Mental Health Blog

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School-Based Suicide Prevention Plans: What Works

The death of a young person by any means is tragic, but a death by suicide has far-reaching effects on surviving family members and on both the school and the larger community. Schools are uniquely positioned to address the crisis of youth suicide and are vital for effective suicide prevention in schools because students spend the bulk of their days in school. As such, schools are critical spaces for early identification, intervention, and prevention.

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Will to Wellness

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mental health awareness in schools

June 27, 2024

Step 4 – Building Mental Health Awareness in Schools

As the youth mental health crisis rages on, educators and policymakers must take quick and definitive steps to raise awareness of mental health issues in our schools, our homes, and our communities.
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June 20, 2023

Step 3: Data-Driven Systems for Mental Health Programs in Schools

Mental health in schools is a domain where the capture of progress monitoring data has traditionally lagged, with qualitative descriptions of student progress being more common than quantitative measures.

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behavior intervention strategies

March 27, 2025

Six Effective School-Based Behavior Intervention Strategies

If teachers only had to concern themselves with finding engaging ways to present curriculum content and to vary it to address different learning styles, their daily activities in the classroom would be relatively straightforward. But in today’s schools, teachers increasingly must navigate children’s challenging behaviors and mental health concerns if they have any chance of imparting academic skills and knowledge.
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eating disorders in boys

February 28, 2025

Understanding Eating Disorders in Boys

The well-known eating disorders (EDs), such as bulimia nervosa, anorexia nervosa, and binge-eating disorder, are more commonly associated with females. However, males are increasingly affected, with studies showing that 1 in 3 people diagnosed with an eating disorder are male. Yet, because the disorder often goes undiagnosed, many boys suffer in silence.
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teacher support

February 14, 2025

Teacher Support: Mental Health and Retention

There are many strategies schools can use to support teachers’ mental health both in and out of the classroom; however, one in particular stands out as an effective and engaging tool for retaining quality teachers: professional development.
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restorative justice approach

January 31, 2025

Suspension Re-Entry Protocols: A Restorative Justice Approach to Discipline

If children and teenagers already had well developed skills in self-regulation, in interpersonal effectiveness, and in decision-making there would be little need for schools and educators. While the delivery of academic content is critical, of course, it is lessons about how to be a healthy human living productively amongst other humans that defines the overarching mission of our schools.
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teacher retention

January 23, 2025

Teacher Retention in Schools

Understanding the factors influencing a teacher’s decision to leave their role is critical to developing an effective retention strategy. Although compensation is cited most often as a primary reason teachers leave their positions or seek new opportunities, feeling heard, along with recognition and various other factors, plays a role in a teacher’s decision to either stay or leave.
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SAD in teens

January 17, 2025

SAD in Teens: Understanding Seasonal Affective Disorder

SAD and other forms of depression can negatively impact all three of these developmental areas. Depressive symptoms affect energy, motivation, memory, and focus – all necessary for academic achievement. They can lead to “hibernating” and other forms of social withdrawal that affect both the quality of friendships and participation in activities that develop teamwork and the ability to navigate relationships with different types of people. And, perhaps most damaging of all, depression impacts one’s sense of self.
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Learn more about Funding Sustainable School-Based Mental Health Programs

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Our Unwavering Focus on Data Collection

At ESS, we have an unrelenting focus on data, measuring results, and communicating to our partners the proven impact our programming has on mental health, school outcomes and financial sustainability.

With every ESS partner, we will:

• Set data driven goals at the beginning of every implementation

• Have regular “Report Card” meetings in which we share the impact of ESS services

• Monitor data along the way to look for potential risk areas so that these can be proactively addressed

Learn more about our Will to Wellness 6 Step Framework

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