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The Impact of COVID-19 on the Mental Health of Students

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The Impact of COVID-19 on the Mental Health of Students

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Including an escalation of grief, trauma, and isolation.

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As a school counselor in Metairie, Louisiana who works in Jefferson Parish, I have noticed that an advocacy effort is needed for our students, grades 9-12. My school administration has asked me to develop an Advocacy Leadership Plan or ALP to address challenges the students are experiencing. Due to COVID-19 many students have reported feeling anxious, depressed, and fearful of the pandemic. This ALP will help other administrations and those working in the school system to better understand the impacts of COVID-19 and discover how everyone can best support one another to give the students the most normal year possible, considering the situation on the pandemic.

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The advocacy issue for the students is mental health concerns due to the stressors of COVID-19. Students are back to online learning, which creates social isolation. This can cause psychological distress among students. Mental health concerns of the students is mentioned thoroughly in this article:  Mental Health in High School Students at the Time of COVID-19: A Student’s Perspective. The article states that there has been an increase of mental health problems and trauma, quarantining, and grief can escalate the risk of mental illness (Thakur, 2020). In terms of student achievement, some lower-economical class students do not have access to the internet or a computer at home (Garcia & Weiss, 2020). This in turn causes a gap in achievement from lower-class students to upper-class students (Garcia & Weiss, 2020). Also, students who had a high number of absences may be likely to drop out due to a lack of support (Garcia & Weiss, 2020). The behavior among students has proven to be unmotivated, socially distant, anxious, and depressed.

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The program that I have designed for the advocacy leadership plan is to educate parents and teachers about what to do and look for in students who are experiencing signs of isolation, sadness, anxiety, fear, and other symptoms, feelings, and behaviors associated with adverse responses to COVID-19. Students will receive resources to learn healthy coping skills and the signs of different mental illnesses. Administering healthy coping skills for students is supported by the article, Mental Health in High School Students at the Time of COVID-19: A Student’s Perspective because it develops resiliency. Online support groups will also be created to help students engage socially and learn tactics to cope with mental and emotional distress. By creating support groups online, school counselors will help students to “overcome loneliness and bridge the social distance” (Radwan et al., 2020, p.2).

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The students in grades 9-12, who have been affected negatively by covid-19 via increased levels of anxiety, depression, or other adverse psychological symptoms will experience a decrease in these negative emotions within 3 months. I am expecting a 20-25% decrease in their symptoms within this time period. The way I expect this to manifest is in happier and more positive demeanors from the students. I will be measuring the students’ demeanor and mood via two subjective questionnaires. The first is the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-4), which will help designate if the student is having higher than deemed normal stress levels (Perceived Stress Scale 4 (PSS-4), 2015). The second questionnaire, The Patient Health Questionnaire for Depression and Anxiety (PHQ-4), will help dive deeper into how these perceived stress levels may be manifesting themselves as either anxiety or depression (Kroenke et al., 2009). I am modeling my questionnaires off a study done in March and April of 2020, which showed significant increases in anxiety and depression among high school and college students at the peak of covid-19 (Aiyer et al., 2020). The students will show progression from severe or high levels of negative psychological emotions (whether it be depression, anxiety, etc.)  to at least moderate levels in 3 months. Progress may be limited or slowed due to the inability to meet in person with groups. Group interventions will need to be virtual due to covid-19. There are currently no group therapy programs at my school, and the personal virtual sessions are very limited, if even existent. The group therapy session will help the students to address their anxiety and depression along with other negative mental health attributes. The sessions will also teach the students proper coping mechanisms to help with not only this crisis but others that may arise in the future as well.

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Category 1: Mindset Standards

M 1. Belief in self, balance of well-being

M3. Sense of community in school

M 6. Positivity toward work and learning

Category 2: Behavior Standards

Learning Strategies

B-LS 7. Develop long and short-term goals for social/emotional outcomes

B-LS 10. Partake in extracurricular activities

Self-Management Skills

B-SMS 7. When faced with a problem, students will demonstrate healthy coping skills

B-SMS 8. Balance school, home, and community activities

B-SMS 10. With changing situations and responsibilities the students will manage transitions and adapt.

Social Skills

B-SS 2. Build supportive and positive relationships with other students

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The stakeholders for this program include: parents, students, teachers, and school counselors. The teachers will receive educational resources for warning signs of mental illnesses and what to look for in terms of negative psychological behavior as a response to covid-19. Dr. Isaiah Pickens is a licensed clinical psychologist and former employee of NYU as well as UCLA. Dr. Pickens wrote a helpful piece for teachers that will allow them to notice warning signs during virtual learning (Pickens, 2020). This piece can be found via the link: https://www.edsurge.com/news/2020-10-07-virtual-signs-of-serious-mental-health-problems-a-teacher-s-guide-to-protecting-students.  Parents will receive the same information as well as parenting guides and coping mechanisms in response to covid-19 to assist their children during this troubling time ("Helping Children Cope With Changes Resulting From COVID-19", 2020). This resource can be found by visiting the following website: https://www.nasponline.org/resources-and-publications/resources-and-podcasts/school-climate-safety-and-crisis/health-crisis-resources/helping-children-cope-with-changes-resulting-from-covid-19. Students will receive handouts and social media avenues for coping skills and signs of mental distress. One of the social media avenues is YouTube and on this platform Dr. Paul Jenkins discusses coping skills for covid-19 (Jenkins, 2020). This YouTube video can be accessed at the following link: https://youtu.be/BRgOHVPMCmQ. Students will also partake in questionnaires to determine their mental wellness. The students who are eligible for the support group are those who score with the highest levels of distress. The school counselors will score the questionnaires, distribute all of the resources to all parties (via email), and lead support groups online via webchat.

The support groups will be divided by grade, consist of 12 weeks, and two visits (via video chat) a week. In these support groups the students will discuss their distress, adaptability to change, healthy and unhealthy coping skills, and journal every week to determine effectiveness of their coping skills. The journal will also serve as talking points for each session. The school counselor will administer a coping skills questionnaire before the first session, after the 3rd week, the 6th week, 9th week, and after the last session.

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aacap coronavirus covid-19 telepsych telepsychiatry families schools teens teenagers

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Resources for Helping Kids and Parents Cope Amidst COVID-19

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AACAP has compiled resources for parents, patients, and clinicians to help with the impact of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19). Updated daily.

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Aiyer, A., Surani, S., Gill, Y., Ratnani, I., & Sunesara, S. (2020). COVID-19 ANXIETY AND STRESS SURVEY (CASS) IN HIGH SCHOOL AND COLLEGE STUDENTS DUE TO CORONAVIRUS DISEASE 2019. Chest, 158(4), A314. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chest.2020.08.312

Bufka, L., & Wright, V. (2020). Coping in the era of coronavirus: A webinar for students. https://www.apa.org. Retrieved 10 January 2021, from https://www.apa.org/education/coping-webinar-students.

Cohen, S., Kamarck, T., & Mermelstein, R. (1983). A global measure of perceived stress. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 24, 385-396.

Garcia, E., & Weiss, E. (2020). COVID-19 and student performance, equity, and U.S. education policy: Lessons from pre-pandemic research to inform relief, recovery, and rebuilding. Economic Policy Institute. Retrieved 10 January 2021, from https://www.epi.org/publication/the-consequences-of-the-covid-19-pandemic-for-education-performance-and-equity-in-the-united-states-what-can-we-learn-from-pre-pandemic-research-to-inform-relief-recovery-and-rebuilding/.

Helping Children Cope With Changes Resulting From COVID-19. National Association of School Psychologists (NASP). (2020). Retrieved 10 January 2021, from https://www.nasponline.org/resources-and-publications/resources-and-podcasts/school-climate-safety-and-crisis/health-crisis-resources/helping-children-cope-with-changes-resulting-from-covid-19.

Jenkins, Paul [Live on Purpose TV]. (2020). 5 Mental Health Coping Skills | COVID-19 Anxiety [Youtube Channel]. Retrieved 10 January 2021, from https://youtu.be/BRgOHVPMCmQ.

Kroenke, K., Spitzer, R. L., Williams, J. B., & Löwe, B. (2009). An ultra-brief screening scale for anxiety and depression: the PHQ-4. Psychosomatics, 50(6), 613–621. https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.psy.50.6.613

Perceived Stress Scale 4 (PSS-4). (2015). [PDF]. Retrieved 10 January 2021, from https://ohnurses.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Perceived-Stress-Scale-4.pdf.

PHQ-4: THE FOUR-ITEM PATIENT HEALTH QUESTIONNAIRE FOR ANXIETY AND DEPRESSION. (2016). [PDF]. Retrieved 10 January 2021, from https://www.oregonpainguidance.org/app/content/uploads/2016/05/PHQ-4.pdf.

Pickens, I. (2020). Virtual Signs of Serious Mental Health Problems: A Teacher’s Guide to Protecting Students - EdSurge News. EdSurge. Retrieved 10 January 2021, from https://www.edsurge.com/news/2020-10-07-virtual-signs-of-serious-mental-health-problems-a-teacher-s-guide-to-protecting-students.

Radwan, E., Radwan, A., & Radwan, W. (2020). The Mental Health of School Students and the COVID-19 Pandemic. Aquademia, 4(2), ep20020. https://doi.org/10.29333/aquademia/8394

Resources for Helping Kids and Parents Cope Amidst COVID-19. Aacap.org. (2020). Retrieved 10 January 2021, from https://www.aacap.org/AACAP/Families_and_Youth/Resource_Libraries/covid-19/resources_helping_kids_parents_cope.aspx.

Steele, T. (2021). Virtual High School Counseling | American School Counselor Association (ASCA). Schoolcounselor.org. Retrieved 10 January 2021, from https://www.schoolcounselor.org/school-counselors/professional-development/learn-more/virtual-high-school-counseling.

Thakur A. (2020). Mental Health in High School Students at the Time of COVID-19: A Student's Perspective. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 59(12), 1309–1310. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaac.2020.08.005

Treleaven, K. (2020). Teachers, How Can We Care for Our Mental Health Right Now?. WeAreTeachers. Retrieved 10 January 2021, from https://www.weareteachers.com/mental-health-during-covid/.

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Resource List for Students, Parents, and Teachers

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Resource List for Students, Parents, and Teachers

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Resource List

Teachers

Signs of Mental Health Concerns

https://www.edsurge.com/news/2020-10-07-virtual-signs-of-serious-mental-health-problems-a-teacher-s-guide-to-protecting-students

Taking Care of your Mental Health

https://www.weareteachers.com/mental-health-during-covid/

Parents

Helping Children Cope

https://www.nasponline.org/resources-and-publications/resources-and-podcasts/school-climate-safety-and-crisis/health-crisis-resources/helping-children-cope-with-changes-resulting-from-covid-19

Parenting Resources

https://www.aacap.org/AACAP/Families_and_Youth/Resource_Libraries/covid-19/resources_helping_kids_parents_cope.aspx.

Students

5 Ways to Cope

https://youtu.be/BRgOHVPMCmQ

Free Online Webinar for Coping Skills

https://www.apa.org/education/coping-webinar-students

School Counselors

Administering Scales and Questionnaire: Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-4) and the Patient Health Questionnaire for Depression and Anxiety (PHQ-4)

https://ohnurses.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Perceived-Stress-Scale-4.pdf

https://www.oregonpainguidance.org/app/content/uploads/2016/05/PHQ-4.pdf

Guide to Virtual School Counseling

https://www.schoolcounselor.org/school-counselors/professional-development/learn-more/virtual-high-school-counseling

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5 Mental Health Coping Skills | COVID-19 Anxiety

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Wow.

If you’re anything like me, you’re experiencing a lot of different emotions right now. But chances are we are all marveling at how different the world looks than it did a few weeks, days, even hours ago. Big events canceled. Travel bans. School closures. Toilet paper becoming the nation’s hottest commodity.

This post is not about health measures or containment or COVID-19 symptoms. It’s not about curriculum or technology recommendations or teaching remotely. I’m not going to talk about flattening the curve or social distancing or exponential growth. There are 900 million other articles, posts, and podcasts for that.

This is about taking care of yourself and your mental health during COVID.

I love teachers, and even in the best of times I’m concerned about our self-care. But now, at a time when we’re all taking on the stress, anxiety, and fears of how a global pandemic will affect our children, it’s more critical than ever to remember that we cannot effectively take care of other people if we are not taking care of ourselves.

1. Be kind to yourself.

We are all learners here. This situation is new for all of us, and that means new emotions, new reactions we didn’t know we’re capable of, new fears, new bodily functions (hello, stress burps, I guess you’re a thing now). Would you be hard on the young people in your classroom learning new, tough information? Of course not. So don’t put any more pressure on yourself to learn this new way of living than necessary.

Also, I’m going to say something that could be controversial here: I don’t think those of us teaching remotely should exhaust ourselves trying to drum up ways to make learning exactly the same or better as it was in our classrooms before we left. Will we have to do things differently? Yes. Could this be an awesome opportunity for all of us to learn platforms and tools? Yes. But are our students already dealing with more stress than we could imagine? ALSO YES. They are a a generation who is aware of EVERYTHING because of the Internet and social media. But their frontal lobes are still developing, leaving them with tons of information but perhaps not a lot of emotional capacity to handle or process this in a healthy way. In short: don’t put more pressure on yourself than necessary to put on a dog-and-pony show during tough times. Simple is OK.

2. Keep your hands busy.

One of the best pieces of advice I ever received when I was super anxious a few years ago was to keep my hands busy. There’s science behind it, I promise. And, when I’m doing something tactile, it’s hard for me to think too hard about anything, really. And not in the way that I zone out when I’m scrolling Instagram like a zombie, but more of a mellowing out that happens when I truly plug into creativity. My top recommendations:

Puzzles! Y’all. I’m obsessed. My favorite brands are Galison and Mudpuppy. (Yes, I have puzzle brands.)

Embroidery. Look up this old-made-new trend on Pinterest. So many fun ideas!

Calligraphy

Other recommendations: making bread or something else hand-intensive, drawing a mandala, painting or making a collage, playing an instrument (what a great time to learn on YouTube!)

3. Move your body.

Don’t worry about strenuous exercise right now if that’s not your jam. But I think it’s good for all of us to make moving a regular habit (especially if we are teaching remotely and not up out of our seat all the time like a regular school day). Go for a walk if you can. Take a fitness class on YouTube (Yoga with Adriene is a personal fave). Have an impromptu dance party to your favorite song. Ultimately just get the blood flowing and the endorphins pumping.

4. Calm your mind.

This looks different for all of us, but it’s super important to give your mind a break from the barrage of information out there. I don’t know if there has been a better time to download the Calm app (it’s free for teachers!) With guided meditations, nature playlists, relaxing songs, and bedtime stories, you’ll wish you’d have done it a long time ago. But whatever you do, try not to simply distract yourself, but truly disconnect and let your mind “be” for a while. It’s working overtime these days.

5. Laugh.

A global pandemic is obviously very serious. But so is your mental health during COVID. As anyone who has ever cared for a family member with Alzheimer’s will tell you, sometimes you have to laugh in the midst of a terrible thing. Gloria Gaynor washing her hands to “I Will Survive.” Relatable tweets like this one:

me and my coworkers logging into all of our meetings remotely for the next couple of weeks pic.twitter.com/fpOYiHJLcl

— isha (@ikasliwal) March 9, 2020

But if you’re overwhelmed with COVID-19 information—even humor—this is my official plug for the TV show King of the Hill on Hulu. I did not think I would find this show funny, and I have laughed myself to tears. You’re welcome in advance.

6. Stay connected in the right ways.

Use the technology we do have—FaceTime, WhatsApp, Skype—to check in with people remotely. Kelly Wickham Hurst, an educator I follow on Twitter (@mochamomma) had a great suggestion of using each other’s names as often as possible when in social isolation. Check in on your neighbors, the elderly people you know (especially those living alone), and others in vulnerable populations. And if social media is overwhelming you, by all means, disconnect for a while. You will know when you’re overwhelmed. You’ll be at the grocery store and see a long line of people waiting to grind coffee, and you’ll turn to your fiancé with wild eyes and say, “I can’t do this!” Or at least that’s what I did.

How are you taking care of your mental health during COVID closures? Come and share in the WeAreTeachers HELPLINE group on Facebook.

Plus, why online learning doesn’t need to be perfect right now.

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Teachers, How Can We Care for Our Mental Health Right Now?

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We’re living through history, and the emotions are intense.

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Guide to Virtual School Counseling for School Counselors

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Guide to Virtual School Counseling for School Counselors