Happy spring, fellow educators! As the days warm and the school year enters its final stretch, we encourage you to take some deep breaths and begin to set intentions around how you’d like to wrap this school year up for yourself and your students. We were moved by this article, Teachers’ Mental Health Linked to … Continue reading Get Ready for Summer with Some Mindful Reflection
With the release of a new survey published recently by the National Association of Elementary School Principals, school principals in K-8 schools say their top concern is the rising numbers of students with emotional problems and mental health needs. To put it in perspective, this survey has been conducted since 1928; in the 2008 report—just … Continue reading Social-Emotional Learning vs. Mental Health: What’s the Difference?
As the mental health of America’s students is weighing heavily on all of our minds, the “We Care” campaign launched in Santa Ana Unified this winter is a bright example of one district’s effort to take a proactive stance on the subject. “We Care” is SAUSD’s response to AB 2246, the California legislation passed in … Continue reading Viewing Mental Health Through the “We Care” Campaign
This article was co-written with Julie Ziegler. To continue the conversation, please reach out to them respectively at jharris@illuminateed.com or jziegler@illuminateed.com. When you look around your schools, would you believe that 1 out of every 4 students has experienced at least one traumatic or adverse childhood experience? In fact, 1 out of every 2 people … Continue reading School-Aged Youth & Trauma: How Education Communities Can Help
“Attention passengers: in the event of an unexpected change in pressure from administrators, parents, students, colleagues, or school district officials, please assist yourself before assisting children and those around you. Remember to breathe.” The messaging onboard airplanes is the exact same messaging my fellow educators need to hear: self-care isn’t selfish, self-care is survival. The … Continue reading Teacher Resiliency: Five Lessons Learned from Starting a Revolution
Teacher burnout is a pandemic impacting just about every country with an established system of education. More than 41% of teachers leave their jobs within five years of starting (Ingersoll, Merrill, and Stuckey, 2014), and 15% of teachers leave the profession each year (Haynes, 2014). However, the latter statistic rises significantly to an annual loss … Continue reading Fighting Teacher Burnout & Fighting for Equity
Mental health disorders in our K-12 schools affect many of our youth and directly impact classroom learning and social interactions, both of which are critical to the success of students. Mental disorders among children is a critical public health issue because of their early onset, frequency, and impact on schools, families, and the community at … Continue reading The General Status of Student Mental Health in Our Schools