Supporting Social Emotional Learning

This week, I have been thinking a lot about mental health supports. Schools can provide supports and instruction in social emotional learning - and that is a big component of what we need to be doing - but I need to call attention to the serious lack of mental health supports available to our students and our families in our communities. This is really quite a travesty and it really needs to be a call to arms for political leaders, community leaders, and school leaders everywhere. 

At my school, we have daily morning meeting and closing circles in all of our classrooms. Our staff is being trained over time in restorative circles. We have a "Peace Place" in every classroom where students can practice cool down strategies if they are upset. But there are deeper, more significant issues in every one of my classrooms that cannot be supported by this type of tier one instruction. We are fortunate to have a number of supports for our school of 800 students - two social workers, two on-site school-based counselors, three agency based supports, and two Teaching Assistants to support student behavior - and we have a top notch team, however, the need far outweighs the amount and type of supports available. Our school based supports are largely for tier 2 kinds of issues. And if parents are not on board, then the services are discontinued. If families or children are in crisis, the support becomes more difficult to access and there are far fewer options. 

The wait for a child psychiatrist is anywhere from 3-6 months. The waiting list for skill streaming can be up to 6 months. Insurance, or lack of insurance, prevents many families from accessing the kind of care that they need. Often, families have to choose between their own care or care for their child which means that the family unit still may be in crisis. There are very limited options for whole family supports. The systems that are in place to support our children and our families are difficult to navigate and require a level of persistence and determination that is really unlikely. 

Emergency services for children having mental health crises regularly recommend that a child needs an IEP from the school in order to get the supports that they need. Special Education services do not address mental health concerns. So, families are often stuck in a ridiculous cycle and then feel like there is no support for them, for their children, or for their needs. 

We have to do better. Mental health issues are significant in urban education, but they exist in every community. Rural and suburban schools are dealing with a lack of support for mental health, as well. Mental health needs may look very different in rural and suburban children. There may be more anxiety or depression, but the signs may be much less extroverted. This is an issue that must be taken up at the highest levels in order to provide adequate supports and to allow our students to access the goal of "college and career ready." Without significant improvements to the mental health systems for children and families, we run the risk of continued generational struggles with mental health and under-performance in education. More services is a starting point, but the service providers themselves must do better to rid themselves of apathy and work diligently to make change for children and families. 

There are advocacy groups who are hard at work every day trying to provide adequate mental health care and supports for our children and families. The Citizens' Committee for Children in New York City recently published a report advocating for mental health services in all New York City Schools (download report here). Mental Health America is an advocacy group who is trying to impact change through legislation and awareness (see what they are working on here). Get involved. Speak out. It's time for all of us to become a part of the solution for providing adequate mental health care for our students and their families.