Getting Schooled on Mental Health

This week is Mental Illness Awareness Week, culminating in National Mental Health Day on Sunday, October 10. One of the benefits of social media has been increased advocacy—spreading the word about mental illness and opportunities to learn more, as well as supporting those who suffer, and finding out what more you can do to help. Check out NAMI for a roadmap of resources to get you started. Increased awareness decreases stigma, but that is only the start. We must fundamentally change the entire conversation—including how we talk to, educate, and support our children at school.

Schools are part of the mental health ecosystem

To meaningfully improve the mental health of our children and teens, we must include school as a key component of the ecosystem of mental health and illness. This task is daunting. It can’t be limited to the curriculum for kids and staff development, although those are critical. We must evaluate and evolve the entire culture at school. Effective leadership and modeling of inclusive and supportive policy, language, and action are essential at the classroom and district levels. Building an informed and de-stigmatized culture around mental health and illness gives children a safe and responsive environment to acknowledge their own needs and to respect the needs of others.

Schools and districts vary widely in their approach to mental health education and to responding to children with mental illness. In 2016, New York State passed the Mental Health in Education law, to ensure that all districts in the state are creating a Mental Health curriculum for all students, K-12, and supporting teachers and staff as they expand their skills for supporting students.

Only a few other states, including Virginia and Florida, have such a law, but New York’s is the most comprehensive, including all grades.

COVID's effects on mental health in children

The COVID pandemic disrupted New York’s goal of enforcing these requirements, and the irony is painful. It’s been well established that children and teens have experienced significant stressors in this public health crisis and the mental health needs of young people have expanded significantly. The need for mental health education, awareness, and support in schools has exploded but the structures for improving our approach are still under construction.

Fundamentals of school policies supporting the mental health of kids

What should you be looking for if you are trying to understand your school or district’s approach to mental health? Here are some basic core components that you might ask.

Adequate numbers of school nurses, social workers, and psychologists

For all students (not just those with special needs)

A fleshed-out policy for a curriculum that teaches about mental health as part of health

Age-appropriate content, such as kindergarteners learning to label emotions

Making sure time is protected for children and teens to participate

Protected time for staff development and support

Substantial training for teachers and guidance, with the time to participate

Training for everyone, anyone who sees or talks to kids at all

Established guidelines for supporting children with identified mental illness

Applying equal support for mental illness and physical illness

Policies for working with families and outside providers or agencies

Trauma-Informed Approach, the Culture of Compassion and Empathy

Integrated training around trauma’s impact on how children function at school

Cultivating a culture of respect and compassion for all children who are struggling

Focus on mental health in schools is critical

Mental illness is common in children, reported rates vary from 15 percent to 20 percent at any given time. The brain and central nervous system can be disrupted, varying in duration and severity. Mental illness is invisible, we can’t see the problem in the nervous system, we only observe the symptoms, which include disruptions in thought, emotion, and behavior. Because we can’t visualize the cause of these symptoms, we often interpret those kids as difficult or poorly behaved. But the risks for not treating mental illness in childhood and adolescence are high. If depression, for example, is not treated, the child is then at higher risk for more problems down the road—including physical illness and substance use.

Children and teens spend most of their day at school. We want kids to feel as comfortable speaking about emotional health as speaking about general health. Mental health is health, the brain and body are interconnected. We can support children in building skills for awareness of their mental health and ways to stay mentally healthy, as we do with physical health. For adults who work and interact with children at school, we can help them evolve strategies for increased awareness and communication about feelings and mental health. These building blocks can create a structure that protects and cares for all children’s mental well-being and safety.

Schools are rightly focused on completing educational tasks and goals. Mental health has often been considered outside the scope of a school’s mandates and practices. But the more we learn about kids’ brains the clearer it is that emotional, behavioral health and well-being are at the root of achieving those educational goals. We also now know that mental health challenges affect more children than previously thought, and even more in the last 18 months. We can’t separate mental health from educational access and success any more than we could imagine a child with a visible general health condition or disability succeeding at school without adaptation, accommodations, and support. Building well-defined and fully integrated systems for mental health awareness, education, and supports will save kids’ lives.