 a #RealConvo: Provides tools, resources, and creative ideas for peers to “have a #Real Convo” about mental health to help oneself or another person to get support or treatment if needed. This American Foundation for Suicide Prevention [AFSP] webpage offers quick tips, guides, actual stories, and other resources designed to support individuals who are struggling with mental health challenges.
MH LIT: Student Mental Health in Action: Provides a resource for secondary school educators to support student mental health literacy and help-seeking. This comprehensive toolkit from School Mental Health Ontario includes a four-part lesson series focusing on mental health and mental illness (the dual continuum); signs of mental health problems; strategies to support mental health and well-being; and how/where to access help for yourself and your friends, when needed. The resource also offers supportive materials including a school readiness checklist, a secondary school leader’s implementation resource, and educator preparation suggestions. All materials are available in English and in French.
Why More Schools Are Excusing Student Absences for Mental Health: Chronicles trend among state legislatures and school districts to allow excused absences for mental health reasons, and shares strategies systems are using to identify student needs for well-being support that avert stigma and can support a culture of constructive follow-up. A vice president for Mental Health America encourages schools to envision their mental health programming as a spectrum that includes prevention, recognition, and services. “Granting excused absences for mental health days can help prevent a serious problem, or facilitate getting treatment.”
Teens on a Year That Changed Everything: Presents words, images and video presentations by dozens of students across the nation, showing how they have met life’s challenges in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. The New York Times synthesized contributions from more than 5,000 students who responded to prompts from the newspaper’s learning network multi-media contest, Coming of Age in 2020. “It was, in many ways, a generation-defining disaster. Being trapped inside — and missing the milestones that ordinarily mark coming of age in America — was lonely, disorienting, depressing and even suffocating. But many also surprised themselves. They bonded with siblings, discovered nature, found small comforts in Zoom-school, played games, worked out, cooked, wrote, sang, danced, painted and made videos. And, perhaps most important at a time of life focused on figuring out who you are, they reinvented themselves.”
Our Minds Matter: Support During COVID-19: Supports student-led activities to encourage students to seek help for themselves and friends when they struggle with mental health challenges. During the national COVID-19 emergency Our Minds Matter has created an extensive library of videos, and offers numerous curated resources through this webpage.
Support for Teens and Young Adults: CDC webpage offering information for teens and young adults to help manage stress related to COVID-19 is frequently reviewed and updated.
Student Voice Team Leading Study on the Student Impact of COVID-19: Highlights early results from more than 12,000 students in Kentucky, shared through an all-student Student Voice Team panel, sharing insights into how middle and high school students have been coping with COVID-19. The Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence has hosted this effort. Among reported findings: cyberbullying has decreased since COVID closed schools; many students report feeling more depression, anxiety and a sense of worthlessness than before schools closed; students report they are getting more sleep, spending more time outside, and making better use of their time whole learning some time management skill; and students report having lost their mental health services, and needing/wanting more. See the 1-hour panel presentation for more complete insights.
COVID-19 Guidance for Early Childhood Education & Child Care Programs: Prov