Supporting Student Mental Health: Essentials for Teachers

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.

Table of Contents:
1. Introduction 2. Background 3. The First R: Relate 4. Recognizing Students’ Mental Health Problems 5. Respond: Supportive Communication Skills for Teachers 6. Respond: Teachers' Role in Understanding and Responding to Crises and Trauma 7. Responding to the Threat of Suicide 8. Beyond Instruction: Connecting Students and Families to Resources 9. Teacher Self-care, Self-compassion, and Self-renewal Appendix: Questions as a Guide to the Recognition of Mental Health Problems

About the Author :
Michael Hass is Professor of Scholarly Practice in the Attallah College of Educational Studies at Chapman University, USA. He is a licensed School Psychologist, Educational Psychologist, and Clinical Counselor. Amy Ardell is Instructional Assistant Professor in the Attallah College of Educational Studies at Chapman University, USA. She is a former elementary school teacher.

Review :
"We educators are not all experts in the knowledge base or pragmatic steps for supporting our students’ mental health. Fortunately, Michael Hass and Amy Ardell bring their combined experience and expertise to this important book’s approachable yet rigorous framework and its proven practical strategies. I wish I’d had this book as a novice teacher, confounded by the challenges that my students faced, though it should be just as informative and thought-provoking for experienced educators. The authors’ clear summaries of inclusive and culturally relevant research-based practices, useful reflection questions, and step-wise guidance through this complex field are not just helpful but essential to all of us striving to create healthier schools via healthier children and adults." —Cynthia F. Grutzik, Dean of the Graduate College of Education at San Francisco State University, USA "Supporting Student Mental Health fills a significant gap in the current literature for K-12 teachers, who are tasked with making their classrooms safer, more welcome and caring, and ‘whole student’-centered. As schools continue to be impacted by both the COVID-19 pandemic and the national reckoning on racial injustice, students need teachers who can uplift them socially, emotionally, and academically. The knowledge conveyed in this book is essential for teachers aiming to create classrooms that are loving and supportive and that provide mental health resources to the many students who need them. These chapters are easy to read and filled with examples, exercises, plans, and information that teachers in training and in service can use right away." —Ron Avi Astor, Marjorie Crump Endowed Professor of Social Welfare in the Luskin School of Public Affairs at the University of California, Los Angeles, USA "Mental health needs in kids are skyrocketing. At the same time, there’s a national shortage of mental healthcare providers. More than ever before, teachers are finding themselves acting as de facto counselors, sometimes with little training or preparation. This book steps into that gap, providing the basic information and guidance a teacher needs. It will enable all educators recognize, respond to, and sometimes refer for help, the students who show up to school with mental health needs." —Jenn David-Lang, The Main Idea