The NC Center for Resilience and Learning is a whole school, whole child framework working with districts and schools across the state to create trauma-informed learning environments that are safer and more supportive for ALL students. Check out their Resource page for online courses, worksheets, and additional tools for your school’s resilience toolbox.
Teacher resilience in a pandemic is a timely topic for America’s superintendents. This literature review focuses on teacher resilience and retention, with relevance for building resilient school cultures. The question guiding analysis of studies was, “What factors and processes contribute to teacher resilience and the ability to overcome adversity?” Findings were that individual and contextual factors of resilience impact teachers’ ability to persevere, as well as schools’ capacity to retain novice teachers. Resilience is associated with retention, job satisfaction, and other positive outcomes. Actions for developing teacher resilience and resilient school cultures are identified. K–12 teachers who attend to factors of resilience can better adapt and overcome adversity. School district leaders who encourage teacher resilience can foster resilient school cultures
Developing Teacher Resilience & Resilient School Cultures Read More »
The past several years have been incredibly turbulent, as we’ve faced Covid, racial violence, political upheaval, environmental disasters, war, and more. Anxiety and depression have skyrocketed. Organizations have had to confront issues they never expected and find new ways to support their employees through repeated traumatic experiences. The reality, though, is that trauma is not new in our organizations. It’s not going away, either. Estimates are that six in 10 men and five in 10 women experience at least one trauma, and approximately 6% of the population will experience PTSD at some point in their lives. As we’ve seen the lines between work and home blur and a fundamental shift in our expectations of the places we work, organizations have struggled to provide the support and leadership their employees need. That’s why it’s so important to take steps now to build the cultures that can see them through current and future crises. To do that, we need to build trauma-informed organizations.
One in six U.S. youth aged 6-17 experience a mental health disorder each year, and half of all mental health conditions begin by age 14. Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), behavior problems, anxiety, and depression are the most commonly diagnosed mental disorders in children. Yet, about half of youth with mental health conditions received any kind of treatment in the past year. NAMI believes that public policies and practices should promote greater awareness and early identification of mental health conditions. NAMI supports public policies and laws that enable all schools, public and private, to increase access to appropriate mental health services. Check out these websites and resources to promote and support mental health in schools.
Illinois State Board of Education developed a strategic approach in 2023, which was supported by the release of a Readiness Tool to understand school districts’ capacity to implement universal mental health screening of all students in Illinois. The report is the next step to guide a phased approach to universal mental health screening of all K-12 students enrolled in Illinois school districts. Find the Landscape Scan on Mental Health Screening Practices report, Readiness Tool and School Screening Readiness report on ISBE’s website.
Implementation of Universal Mental Health Screening in Illinois Schools Read More »
These guides from the National Center for School Mental Health provide information to help school mental health systems advance the quality of their services and supports. There is a unique guide for each of the seven domains of the SMHQ Assessment: teaming, need assessment and resource mapping, screening, teaming, Tier 1, Tiers 2 and 3 (services and supports), funding and sustainability, and impact. Each guide contains background information on the domain, best practices, possible action steps, examples from the field, and resources.
Read about how the Sacramento County Office of Education connect with students, families and school staff by providing mental health supports on campus. They work with the school community to reduce barriers and stigma regarding mental health issues and to increase access to care for students and families. The purpose of a Coordination of Services Team (COST) is to provide students equitable access to education by coordinating school-wide efforts to ensure that the overall system of support works together effectively. COST area of focus takes a holistic approach and includes academic, behavioral, attendance, social-emotional, mental health, and overall wellness.
Centers of Wellness – Example of Mental Health Teaming Read More »
Recent national surveys of young people have shown alarming increases in the prevalence of certain mental health challenges— in 2019, one in three high school students and half of female students reported persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness, an overall increase of 40% from 2009. This 2021 Advisory from the U.S. Surgeon General is a public statement that calls our attention to an urgent public health issue and provides recommendations for how it should be addressed. This Advisory offers recommendations for supporting the mental health of children, adolescents, and young adults.
Universal screening has improved the physical outcomes for millions of children who get routine dental and eye exams at their school buildings each year. Screening for mental health issues in schools has become a topic of discussion for many district leaders. Will the benefits of identifying students most at-risk of physical health problems translate when those difficulties are in the mental health realm? This article explores the complexity of mental health screening.
There are many ways in which work on mental health and social emotional learning reinforces and supports one another, and these collective efforts impact emotional well-being. Part of the challenge is clarifying how these efforts coincide and how they differ. Through the Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child Learning Collaborative, CASEL is working alongside the National Center for School Mental Health (NCSMH). As part of this collaborative, educational leaders explore how social emotional learning and comprehensive school mental health contribute to overall emotional well-being, focusing in on four key areas of work that unite these two efforts.
What’s the Difference between SEL and Mental Health? Read More »
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