Creating Safe and Supportive Schools and Fostering Students' Mental Health


Book Description

Creating Safe and Supportive Schools and Fostering Students’ Mental Health provides pre- and in-service educators with the tools they need to prevent, pre-empt, handle, and recover from threats to students’ mental health. School safety and fostering a supportive learning environment have always been issues fundamental to educators. Over the last decade, teachers and administrators have been called on more than ever to cope with bullying, suicide, and violence in their schools. Handling every stage of this diverse set of obstacles can be unwieldy for teachers and administrators alike. Framed with interviews from experts on each of the topics, and including practical and applicable examples, this volume draws together the work of top-tier school psychologists into a text designed to work with existing school structures and curricula to make schools safer. A comprehensive and multi-faceted resource, this book integrates leading research with the well-respected Framework for Safe and Successful Schools to help educators support school safety, crisis management, and students' mental health. Featuring interviews with: Dewey G. Cornell, Frank DeAngelis, Beth Doll, Kevin Dwyer, Katie Eklund, Maurice J. Elias, Michele Gay, Ross W. Greene, Rob Horner, Jane Lazarus, Richard Lieberman, Troy Loker, Melissa A. Louvar-Reeves, Terry Molony, Shamika Patton, Donna Poland, Scott Poland, Eric Rossen, Susan M. Swearer, Ken Trump, and Frank Zenere.




Creating Safe and Supportive Schools and Fostering Students' Mental Health


Book Description

Creating Safe and Supportive Schools and Fostering Students’ Mental Health provides pre- and in-service educators with the tools they need to prevent, pre-empt, handle, and recover from threats to students’ mental health. School safety and fostering a supportive learning environment have always been issues fundamental to educators. Over the last decade, teachers and administrators have been called on more than ever to cope with bullying, suicide, and violence in their schools. Handling every stage of this diverse set of obstacles can be unwieldy for teachers and administrators alike. Framed with interviews from experts on each of the topics, and including practical and applicable examples, this volume draws together the work of top-tier school psychologists into a text designed to work with existing school structures and curricula to make schools safer. A comprehensive and multi-faceted resource, this book integrates leading research with the well-respected Framework for Safe and Successful Schools to help educators support school safety, crisis management, and students' mental health. Featuring interviews with: Dewey G. Cornell, Frank DeAngelis, Beth Doll, Kevin Dwyer, Katie Eklund, Maurice J. Elias, Michele Gay, Ross W. Greene, Rob Horner, Jane Lazarus, Richard Lieberman, Troy Loker, Melissa A. Louvar-Reeves, Terry Molony, Shamika Patton, Donna Poland, Scott Poland, Eric Rossen, Susan M. Swearer, Ken Trump, and Frank Zenere.




Creating Safe, Equitable, Engaging Schools


Book Description

Creating Safe, Equitable, Engaging Schools brings together the collective wisdom of more than thirty experts from a variety of fields to show how school leaders can create communities that support the social, emotional, and academic needs of all students. It offers an essential guide for making sense of the myriad frameworks, resources, and tools available to create a continuous improvement system. Filled with recommendations gleaned from research and ongoing work in every US state and territory, this book is a critical resource for understanding and adopting evidence-based practices and making programmatic decisions to ensure the ideal conditions for learning, growth, and development. "Creating Safe, Equitable, Engaging Schools is an essential read for teachers, principals, district leaders, and organizations that work with schools to create challenging and supportive environments for all students." --Paul Cruz, superintendent, Austin Independent School District "Osher and colleagues not only connect the dots between big ideas--deeper learning, trauma, social and emotional learning, evidence-based programs, comprehensive community planning--but they model the continuous improvement approach in the way ideas are ordered across and within the chapters. This is a masterful volume: comprehensive, accessible, and way overdue." --Karen J. Pittman, cofounder, president and CEO, The Forum for Youth Investment "This book provides a very usable road map for creating safe, healthy, equitable, and caring schools. The editors and contributors successfully integrate research, practice, and policy to help educators develop and implement effective and sustainable models to nurture caring schools that all children and educators deserve." --Mark T. Greenberg, Bennett Chair of Prevention Research, Pennsylvania State University David Osher is vice president and an institute fellow at American Institutes for Research. Deborah Moroney is a managing director at American Institutes for Research and is director of the youth development and supportive learning environments practice area. Sandra Williamson is a vice president for policy, practice, and systems change at American Institutes for Research.




Fostering the Emotional Well-Being of Our Youth


Book Description

"Fostering the Emotional Well-Being of our Youth: A School- Based Approach is an edited work that details best practices in comprehensive school mental health services based upon a dual-factor model of mental health that considers both psychological wellness and mental illness. In the introduction the editors respond to the question: Are our students all right? Then, each of the text's 24 chapters (five sections) describes empirically sound and practical ways that professionals can foster supportive school climates and implement evidence-based universal interventions to promote well-being and prevent and reduce mental health problems in young people. Topics include: conceptualizing and framing youth mental health through a dual-factor model; building culturally responsive schools; implementing positive behavior interventions and supports; inculcating social-emotional learning within schools impacted by trauma; creating a multidisciplinary approach to foster a positive school culture and promote students' mental health; preventing school violence and advancing school safety; cultivating student engagement and connectedness; creating resilient classrooms and schools; strengthening preschool, childcare and parenting practices; building family-school partnerships; promoting physical activity, nutrition, and sleep; teaching emotional self-regulation; promoting students' positive emotions, character and purpose; building a foundation for trauma-informed schools; preventing bullying; supporting highly mobile students; enfranchising socially marginalized students; preventing school failure and school dropout; providing evidence-based supports in the aftermath of a crisis; raising the emotional well-being of students with anxiety and depression; implementing state-wide practices that promote student wellness and resilience; screening for academic, behavioral, and emotional health; and accessing targeted and intensive mental health services"--




Fostering Resilient Learners


Book Description

In this galvanizing book for all educators, Kristin Souers and Pete Hall explore an urgent and growing issue--childhood trauma--and its profound effect on learning and teaching. Grounded in research and the authors' experience working with trauma-affected students and their teachers, Fostering Resilient Learners will help you cultivate a trauma-sensitive learning environment for students across all content areas, grade levels, and educational settings. The authors--a mental health therapist and a veteran principal--provide proven, reliable strategies to help you * Understand what trauma is and how it hinders the learning, motivation, and success of all students in the classroom. * Build strong relationships and create a safe space to enable students to learn at high levels. * Adopt a strengths-based approach that leads you to recalibrate how you view destructive student behaviors and to perceive what students need to break negative cycles. * Head off frustration and burnout with essential self-care techniques that will help you and your students flourish. Each chapter also includes questions and exercises to encourage reflection and extension of the ideas in this book. As an educator, you face the impact of trauma in the classroom every day. Let this book be your guide to seeking solutions rather than dwelling on problems, to building relationships that allow students to grow, thrive, and--most assuredly--learn at high levels.




Compassionate School Practices


Book Description

Already Ready For What Will Come - SEL For A Culture Of Care Is your school prepared to care for all of the students, staff, and families in your community? Sadly, your school might be the only point of care for many. Be already ready--Establish a compassionate cultural foundation for strong relationships and holistic skills to weather stress, trauma, and promote well-being for your entire school population. Help your school or district use available resources to create a compassionate culture of justice and care for all by leaning into this book’s approach to leadership and social emotional learning. Discover a collaborative visioning process to elevate compassion through dialogue, policies, and protocol. Readers will find: Practical strategies for working with parents and communities Activities for the whole school An implementation framework for elementary, middle, and high school Deeper understanding of trauma, ACEs, and mental health concerns Support for teachers’ mental health What not to do – practices that don’t work, and why In-depth case studies and vignettes Read this and usher in transformational and compassionate change that may be the difference in whatever today, tomorrow, or the next day may bring.




Leadership for Safe Schools


Book Description

Leadership for Safe Schools is every school and district leader’s guide to developing practical policies and carefully designed action plans to ensure that K–12 students are physically and psychologically safe, secure, and supported. With today’s students experiencing soaring rates of depression, anxiety, trauma, loneliness, and suicidality—in addition to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the normalization of school shootings—school personnel desperately need multifaceted approaches that decrease violence, facilitate social connectedness, and promote emotional well-being. This book’s proactive, preventive, and responsive Three Pillar Model offers a coherent framework for creating safe and supportive schools and fostering student mental health. Each chapter guides school leaders and administrators to implement evidence-based interventions and strategies, including: strategies for school safety, threat assessment, suicide prevention, and anti-violence efforts easy-to-apply improvements to school climate and culture social supports for diverse students, including the marginalized, victimized, and at-risk effective partnerships with families, communities, and other spheres of influence principles from positive psychology and social-emotional learning research-based strategies for trauma-informed care and crisis response Whether you are a principal or superintendent; a school psychologist, counselor, or social worker; or a school resource officer, nurse, or proactive teacher, this book will be your all-in-one inspiration for fostering resilient learning environments and implementing multi-component prevention and intervention strategies to support students’ mental health.




Fostering Healthy Mental, Emotional, and Behavioral Development in Children and Youth


Book Description

Healthy mental, emotional, and behavioral (MEB) development is a critical foundation for a productive adulthood. Much is known about strategies to support families and communities in strengthening the MEB development of children and youth, by promoting healthy development and also by preventing and mitigating disorder, so that young people reach adulthood ready to thrive and contribute to society. Over the last decade, a growing body of research has significantly strengthened understanding of healthy MEB development and the factors that influence it, as well as how it can be fostered. Yet, the United States has not taken full advantage of this growing knowledge base. Ten years later, the nation still is not effectively mitigating risks for poor MEB health outcomes; these risks remain prevalent, and available data show no significant reductions in their prevalence. Fostering Healthy Mental, Emotional, and Behavioral Development in Children and Youth: A National Agenda examines the gap between current research and achievable national goals for the next ten years. This report identifies the complexities of childhood influences and highlights the need for a tailored approach when implementing new policies and practices. This report provides a framework for a cohesive, multidisciplinary national approach to improving MEB health.




School Mental Health


Book Description

This book provides vivid examples of school mental health innovations from 18 countries, addressing mental health promotion, prevention and interventions. These initiatives and innovations enable readers from different regions and disciplines to apply strategies to help students achieve and maintain mental health, enhance their learning outcomes and access services, worldwide.




Developing Your School’s Student Support Teams


Book Description

Developing Your School’s Student Support Teams is a practical manual for schools seeking to establish and sustain coordinated teams in support of students’ social, emotional and behavioral health. Every day, students struggle with a range of issues, including traumas, that complicate their learning, engagement, and overall well-being. School psychologists, counselors, social workers and nurses are employed in many school districts, but their schedules often make it difficult to collaborate effectively in developing and implementing comprehensive intervention plans. This book promotes teamwork throughout schools by exploring how interdependent practitioners can come together at the appropriate levels and times to help coordinate school and community resources. This "filtering" process will guide K-12 leaders and service professionals toward systems and decision-making that enable long-term student supports, accurate identification of systemic learning barriers, improved school culture and climate, attention to diverse populations, and more. With these proactive teamwork strategies, school staff will be better prepared to share workload and accountability and to identify and build upon the existing strengths and supports of every student.