WITS Program

The Fort McMurray Public School Division - Mental Health Supports/WITS Program

• WITS unites community-based emergency service professionals, school staff, older students and parents to speak with one voice to help young children deal with peer conflict and victimization. 
• It requires committed champions in both the community and schools to start up and to be sustained.  
• 2 components of the program:
• Wits Primary Program (k-3) “Walk away, Ignore, Talk it out, and Seek help”
• Wits Leads Program (4-6) “Look & Listen, Explore point of view, Act, Did it work? And Seek help”\Community Partners are involved throughout the school year
• Opening assemblies
• Bi-monthly classroom check-ins/book readings

The WITS program has been designed to create responsive communities for the prevention of peer victimization.

It is an acronym that stands for:

W=Walk Away

I=Ignore

T=Talk it out

S=Seek Help

WITS seeks to make cultural changes to how we view peer victimization and bullying. We don’t “fix” kids, we change the culture The focus is on peer conflict - preventing bullying and victimization through the empowerment of bystanders and witnesses These expand beyond the students to support staff and the surrounding community - this is why we need YOU!