Speak Up at School: Overview
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Tier 1 Interventions
Mental Health and High School Curriculum Guide (Version 3)
The Mental Health and High School Curriculum Guide developed in partnership with the Canadian Mental Health Association provides a complete set of educational tools to increase understanding of mental health and mental disorders among both students and teachers. The guide focuses on training teachers to be comfortable with their own knowledge of mental health and mental disorders, and then empowers the teachers to share this knowledge with their students through a curriculum delivered in a multiple module format. The program uses a variety of interactive sessions that help to promote dialogue among students, as well as with their teachers. Discussing mental health and mental illness in a supportive, familiar environment enables youth to feel safe, ask questions, gain knowledge, combat stigma and develop their own opinions of the world around them. The teachers training materials are provided for free, and many of the other materials are incorporated into this curriculum site.
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What is Empathy?
This animated video illustrates the concept of empathy. Dr Brené Brown reminds us that we can only create a genuine empathic connection if we are brave enough to really get in touch with our own fragilities.
Modeling and Instruction – Social & Emotional Learning Initiating Playlist
Schools play an important role in supporting young people’s social and emotional development. Districts and schools engage in many different practices to grow and develop students’ and staff members’ social and emotional competencies to help them be successful. Broad areas of social and emotional competence are: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision-making.
The resources in this learning playlist focus on SEL instruction and modeling and are recommended for schools or districts starting in this work. Your school or district may be exploring this work and wondering where to begin.
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Ways to Communicate High Expectations to Students
This article provides an understanding of why communicating high expectations to students is important. Effective communication is key to conveying high expectations to students. It requires a clear approach that acknowledges their capabilities, sets achievable goals, and fosters a growth mindset. As educators, it is essential to strike the right balance between high expectations and support, ensuring students feel motivated and empowered to reach their full potential. The accompanying form from Cultures Connecting provides a list of ideas. Choose one that is a new strategy you can realistically implement.
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How to Build Students’ Resilience
As educators, we talk a lot about resilience—how students need it to bounce back from challenges, grit their teeth, and persevere. But what if resilience isn’t just about bouncing back? What if it’s about bouncing forward, adapting, thriving, and growing stronger with each setback? The good news is that resilience isn’t some mystical trait. It’s a skill—a muscle, if you will—that we can strengthen in our students. The strategies we utilize in the classroom are the ultimate training ground. Teachers can use these strategies to strengthen their students’ ability to cope with setbacks and frustration.
30 Days of Mental Health in the School Year
Understanding the A-B-Cs of mental health and illness is the first step to improving outcomes. Educators, parents, and caregivers can pledge to engage in 30 days of child and youth mental health during the academic year. Schools can be the place where we destigmatize mental illness and teach children and youth how to foster mental health. The goals of 30 Days of Mental Health campaign are:
To keep students’ mental health at the forefront of our minds throughout the academic year.
To remind educators, parents, and caregivers that recovery from trauma takes time.
To ensure that educators, parents, and caregivers have the knowledge and tools to promote positive mental health.
Protecting Youth Mental Health
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.
What’s the Difference between SEL and Mental Health?
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.
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Mental Health Literacy Explained
This video explains the concept of mental health literacy. It is important for prospective public health professionals to understand what mental health literacy is. A useful mental health literacy definition is: the knowledge of and ability to learn about mental health. This includes general knowledge of the signs and symptoms of as well as the treatment resources for mental illnesses, and the ability to recognize, manage, and seek support for mental health issues. Mental health literacy starts with recognizing the foundations of good mental health.