Preventative care is a forward-looking approach that emphasizes wellness for the mind, body, and heart. However, the downside to this is that it does not address the root causes of mental wellness issues. These are often tailored to the individual student’s needs and focus on stabilizing the situation at hand. When a student is struggling with acute anxiety or stress, short-term interventions like one-on-one counseling or crisis management are essential. Preventative care, on the other hand, involves strategies that aim to mitigate mental wellness challenges before they escalate. While these efforts are essential, they are often short-term and focused on addressing an immediate crisis rather than building emotional resilience or preventing future issues.
How to Excel Beyond K–12 Mental Health Awareness
- Everfi’s Health Literacy Curriculum empowers students to become advocates for their own health and financial wellness, helping them understand when and where to ask for help when making health care decisions.
- Therefore, it’s more important than ever for schools to continue to find ways to effectively provide students with opportunities to develop essential health and wellness skills.
- Sites with the Health Agency providing at least some mental health services reported more mental health screenings.
- These include academic performance, attendance, and overall school engagement.
Mindfulness is another excellent tool for supporting the mental health of students. One of the most important things you can do as a teacher is to open a dialogue about mental health with your students. That's why it's crucial for teachers to be proactive in supporting the mental health of their students. As they planned out the wellness center, Bailey and Tsamoutalidis wanted to avoid overwhelming the third and highest-need support tier, which provides access to outside mental health and social work services. “The few that we had were flooded,” Bailey said, adding that students across varying degrees of mental health needs were using these services. Our health lesson plans range in topics designed for preschool kids to elementary and middle school students.
Wellness policies can also address policies and practices before, during, and after school. If you need to speak with someone immediately call or text The Lifeline at 988. Amplifying the student voice through a free annual event, monthly workshops, and student rep program. “In our district in San Diego Unified, wellness is our number one priority, our number one goal.
Happify is your destination for effective solutions to better mental health based on real evidence, developed by scientists and experts. As SBHCs expand and move toward interconnected systems of care, further research is needed to study these systems' effects on children's health, mental health, and academic achievement. Second, although a broad set of service providers were interviewed, it was beyond the scope of this study to include parents and students. This District should continue to empower community members to be involved in Wellness Center quality improvement efforts, to help identify solutions that matter most to students and community members. As most youth served by SBHCs in the U.S. are ethnic minority and low-income students (20), engagement strategies such as those employed by the Wellness Centers (e.g., student and parent participation on advisory boards and committees) may prove especially useful in reducing access barriers. We found sociocultural factors and mental health stigma to be especially relevant to the communities served by these Wellness Centers.
Why School Belonging Matters
It's also a great way to get students moving their bodies and getting some exercise. Yoga has been shown to be beneficial for mental health, as it can help reduce stress and anxiety. This is a non-verbal way for students to share how they're doing without having to share their feelings out loud. At the beginning of class, have students choose an emoji that represents how they're feeling. Emoji check-ins are a great way to get a quick pulse on how your students are feeling. Just bringing up the topic is a great way Pennsylvania School Mental Health Resources to get to know your students and their individual needs.
The District is aware that certain scoreboards, signs, and other durable equipment it employs may market foods and beverages in a way that is inconsistent with the aims of this wellness policy. The foods and beverages that are available for sale at school-sponsored events outside of the school day will meet or exceed the USDA Smart Snack in School nutrition standards. This includes, but is not limited to, a la carte options in cafeterias, vending machines, school stores, and snack or food carts. The District will make drinking water available where school meals are served during meal times. In order to locate the training that best fits their learning needs, school nutrition personnel will refer to the USDA’s Professional Standards for School Nutrition Standards website.
Flexible mental health support for schools, in-person, on-campus.
When parents are more involved, they can intervene and offer encouragement in ways not always possible with a traditional school. How we care for those managing mental illness is a reflection of our society’s values, education, and compassion. The report discusses in-classroom support systems, support service coordination, and professional development resources for school staff members. School leaders are increasingly confronted with unprecedented levels of student stress. Monitor student progress with built-in assessments and automatic grading to save teachers’ time.
