to finish homework without a stable place to sleep. And it’s difficult to worry about next week’s test when there are much bigger problems happening at home.

Ontario’s Student Nutrition Program provides breakfasts, lunches and snacks through schools and community locations, with the explicit goals of supporting learning and helping students feel a sense of belonging at school.

This is an important reminder that educational success isn’t only about what happens in the classroom.

Supporting resilient students also means paying attention to food security, housing, mental health, transportation, family circumstances and access to community services. These aren’t separate from education. They shape a young person’s capacity to learn.

4. Create space for connection — including offline connection

Ontario students are also returning to schools with province-wide restrictions on cellphone use. Students in Grade 6 and below generally cannot use mobile devices during the school day, while students in Grades 7–12 must keep them away during instructional time, with exceptions for learning, medical and special education needs.

There are good reasons to think about the role technology plays in young people’s lives. But taking phones away doesn’t automatically create connection.

Schools and communities also need to create the conditions that make young people want to connect: welcoming spaces, extracurricular opportunities, sports, arts, mentoring, peer networks and opportunities for young people to contribute to their communities.

Resilience grows through relationships.

5. Ask young people what they need

Perhaps most importantly, we need to resist assuming that adults already know what will make the school year better.

Young people are experts in their own experiences. They can tell us where the pressures are, what makes them feel supported, why particular services aren’t working and what would make their schools and communities easier to navigate.

That doesn’t mean placing the responsibility for solving systemic problems on young people. It means ensuring they have meaningful opportunities to influence decisions that affect them — and showing them what happened as a result of their input.

At Helix, we believe youth participation is part of building better systems for young people, not an optional extra.

Resilience is something we build together

As a new school year begins, there will inevitably be conversations about achievement, attendance, grades and preparing young people for the future.

Those things matter.

But so do belonging, relationships, stability, safety and having someone to turn to when things aren’t going well.

If we want resilient young people, we can’t simply ask them to become better at overcoming adversity. We need to build schools, communities and systems that give them the support and opportunities they need to navigate it.

That’s something all of us — families, educators, community organizations, funders and policymakers — can contribute to this school year.