Mental Health

After reading, Supporting Minds: An Educator’s Guide to Promoting Mental Health and Well-Being, I was very surprised to read how common Mental Health Problems are in Youth: “Most estimates suggest that 15 to 20 per cent of children and youth struggle with a mental health problem. This could mean that in a classroom of thirty students, five or six students may be experiencing a mental health problem, and three or four of them may have a problem that significantly interferes with their daily life.”

This fact really shocked me.  It made me think about my daily practice in the classroom and how focussed I am on achieving the best results. 

The article listed ways that one can promote positive mental health:

 •            identification and effective management of emotions;

•             promotion of normal and healthy child and adolescent development;

•             exploration and use of children and youth’s strengths and capacities;

 •            development of meaningful family, school, and community relationships;

•             enhancement of positive coping and problem-solving skills;

 •            creation of meaningful and positive learning environments;

•             increased participation in structured community recreational and leisure activities;

 •            enhanced respect and appreciation for diversity and individual differences;

•             increased understanding and de-stigmatization of mental health conditions;

•             enhanced opportunities for children and youth to demonstrate age-appropriate autonomy and choice;

•             heightened sensitivity to the needs of others and demonstration of pro-social behaviours;

•             increased involvement in structured and unstructured physical activities;

 •            reduction in high-risk behaviours (e.g., drug use);

•             enhanced academic achievement and school attendance;

One of the best schools that I worked at was a ‘Value-Based’ School.  Values was promoted in all that we did. We had a value of the month and this value was introduced to the school as a whole (during an assembly) and within the classroom. The school had an end of the week ‘Values Assembly’ whereby individual children were praised for values that they had shown throughout the week. We also had very high standards at this school. We thought all children had the potential to be successful academically and we made this and school attendance a priority.  I feel this helped with the overall mental attitude within the school. It felt like we were one big family! I think this can really help children (and staff) who are suffering mentally.  I think schools like this should be modelled for others to follow.