How NC is preparing for safer schools

The center hosted a statewide R.I.S.E. (Resiliency, Information, Support, Empowerment) School Safety Training event in early August. The goal, according to Director Karen Fairley, was to provide the most up-to-date school safety information and resources for districts and schools to assist in school safety planning and preparation for the upcoming school year.

“The Center is committed to providing the best possible services, training, and resources to support every North Carolina public and charter school, ensuring all North Carolina students and staff have an environment conducive for learning," Fairley said.

The session facilitators were topic professionals from across the state. A few of the topics to assure you that your child was on their minds are as follows:

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I, too, was a facilitator; my session was on Improving School Climate and Student Behavior with Life Coaching. I have traveled with the R.I.S.E. team since their inception in 2017, speaking on substance use disorder, parenting, and teen coaching.

I read an article from a convening of school safety experts and former director of mental health services and crisis intervention, Dr. Marleen Wong. She said, “It’s the relationships that exist in the building - relationships between students, relationships between teachers and students, and relationships between the school and parents, and every student should have a connection with an adult on campus. In most cases, at least one person knew about the attack before it happened.”

In the article, Mental Health crises is on the rise among U.S. teenagers. Duke Health Nathan Copeland, MD, MPH a Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist says, “We saw increased loneliness. Increased isolation. Increased parental distress. Increased substance abuse disorders across the entire population. Before the Pandemic we had a substance use crisis and students were separated from their parents and families. Now the Pandemic has caused a similar situation, a great separation and the feeling of isolation and loneliness as well.”

The mental health of young people has intensified and causing concern. According to a Washington Post report, behavior issues, absenteeism, are up at school, classroom disruptions because of students’ misconduct, classroom rowdiness, reports of more fighting and threats of physical attacks between students. Dr. Gary Maslow, Duke Health child and adolescent psychiatrist says, "One of the most common things we see is increased irritability and increased anger.” Also, Duke Behavioral health analyst, Sherika Hill, said other issues like peer bullying have been a big factor, as well as children dealing with social drivers of health, racism, and bias.

A solution regarding loneness, isolation, parental distress, substance use, bullying, anxiety, self-harm, suicide, and aggression is peer support programs as they teach young people to provide effective support to other students, with a view to increasing social and emotional well-being and decreasing anti-social behavior.

Again, Dr. Nathan Copeland stressed the importance of starting a conversation with your child, even if it may feel uncomfortable! So, as a coach, I would start the conversation with questions as it is a great way to begin. A question causes one to connect with the other person. Remember to start with the heart and make it a safe space.

Questions:

1). What’s important for you now

2). Paint me a picture of what that would look like

3). What resources will you need to achieve this goal

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