The Teacher And Mental Health

Supporting Student Mental Health is a guide to the basics of identifying and supporting students with mental health challenges. It’s no secret that your responsibilities as a teacher go beyond academic achievement. You cover key socioemotional competencies in your classrooms, too. This book is full of accessible and appropriate strategies for responding to students’ mental health needs, such as relationship-building, behavioral observation, questioning techniques, community resources, and more. The authors’ public health, prevention science, and restorative practice perspectives will leave you ready to run a classroom that meets the needs of the whole child while ensuring your own well-being on the job.

"Student success and well-being are the goals of all school staff, whether they are teachers or human services professionals such as counselors, psychologists, or social workers. Building Great Mental Health Professional-Teacher Teams examines how all educators can work together for maximum positive impact on students while making the most of the disciplinary orientation and strengths of each team member. With a focus on overcoming challenging situations and helping students who face adverse childhood experiences, this book provides a sound overview of many issues teams may encounter, from behavior issues to poverty and trauma, and guides readers to a thorough understanding of these problems, their causes, and potential solutions. Providing practical advice for the strategic implementation of action plans to support student success, Building Great Human Services Professional-Teacher Teams informs readers how to navigate inter-group tensions and achieve the shared goal of a school culture that fosters respect, involvement, and growth for all"--

Teaching can be a highly satisfying profession, but it can also be overwhelming. Stress management. Self-care. Mental well-being. Mindfulness. These words have become all too familiar, but what do they actually mean for you? And how can they help without adding to your to-do list? All teachers have different experiences and different needs. Through stories by diverse educators, this professional resource invites you to try different wellness strategies, explore varying perspectives, and consider new ideas of what it means to “be well.” Grounded in servant leadership and a holistic model, each chapter connects to Indigenous perspectives of wellness through remarks from Elder Stanley Kipling and Knowledge Keeper Richelle North Star Scott.

From ADHD to schizophrenia and everything in between, what teachers need to know about their students’ mental health. Twenty percent of children and adolescents have a mental health disorder and in five percent, the disorder is severe. Chances are that every classroom in America will have at least one student who has a mental health disorder, possibly even in the severe range. These students often have symptoms that interfere with their ability to learn. From Ontario, Canada to California, school districts and state Boards of Education are recognizing the importance of comprehensive approaches to student mental health that include teacher education. By understanding child and adolescent mental health issues, general education and special education teachers have additional tools to provide the most successful educational environment for their students. But where can a teacher turn to get reliable information on what they need to know? Here, William Dikel, MD, a board-certified child and adolescent psychiatrist, who serves as a consultant to school districts nationwide, answers the call with a comprehensive, teacher-focused guide to student mental health. From anxiety and depression to ADHD, autism spectrum disorders, behavior disorders, substance use disorders, and psychoses, this practical book provides essential information on how mental health disorders are diagnosed and treated, how they tend to manifest at school, and how they affect students’ emotions, behaviors, and ability to learn. It explains why traditional behavioral interventions are often unsuccessful, and describes effective classroom interventions that teachers can use to provide optimal educational experiences. Teachers will learn the differences between normal child and adolescent behaviors and behaviors that reflect underlying mental health disorders, and will recognize where these behaviors fall on a spectrum, ranging from behavioral (planned, volitional acts that clearly have a function) to the clinical (where a mental health disorder is causing the behavior). They will also learn how to communicate effectively with their school teams (and student families) to ensure that school mental health staff (psychologists, social workers, counselors, and nurses) will be able to provide appropriate interventions for students in need. Administrators will learn the importance of creating a district mental health plan that clearly defines the roles of teachers, mental health staff, principals, and others, with the goal of establishing a seamless system of coordinated professionals all working to meet the student’s needs. Finally, the book profiles successful programs, provided both by school districts and in collaboration with community mental health professionals, including Response to Intervention (RTI), Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS), social-emotional learning, and school-linked mental health services. Based on the author’s thirty years of experience providing consultation to teachers in settings varying from general education classrooms to self-contained special education programs for severely emotionally disturbed students, this book will be an invaluable guide for parents, school principals, special education directors, school social workers, counselors, psychologists, and nurses.

This book outlines how teachers, music / arts therapists and teacher trainers have engaged in participatory action research to facilitate regular group music listening and improvisational music making with children and young people in their classrooms, highlighting its impact in addressing issues of mental health and providing social and emotional access to learning. The book includes examples of classroom practice, evidencing how safe, inclusive and interactive music making can stimulate experiences that alter children and young people’s moods, enhance their social skills and enable their connectivity with each other and with learning. It describes participatory action research approaches that support inter professional learning between teachers and music / arts therapists. Five narrative accounts of classroom episodes provide a basis for continuing reflection and critical theorising about young people’s relational health and sensory engagement. The book explores outcomes from non-verbal dialogic interaction and attachment focussed practices. It advocates new forms of rights respecting professionalism. Providing new frameworks with which to enhance the wellbeing of vulnerable children and young people in classroom settings, the book will be important reading for researchers and students in the fields of inclusive education, music / arts therapy and teacher training. The contents are significant for practitioners looking to support children and young people’s recovery and reconnections in the classroom.

Mental Health for Educators opens the heart of teaching and learning with a generous regard for the complexities of education as psychological phenomenon, emotional situation, and as an expression of life. Britzman and Güzel introduce a psychoanalytic vocabulary that touches the educator's affective experiences of teaching in crowds, online, in one's memories of schooling, in dreams, in anxieties over burnout and rage, in disappointment and victory, in matters of belief and disagreement, and in trying to get to know the lives of others. While most literature on mental health is dedicated to helping students and giving advice to parents, this book speaks directly to university professors, teachers, those learning to teach, those involved in the helping professions, those involved in the learning lives of others, and university administrators. With wit and clear analysis, selected topics bring into conversation matters of love and hate in pedagogy, problems of misunderstanding and loss of meaning, the handling of anxiety and inhibitions in university life, the dilemmas of helping and dependency, and pictures of mental life as our emotional situations. The book is written with style of inquiry that emerges from a view of education as a state of mind and a social bond.

Educator and teacher wellness is a personal journey. And like all journeys, there are starts, stops, and bumps in the road. The question becomes, how do we bring our best selves to our students and colleagues each day? Designed as a reflective journal and guidebook, Educator Wellness by Timothy D. Kanold and Tina H. Boogren will take you on a deep exploration where you will uncover profound answers that ring true for you. Rely on this book of ideas for self-care for educators and develop ongoing habits for wellness: Use this resource on your own or as a book study to guide staff through a reflective, goal-setting process. Observe the importance of self-care for teachers and other educators and how a commitment to daily self-care and well-being leads to a more fulfilling, successful life in and outside of the school setting. Review the four dimensions of educator self-care and wellness--(1) physical, (2) mental, (3) emotional, and (4) social--and 12 corresponding routines. Explore self-care activities for teachers and educators to sustain well-being in the face of workplace overload and potential burnout. Use the My Wellness Action journaling spaces designed to encourage thoughtful reflection to wellness and self-care plans for teachers and educators. Learn how to monitor your self-care progress and design an actionable wellness plan for next steps. View videos that highlight the authors' personal experiences with the four dimensions of educator or teacher well-being. Access the Educator Wellness--Rating, Reflecting, Planning, and Goal-Setting protocol. Contents: About the Authors Introduction Chapter 1: The Physical Wellness Dimension Chapter 2: The Mental Wellness Dimension Chapter 3: The Emotional Wellness Dimension Chapter 4: The Social Wellness Dimension