Mental Health and SEL

May is mental health awareness month. Mental health has typically had a stigma attached to it, especially in my home state of Texas. Being real, this is a topic near and dear to my heart. Full transparency, three of my wife and I’s family members have committed suicide and I’m not talking some distant relatives. One was my cousin, who was my next-door neighbor growing up and more like a brother to me, and the other two were my wife’s uncles. As an educator, I also routinely encounter students struggling with mental illness and I have two former students that took their own lives. Just to be frank, those aren’t the only 5 that have struggled with mental health issues, those are just the five that ended it. In our family alone, we have addictions/substance abuse, depression, anxiety, and eating disorders, just to name a few. I personally struggled with an eating disorder from the ages of 16-19, talk about stigma, a teenage male with an eating disorder. The impact mental health has personally had on our family has led my wife and brother-in-law to take an active role in providing assistance. My wife is a school counselor and her brother is a psychiatrist. I am not a professional by any means, but as a campus principal, I try to build relationships with my students and staff that, if they are struggling, they feel comfortable opening up to me. I do my best to help in any way I can, usually, this means referring them to an expert that is qualified to assist them. 

I want to preface everything that follows with this disclaimer. I AM NOT A MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL, any ideas or suggestions are my own and while they are backed by research, it does not take the place of seeking help from a medical professional.

My chosen profession isn’t in the mental health arena specifically, but most educators will tell you that they definitely play a role in the mental health of their students. As a principal, I would think staff also falls under this umbrella. Schools have the unique ability to access large numbers of children and are commonly identified as the best place to provide supports for the mental health of children. While we are not mental health professionals, we do have skills and strategies that we use and can teach that will be of huge value toward the mental health of our students. The area I am alluding to is an area of increased focus lately in schools, Social and Emotional Learning (SEL). Effective SEL can help students increase their resiliency, which is especially beneficial in helping them handle adverse situations and crises.

SEL can provide students with the skills needed to effectively manage their behavior, emotions, and relationships with others. SEL is found to be one of the most proactive initiatives for mental health illness prevention. Proficiency in SEL has shown to help reduce suicide, anxiety, substance abuse, and depression. As an added bonus, research also shows increased academic achievement. Some resources need to address various mental health issues include, coping skills, mindfulness, communication skills, and self-regulation. These are all developed through effective SEL implementation. SEL has shown to be an effective preventative measure in promoting mental health. 

We have established the importance of SEL and the impact it can have on promoting better mental health. According to CASEL (2020), there are 5 SEL competencies: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision-making. There are tons of resources for activities you can do with your students. Click Here.  SEL can be incorporated into the school using a variety of approaches including:

• Free-standing lessons specifically designed to explicitly teach SEL
• Integrated teaching practices such as cooperative learning and project-based learning
• Combining SEL and academic curriculum in language arts, math, social studies, and health
• School-wide initiatives that create a climate and culture favorable to learning. 

Nearly 450 million people worldwide live with mental illness, yet over 60% never seek treatment. Let’s shine a light on mental health, get rid of the stigma associated with it, provide assistance, and bring this conversation to the forefront!