Leslie Crowe 
Moods shift when May approaches, as rigid schedules filled with alarm clocks, bells and packed agendas are finally coming to an end. To ensure a safe, supportive and mentally healthy season, schools and families should work together to establish a summer safety plan for students that continues to provide much-needed structure and resources for families to promote a sense of wellbeing and stability for the student.
The mere mention of the words “middle school” can be enough to send chills up the spines of educators, parents, and students. The middle school years are widely recognized as a time when chaos can ensue because of the intersection of hormonal changes, increased academic demands, and a growing orientation toward peer relationships instead of family relationships. It is also the time when certain neurodevelopmental, mental health, or medical symptoms might manifest for the first time or worsen due to both brain and biological maturation.
In October 2021, when former U.S. Surgeon General, Vivek Murthy declared youth mental health the “crisis of our time,” something shifted in the hearts and minds of educators across the country. Educators and parents knew it was happening; they could see the mental health of their children and teens worsening in their homes and classrooms. They read stories in the news that teen anxiety, depression and suicide were rampant and exposure to social media and gun violence was making matters worse.
Shaping children into the student role and managing behavior in the classroom have always been important parts of a teacher’s job. Historically these tasks have been challenging enough considering that all students in the same grade level are not equally mature, some are struggling with neurodevelopmental and/or mental health issues, and each have been raised within specific family and cultural contexts that shape behavioral expectations.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Complete this form to schedule a free mental health planning session where we will discuss available financial sources you can leverage to fund school-based mental health programs in your district.
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
Complete this form to discuss best practices for districts, states, and federal policymakers that will reinvent mental health in schools over the next five years.
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