What is a teacher’s role in student mental health?

The school environment impacts how students feel about themselves and how they encounter anxiety around them. As an educator, you spend a lot of time interacting with students. It puts you in an influential position to aid their emotional wellbeing and help construct mental health-friendly classrooms.

• Mentally nourishing classrooms
• Motivated learners 
• Energetic arrangement in the classroom 
• Adequate comprehensive performance

Your interaction with students gives you the edge to follow sudden transformations or uncommon conduct that does not keep their usual demeanor. These changes can help early intervention and correction through practical help and care.

 

How do you start a conversation with your students?

 

Your students are likely to approach you when they require help. Therefore, it is very important to understand why the student faces difficulty. It would be best if you were compassionate towards them and had to set boundaries. Be sure not to label the student, especially using diagnostic terms.

 

Providing emotional first aid as a teacher

• Listen actively
• Maintain confidentiality
• Express empathy
• Avoid judging 
• Refer for professional help

 

Open conversations by asking general questions.  Sometimes, the student may feel rejected or may not open up to you. In such situations, leave them alone and monitor them for a few more weeks before approaching them again. Remember, you cannot coerce a student into sharing their problems.

Emotional regulation is a person’s ability to recognize, understand, and respond to things happening around them. Since you spend considerable time with your students, you can also talk about classroom emotional regulation. Still, first, it is a good idea to ensure you can emulate emotional regulation yourself. You can start by being aware of your emotional triggers and how you express yourself to students in your classroom.

 

We’ve identified 5 “T” strategies for schools to consider as their educators join the movement to promote and support student mental health:

 

T Strategy and Why is this important?

 

1) TALKING about mental health

Students need open and ongoing conversations to help decrease mental health stigma. The earlier these conversations start, the better since around 50% of all mental health illnesses begin before 14, and many cases go undetected and untreated. School-wide approaches to increase attention, such as providing mental health and wellbeing advice in the morning announcements or assemblies, can go a long way in promoting effective dialogues.

 

2) Providing appropriate TRAINING for teachers and staff

Educators need the training to appropriately identify and respond to signs of mental health issues. Teachers are often the first adults that students turn to in despair or situation. Still, many reports feel unprepared to support students directly or refer them for additional services. Schools need resources to provide in-depth training and in-person mental health support services to exhaustively and effectively handle student needs.

 

3) Incorporating mental health into TEACHING

Schools can integrate mental health education into academics to not overly burden teachers. For example, a Social Studies lesson may determine and confer mental health topics (e.g., trauma, stigma) in books that students are reading. Younger students may learn how to identify, describe, and manage emotions, while senior students may discover and discuss the social importance of various mental health problems.

 

4) Providing helpful TOOLS for students

School counsellors play a central role in providing direct services to students in need. However, without easy access to a counsellor, educators might consider other mental-health building tools for students, such as: 

• Mindfulness
• Relaxation techniques
• Physical exercise
• Art (visual arts, theatre, music)
• “Break” or “Time Out” space allows students a quiet area to manage their emotions or de-escalate

 

5) TAKING CARE of teachers

In addition to addressing students’ mental health needs, schools also need to support educators’ mental health needs. Teachers experience high levels of daily stress, which also harms students’ social adjustment and academic performance. Various administrative and personalized programs, including workplace health programs, teacher mentoring, and methods like mindfulness, can help.

 

How can you perform on emotional principle in the classroom?

 

In a high-stress classroom, like the announcement of exam results, talk to the students about various emotions they may experience; do this positively, open, and unprejudiced.

It’s good to ask questions to help the students express themselves. 

 Questions you can engage students with: 

• What are you feeling right now? 

• What would you like to feel instead?

 

Don’t blame students for the way they are feeling. Doing this will only add additional pessimistic feelings and inhibit their capacity to handle their sentiments.

 

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