Back-to-school safety should include mental health
Students may be a little anxious about the first weeks of school, but safety is paramount for them, parents, teachers, and school administrators. U.S. Surgeon General, Vivek H. Murthy, warns us that the pandemic has exacerbated the students’ social emotional, and mental health. Also, anxiety, depression, and self-harm are worsening.
Yet again, the first week of school has proven to be deadly in North Carolina. Our headlines read, “One student is dead, and two others were injured after an apparent stabbing attack, and three teenagers face charges after the fight at Northside High School in Jacksonville, North Carolina.” And a middle school student in Wendell died by suicide.
When we address school safety, our thoughts should include mental health. However, the stigma of mental health is why we fail to seek mental health assistance. Often what hinders us are the perception of embarrassment, fear, shame, and culture. What can we do to alter our mindset about mental health? One way to change is to encourage our students and families to receive the support and professional treatment needed.
Schools can be safe when we act to prevent violent incidents by creating crisis intervention programs in schools. As well as identify and support students who may be in crisis and prevent a crisis before it happens.
Here are a few suggestions, from Surgeon General Murthy
Parents:
Look out for warning signs of distress and seek help when needed. Signs of distress in children can show up in a number of ways, such as irritability, anger, withdrawal, and other changes in their thoughts, appearance, performance at school, sleeping or eating patterns, or other behaviors. If you notice concerning changes in your child, let them know you’re there and ready to support them however they need.
Students:
Remember that mental health challenges are real, common, and treatable. Struggling with your mental health does not mean you are broken or that you did something wrong; ask for help. Find trusted adults, friends, or family members to talk to about stressful situations. Reaching out to others can be hard and takes courage, but it is worth the effort and reminds us we are not alone.
Invest in healthy relationships. Social connection is a powerful buffer to stress and a source of well-being. Get involved in group activities, such as recreation and outdoor activities, afterschool programs, and mentorship programs.
Learn and practice techniques to manage stress and other difficult emotions. Try to recognize situations that may be emotionally challenging for you and come up with strategies to manage those emotions.
Be a source of support for others. Talk to your family and friends about mental health, listen and be a source of support to them, and connect them to the right resources. Look into joining school clubs or mental health peer support programs such as Project Arrow, a peer-to-peer mentoring and life coaching program in your school-community.
Community resources can help provide services and support
Schools play an important role in connecting students with mental health professionals. For example, school psychologists, counselors, and school nurses help students get the services they need at school or elsewhere in the community.
Parents, there are community-based services such as community mental health centers. Many communities have free self-help and support groups for dealing with specific mental health problems such as suicide and alcohol and drug abuse.
During these moments of crisis, uncertainty, and unrest, there are things we can implement to bring calm amidst chaos. Challenges are a part of the human condition; this is why resiliency, self-coaching, self-awareness, and mental toughness are essential skills to teach our students.
How do we live our lives as we focus on helping students recover from academic and mental health setbacks incurred since the onset of the pandemic? We can create a safe, supportive school climate by including school-wide behavioral expectations. Everyone’s expectations should be no fighting, no bullying, no weapons, and no drugs.
Coaching Questions:
- When we don’t consider our thoughts, they may inhibit our ability to reach our full potential. What unhealthy thoughts would you like for us to examine?
- Did you know you alone are in charge of your reactions no matter how difficult the circumstances?
Mental Health Tips for your teen:
10 Ten Mental Health Techniques
Resources:
- Project Arrow peer-to-peer mentoring and life coaching program
- Mental Health First AID
Gale McKoy Wilkins is a wife, mom, grandparent, and family life coach. Gale is the founder of Project Arrow, an evidence-based peer-to-peer and leadership program teaching life coaching techniques to middle and high school students.
Gale is passionate about using life coaching and creative solutions to empower families and teens to help themselves and others. Gale is a Life Coach to parents and teens, and she teaches them coaching skills and techniques and trains teens on how to make good decisions, manage emotions, overcome obstacles, and motivate themselves and others to be their best. Gale is a North Carolina native that has worked with youth and families and served the triangle in various leadership positions; she has a graduate certificate in Family Life Coaching and a Master of Arts degree in Women's Leadership from North Carolina State University.
