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Educators are seeking for ways to support students with mental health issues both at home and at school, from the smallest stressors to the biggest stressors educators are looking for ways to better support their students and their mental health. 

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Educators are seeking for ways to support students with mental health issues both at home and at school, from the smallest stressors to the biggest stressors educators are looking for ways to better support their students and their mental health. 

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Meeting the Mental Health Challenge in School and at Home (Published 2022)

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From kindergarten through college, educators are experimenting with ways to ease the stress students are facing — not only from the pandemic, but from life itself.

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Post COVID, many blamed our students mental health issues on a worldwide pandemic, this article claims that the pandemic allowed for mental health issues to be revealed by struggling and vulnerable students not knowing how to seek council.

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Post COVID, many blamed our students mental health issues on a worldwide pandemic, this article claims that the pandemic allowed for mental health issues to be revealed by struggling and vulnerable students not knowing how to seek council.

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The bottom line on student learning today is this: "You can't teach if you're not addressing mental health," says Rene Myers, an intervention specialist in St. Paul, Minn.

Myers has been working in public education for more than 33 years. Over the decades, the mental health needs of her students have grown, and grown, and grown, she says. The pandemic, coupled with decades of inaction by school boards and state legislators, has only made things worse.

About 214,000 U.S. children have lost a parent to COVID-19. They're adrift, grieving. Many other parents and caregivers lost their jobs. Today, 17 million U.S. children struggle with hunger-about 6 million more than before the pandemic. On top of that, recent years have reinforced how much this nation still struggles with racism and antiLGBTQ+ hatred.

So when Myers sat down at the bargaining table this year, seeking to negotiate a new contract between the St. Paul Federation of Educators (SPFE) and her school district, her number-one priority was students' mental health.

"To know what our students and staff have gone through in the past two years ... to say we don't need mental health supports? It's like saying you don't need air. It's unimaginable!" she said.

In February, St. Paul educators voted to strike. Then, in early March, just hours before hitting the streets, union negotiators reached an agreement to preserve the mental health teams that SPFE won during 2020 bargaining. Those teams include counselors, nurses, social workers, and school psychologists in every St. Paul school.

These professionals are essential to providing students with what they need, says Myers.

From Bad to Worse

In the past year, even as the nation has returned to "normal" life, the latest research shows that many students are still living in a state of mental health crisis. This data isn't at all surprising to educators and parents.

"Of course we see advanced need! On top of the pandemic, everything happening with the economy also is impacting our families," says Theresann Pyrett, a Michigan middle school teacher and president of the West Ottawa Education Association (WOEA). "It's like a perfect breeding ground for mental health issues to develop."

In an April poll, nearly three-quarters of U.S. parents said their child would benefit from mental health counseling-up from 68 percent in 2021. Additionally, about a third said their child has recently shown symptoms of mental health issues, including anxiety (19 percent) and depression (13 percent).

Among parents of students with disabilities-including learning, developmental, and physical challenges-almost a third said their child has anxiety, and rates of depression are higher as well.

"The biggest misconception is that COVID makes people mentally ill. From my point of view, COVID unmasked people who have underlying vulnerabilities," said John Walkup, chair of the behavioral health department at Chicago's Lurie Children's Hospital, in an interview with the New York Times.

Before the pandemic, between 2016 and 2019, the number of children diagnosed with anxiety rose by 27 percent, while depression diagnoses rose by 24 percent. But recently, it's worse than ever.

In the past year, 15 percent of teens suffered at least one major depressive episode- that's an additional 306,000 teens over the previous 12 months, according to the 2022 data from Mental Health America. On top of that, nearly two-thirds of teens with major depression say they haven't gotten any help.

Demanding Help for Students

In West Ottawa, the local union is making sure students get what they need. That includes using local property tax revenues to hire 10 additional mental wellness coaches throughout the district and using federal pandemic relief funds to hire 16 additional interventionists.

WOEA leaders work closely with district administrators, all asking the same question: What's best for students?

"One thing I keep repeating, over and again, is that more hands on deck makes for a lighter load," Pyrett says. "We're focused on picking up kids-and if you have more hands to pick those kids up, it's so beneficial for those kids."

The Biden administration's pandemic relief plans have made the largest-ever, single investment in public schools. Now educators are making sure that money is used for the counselors, social workers, school psychologists, behavioral coaches, etc., that students need to be successful.

Unions also are bargaining contracts that include those supports. In Minneapolis, educators went on strike this spring for more than two weeks, finally settling a deal that doubles the number of nurses and counselors in elementary schools and provides a social worker in every school.

"Don't Say Gay" - Or Trans, Either

Maybe the most alarming figure in recent mental health data is this: Nearly half of young LGBTQ+ people have considered ending their lives in the past 12 months, according to a survey of 34,000 young people by the Trevor Project.

Among those young people with suicidal ideas, more than half are transgender and nonbinary youth and nearly half are Black. (Nonbinary is a term for people who do not identify as male or female.)

The numbers are troubling, but not surprising to Palm Beach County, Florida high school teacher Michael Woods. "Especially here in Florida, with the ' Don't Say Gay ' law, which should also be called 'Don't Say Trans,' we have a lot of kids in stress," Woods says. "They're just coming back to the rigors of school [after the pandemic]-and now this!"

The Florida law enables parents to sue school districts if they think their child has had inappropriate instruction on gender and sexuality. The cost of litigation will be borne by districts, which are already beginning to remove curricula on these topics.

Anti-gay laws are also spreading far beyond Florida. In Texas, Gov. Greg Abbott has ordered teachers to report parents of transgender youth for child abuse if the parents seek gender-affirming care for their child. NEA and state educators unions have spoken out against these laws.

For his part, Woods-an educator of 29 years-isn't afraid. He wears his "We're All Human" T-shirt and answers his students' questions. But he worries about younger teachers with less job security, living in more conservative areas.

"I tell the kids, I'm always here for you. I'm always a safe space for you. I'm not giving up on you, and you shouldn't give up on yourself," he says. "When young people don't feel like they have anywhere to turn or anyone to talk to ... well, I know why the stats are the way they are."

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Mental Health in Schools: The Kids Are Not All Right | NEA

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As students' mental health needs rise, so do educators' demands for help.

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Although the threat of school violence has decreased, measures have been put in place to maintain the safety of students on school grounds at all times. 

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Although the threat of school violence has decreased, measures have been put in place to maintain the safety of students on school grounds at all times. 

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Introduction

School safety includes programs, behaviors, and risk reduction efforts that serve to improve students' well-being and help them succeed within a safe environment. Some schools have adopted deterrence-based approaches for improving safety, such as zero-tolerance policies, while others have invested in technology, such as metal detectors and security cameras. Others have taken preventative approaches, such as school- or community-based violence prevention programs. Schools may also combine multiple approaches. Though the overall evidence base for what works in school safety is somewhat limited, research has found that addressing and improving school climate, targeting bullying behavior, and using research and evidence to guide violence prevention are some of the critical steps for creating and maintaining a safe learning environment for students.

School Climate

Safety (e.g., physical safety, social-emotional safety)

Relationships (e.g., respect for diversity, social support)

Teaching and learning (e.g., social, emotional, ethical, or civic learning)

Institutional environment (e.g., physical surroundings, resources)

School improvement process (e.g., continuous improvement, action planning)

Research indicates student perceptions of school climate can vary based on gender identity, race or ethnicity, grade level, and sexual orientation. Specifically, students with emotional or behavioral disorders, those who identify as gender non-conforming or LGBTQ+, and people of color may perceive a more negative school climate related to experiencing discrimination, bullying, or harassment. Researchers have emphasized that strategies to improve school safety must consider school climate, student demographics, and individual school factors when pursuing safety interventions.

Bullying

The most common definition of bullying is "unwanted, aggressive behavior among school aged children that involves a real or perceived power imbalance." In many definitions, the behavior must be repetitive or ongoing and not one-time arguments or fights, but other researchers have suggested that since singular incidents of bullying behavior can be immensely harmful, redefining the concept to include intensity, as well as frequency, may be important. Research studies measure bullying via self-report, parent or teacher reports, and peer assessments, though bullying behavior is often hidden from adult supervision, creating challenges in measuring its actual prevalence.

According to self-report surveys collected by the World Health Organization (WHO), bullying prevalence varies between countries. Surveys indicated between 0.3% and 30% of students reported perpetration during the 2017-2018 school year, while between 0.5% and 32% reported victimization. The WHO also found bullying victimization decreased with age and that boys were more likely to report physical bullying behavior. Finally, boys and girls reported equal physical victimization, while girls reported increased cyberbullying victimization.

Bullying can reinforce a negative school climate and decrease students' feelings of safety and belonging. Previous research has also linked bullying and violent behavior; bullies may be more likely to perpetrate teen dating violence and may be at increased risk of developing social problems and displaying aggression toward others. While bullied students do not always demonstrate violent behavior, a portion of those who have been victimized may engage in aggressive or retaliatory behavior and may be at higher risk for mental health disorders, such as depression and anxiety. One study that examined the effects of bullying on a large birth cohort of 9,242 participants found those who were bullied as children were more likely to access mental health services throughout their lives, demonstrating the long-term effects of bullying on mental health.

School Violence

School violence is a broad category encompassed by physical violence between students and/or teachers, violence involving parents or administrators, invisible violence involving threats, coercion and fear, and harms committed by institutions, such as discriminatory teaching practices or accommodating racism and homophobia. School violence is not limited to the school building; it can occur anywhere on school property, during travel to or from school, and at school-sponsored events.

Figure 1

Rate of Violent and Serious Violent Incidents in U.S. Public Schools per 1,000 Students

Source: Diliberti, M., Jackson, M., Correa, S., & Padgett, Z. (2019). Crime, violence, discipline, and safety in U.S. public schools. Findings from the school survey on crime and safety: 2017-2018. National Center for Education Statistics.

School-based homicides are rare. Over the past decade, less than 2% of youth homicides (ages 5 to 18) have occurred at a school (Figure 2). According to Borum et al. (2010), this indicates that the average school can expect a student homicide every 6,000 years. Researchers have found that schools are one of the safest locations for youth, as young people are more often killed in their home or out in their community.

Figure 2

Estimated Number of Youth Homicides by Location

Source: Snyder, T. D., de Brey, C., & Dillow, S. A. (2019). Digest of education statistics 2018 (NCES 2020-009). National Center for Education Statistics.

When school violence occurs, it can significantly contribute to a negative school climate, affect students' feelings of safety, and influence the development of mental health disorders. Even youth who are not directly involved in the violence may still be affected by violence exposure. Students who are exposed to school violence may begin to fear school, act more aggressively, be more likely to develop a children's mental disorder, or become involved with the juvenile justice system. School violence may also negatively impact academic achievement. Milam, Furr-Holden, and Leaf (2010) hypothesized that this may be because students who are fearful for their safety may have a reduced ability to focus on schoolwork.

School Shootings

As with other types of violence, there is no universal definition of school shooting. The K-12 School Shooting Database takes an inclusive approach and defines a shooting as "a gun is brandished, is fired, or a bullet hits school property for any reason, regardless of the number of victims (including zero), time, day of the week, or reason." Others, such as news stations or nonprofit organizations, use different definitions, such as a requirement of one or multiple victims. Elsass and colleagues (2016) noted some groups may also include accidental weapon discharges and suicides occurring on school grounds, creating added difficulty in determining how many shootings occur per year. However, in general, many researchers consider the definition used by Newman et al. (2004) the gold standard when defining a characteristic school shooting:

The shooting must occur on a school-related public stage in front of an audience.

The shooting must involve multiple victims, including some who are shot at random or for their symbolic significance.

The shooting must be carried out by one or more shooters who are or were students of the school.

Despite this standard, varying definitions have contributed to mixed findings on school shooting trends; some researchers have found that the number of shootings is on the rise, whereas others have noted stability over time. Some studies have found that school shootings have gotten deadlier (i.e., resulted in more victims).

Causes

Causes cited for school shootings include being a victim of bullying, seeking notoriety, playing violent video games, and, in particular, untreated mental illness. However, researchers have asserted that the causes of violent behavior are complicated and likely the result of numerous interrelated biological, social, and contextual risk factors. Many school shooters were not bullied and those who were bullied did not always target those who bullied them. Further, prior analyses have found that some shooters had normal grades, at least a few friends, and typical behavioral histories. Though research does not support the conclusion that any single factor can always explain why certain students become violent, researchers still note the vital importance of continuing to provide adequate mental health and social supports for students.

Impacts

Communities may feel collective guilt around the perception that they "allowed" violent events to happen. They also may be stigmatized by having their name associated with the shooting. Students who have experienced school shootings may have increased feelings of fear, develop post-traumatic stress disorder, or have reduced academic achievement, in addition to physical health consequences, such as injury or death. Some may experience survivor's guilt, a phenomenon where those who have survived traumatic experiences feel guilty for having done so and as if they should have done more to prevent or stop the experience from occurring. Other adverse consequences include potential increases in substance use and risk of suicide among students exposed to a school shooting, though limited scholarly research is available on this topic. Students who witnessed the Columbine High School shooting also noted some positive emotional experiences, such as increased affection between family members, following the incident.

Responses

Many schools have instituted emergency response protocols for reacting to an active shooter incident, and 95% of students nationwide participate in at least one lockdown drill each school year. These responses alone are often insufficient, offering no tools for prevention of such attacks. However, predicting individual acts of violence is impossible and would incorrectly classify students who may never become violent as dangerous. Researchers have discouraged the use of profiling to identify potential perpetrators, as the characteristics of previous shooters are common traits and can be found within a number of students. However, prior examinations of school shooting incidents have found that many perpetrators had, at some point, conveyed their intentions. Therefore, experts have suggested using threat assessment as a way to respond to persons who are exhibiting risk factors for violence.

Behavioral threat assessment is a method used for preventing potential violence before it occurs. Though initially applied within law enforcement agencies, such as the Secret Service, to investigate and respond to threats concerning high-profile political leaders, the method was adapted for school environments after a wave of school shootings throughout the 1990s that triggered inquiries into how these incidents could be prevented.

School threat assessment involves a team comprised of teachers, administrators, counselors, law enforcement, and other school personnel who investigate threats to determine the likelihood of such threats being carried out. Factors such as detailed planning, additional accomplices, possession of a weapon, and refusing mediation for a dispute may all increase the seriousness of a threat. Depending on the level of seriousness, different responses may be used by the threat assessment team, including conflict resolution, law enforcement intervention, a referral to mental health services, or safety planning (i.e., creating a formalized plan that addresses involved students' risks and is frequently reviewed and updated). School threat assessment can be used at all grade levels.

Though individual schools have created their own threat assessment guidelines, there is limited research on what has been effective in reducing violence. Previous controlled studies have indicated support for the Comprehensive School Threat Assessment Guidelines (CSTAG), which come with a detailed implementation manual and provide resources for thoroughly training threat assessment team members. The model also prioritizes mental health treatment, when appropriate, and discourages punitive discipline (e.g., zero-tolerance, suspensions). Schools that implemented the CSTAG experienced fewer suspensions, reduced bullying, and increased use of counseling services and parent conferences when compared to schools that administered their own threat assessments or no threat assessment.

More information on threat assessment costs and training can be found here.

Cornell, D. G., (2019). Overview of the Comprehensive School Threat Assessment Guidelines (CSTAG). University of Virginia.

Conclusion

School violence and school safety remain important issues not only for policymakers and researchers, but students, families, and school personnel. Though school violence continues to decrease, and school shootings remain incredibly rare, the significant effects of these occurrences warrant further research into how they can be prevented. Schools have moved quickly to implement prevention strategies such as threat assessment, but less is known about the effects of these methods on students. Improving school climate through efforts targeting bullying and harassment and providing adequate mental health and support services also are essential for a healthy school environment.

To read the second article in the school safety series, Programs and Practices to Prevent School Violence and Improve School Safety, click here.

The author would like to thank Dr. Jaclyn Schildkraut, Associate Professor of Criminal Justice at the State University of New York at Oswego, for her feedback on the article.

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ICJIA | Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority

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Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority

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The Biden Administration pushes for free lunches  for all students, aiding many families who are lacking the finances to provide for their children school lunch costs. 

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The Biden Administration pushes for free lunches  for all students, aiding many families who are lacking the finances to provide for their children school lunch costs. 

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School lunch is too costly for a growing number of families. Will a White House pledge help?

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The Biden administration just laid out a strategy to expand free meals to 9 million more students by 2032. School nutrition directors are urging universal meals for all - now.

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Through proper nutrition and physical activity, schools are put in a position to try and reverse the growth of child obesity that occurred during the 2020 Covid Pandemic. 

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Through proper nutrition and physical activity, schools are put in a position to try and reverse the growth of child obesity that occurred during the 2020 Covid Pandemic. 

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Anxiety, depression, and stalled social development are a few of the troubling developments that research has linked to the pandemic. Add obesity to that list.

Recent research has found a significant rise in obesity rates among children and teens over the course of the pandemic, accelerating an already troubling upward trend.

Schools, a key source of proper nutrition and physical education, are positioned to help head off this trend. But efforts to tackle the problem face stiff competition for educators' attention alongside the ongoing pandemic, staff shortages, and the need to make up for lost academic ground.

"It is concerning to me and all school nurses because the disease of obesity has some big impacts on the health and learning of children," said Kate King, the president elect of the National Association of School Nurses and a school nurse at World Language Middle School in Columbus, Ohio.

While school building closures, excessive amounts of screen time, and much less exercise likely fueled the rise in obesity among children during the first year or so of the pandemic, simply returning kids to in-person learning won't solve the problem, said King.

"It's not that easy to take that weight off again," she said. "I think it's going to be a longer haul-I don't think we're just going to even out again in a year."

King understands that the pandemic continues to drain resources from schools. The time school nurses would normally have spent conducting health screenings or creating programing to promote healthy eating and exercise among students has been gobbled up by pandemic-related tasks such as contact tracing and COVID-19 testing.

But educators must be purposeful about addressing the rise in obesity among school-aged children, she said.

Studies and surveys have found that children spent more time in front of a screen, ate more processed and fast foods, and spent less time exercising when school buildings were closed. All of that likely contributed to weight gain among children, suggests the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in a study published last fall. The study analyzed body mass index, or BMI, data on more than 432,000 children and teens ages 2 to 19 between August 2019 and August 2020.

The percentage of children and teens who were obese rose from 19 to 22 percent in just one year, an increase described by one of the study's authors as "substantial and alarming," according to the Associated Press. Children in preschool and elementary school, and kids who already had moderate or severe obesity before the pandemic, saw the biggest weight gains.

Obesity hurts kids' learning and mental health

Weight gain linked to the pandemic is not limited to the United States or just children and adolescents. Childhood obesity rates also increased substantially in the United Kingdom during the pandemic, and 42 percent of U.S. adults told the American Psychological Associatio n and The Harris Poll in a February 2021 survey they had gained more weight than they intended since the pandemic started. The median weight gain among those adults was 15 pounds.

Obesity can lead to several other negative health conditions in children -both physical and mental, according to the CDC-including high blood pressure and cholesterol, breathing problems, type 2 diabetes, anxiety, and depression.

King emphasized that physical movement, even just small breaks during class time to move around, is connected to learning and good mental health.

"We know that exercise releases endorphins, brain chemicals, that make us think and feel better," she said. "We know that taking those mental breaks, which can be physical as well, helps our brain to process what we are learning."

Obesity is an equity issue, too, said King, citing research that shows that Black and brown children are more likely to have obesity.

In addition, low-income families can find it particularly hard to get a good diet and enough exercise, said King. Kids with parents working multiple jobs might eat more cheap, processed foods, she said.

To make matters worse, King pointed out that children and teens who live in areas with high crime rates or near busy roads likely spend less time exercising; many extracurricular activities such as sports take time and money that low-income families simply don't have; and supply chain disruptions and rising food costs are only going to make these disparities worse.

What schools can do to combat obesity

Childhood obesity may look like too big of a problem for schools to tackle. Or maybe it's simply secondary to other more pressing crises caused by the pandemic. Even so, school health experts say there are small steps that educators can take to help students get more physical activity and better nutrition during the school day.

School leaders should get rid of vending machines filled with candy, chips, and soft drinks, and avoid using food as a reward, said King. They should also never take away recess from students to punish them for misbehavior.

Lunch should also follow recess in school schedules, not the other way around, said Jessica Shelly, the director of dining services for the Cincinnati public schools. Kids are more likely to eat their food if they have had a chance to run around and play before mealtime.

While the types of food schools serve are largely dictated by federal rules around providing nutritious meals to students ( and whatever they can procure with all the disruptions to the supply chain), there are other adjustments to the meal schedule schools can make to ensure kids are eating their food. One relatively easy adjustment is to extend mealtimes, said Shelly.

To address social distancing measures during the pandemic, the city's largest high school added one extra lunch bell and increased all other lunch periods to 40 minutes. As a result, participation in the school lunch program rose dramatically. "Participation doubled. Doubled! Because they had time to come down, come through the line, get a meal, eat the meal," said Shelly.

Healthier foods also take more time to eat, Shelly added, comparing chewing an apple to slurping down apple sauce.

"When you have a kid who has less than 10 minutes to eat a lunch, it is heartbreaking to see them try and shovel a salad into their mouths as they're walking to the trash," she said.

For teachers, there are many ways they can incorporate more physical activity into their classrooms, said Terri Drain, a longtime physical education teacher and the president of SHAPE America, a national organization of physical education instructors.

"Kids learn better after they get up and move," said Drain. "Insert some physical activity and power breaks, but also provide kids the opportunity to learn with movement."

That might mean using basketball to teach about inertia, force, and momentum; or a game of bowling to teach fractions by asking students to convert the number of pins they knocked down into a fraction.

Drain also recommends assigning discussion questions for students to tackle as they walk around the schoolyard in pairs instead of sitting at their desks, and giving homework that requires students to go outside instead of spending more time on a screen.

Those small movement breaks add up and can have a big impact, said King, the school nurse. She believes schools should make it a policy to set aside five minutes at the beginning of every class period to move around and stretch.

"All of this does make a difference," said King. "Just like teachers and staff and all of us modeling healthy behaviors, creating this culture of health in schools will stick with children for the rest of their lives."

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Child Obesity Grew During the Pandemic. How Schools Can Help Reverse the Trend

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Anxiety, depression, and stalled social development are a few of the troubling developments that research has linked to the pandemic. Add obesity to that list. Recent research has found a significant rise in obesity rates among children and teens over the course of the pandemic, accelerating an already troubling upward trend.

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Suicide prevention is being brought into discussion about providing students as young as 5 support to cope and battle mental health issues, suicide rates among children is on the rise and our education system is one outlet to help save a life. 

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Suicide prevention is being brought into discussion about providing students as young as 5 support to cope and battle mental health issues, suicide rates among children is on the rise and our education system is one outlet to help save a life. 

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If you are in crisis, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255), or contact the Crisis Text Line by texting TALK to 741741.
Teachers use a curriculum built around the dog to lead 5th graders though discussions of mental health, signs that they may have unhealthy feelings of sadness or hopelessness, and ways that they can both self-calm and find help for themselves or friends.

"A lot of adults view elementary school-aged kids as incapable of experiencing the level of emotional distress that could lead someone to consider suicide, but we know very objectively that's not true," said John Ackerman, a clinical pediatric psychologist and the suicide-prevention coordinator with the Center for Suicide Prevention and Research at Nationwide Children's Hospital.

Suicidal behavior among children can look significantly different from that among adolescents.

"Research shows now that young kids, as young as 5 or 6, understand that killing oneself leads to death, but they don't always understand the permanence of that," Ackerman said. "We know that young kids absolutely can be in deep, emotional pain. They can have a desire to die but not always fully understand the implications of that. So their behavior can be a lot more impulsive; moving from thought to action happens more swiftly."

Children with attention deficits or depression had a higher risk of suicide, but the National Institute of Mental Health found less than a third of children who die by suicide had a previously diagnosed mental illness. By contrast, about 40 percent of the children had family instability such as divorce, parent depression, or substance abuse, and a third of the children had experienced school disruptions-both problems that have worsened during the pandemic.

"Along with school shutdowns, ... the pandemic disrupted [parents'] livelihood, employment, and that family stability that younger children really need in their lives," said Ellyson Stout, the director of the Education Development Center's Suicide Prevention Resource Center. "So, you know, I think there's a lot of added stressors for younger populations."

Those stressors have heightened both the need and impetus to boost mental health supports and training for children and preadolescents, who historically have fewer school-based mental health supports than students in high schools. For example, in the first eight months of the pandemic alone, the CDC found the share of mental health emergencies-including suicide attempts, self-harm, and serious panic or depressive episodes-jumped by about a quarter for children 5 to 11 and nearly a third for those 12 to 17.

Communities of color and low-income communities have experienced disproportionate illness and financial instability during the pandemic and historically have had less access to mental health support. Suicides among children of color have risen disproportionately quickly both before and during the pandemic, prompting congressional concern. Compared to teenagers, preteens and younger children who die by suicide are more likely to be Black or male.

Averting early mental health issues

Nine states have enacted new suicide-prevention legislation involving schools since 2019, according to the Education Commission of the States, but only a few apply to younger children. Mississippi now requires all elementary and middle school teachers to receive training in children's mental health every two years, while Illinois, Washington, and Wisconsin require public schools to include contact information for suicide prevention on all student-identification cards. Several states have also moved to allow students to take excused mental health days.

"I do think early-childhood screenings should be asking about self-harm and suicide," said Deanna Barch, a professor and the chair of psychological and brain sciences at Washington University. "Asking can reveal the need for intervention and supports for a child with such thoughts even when they might not appear to be clinically depressed."

"Not surprisingly because of their age, children tend to be less able to verbalize thoughts of not wanting to be alive," Ackerman said. "A lot of times, younger kids think they're going crazy. It's a source of shame for them that they've even had [a suicidal] thought. They don't understand what's going on and so they hide this."

Children experiencing suicidal ideation may talk about "not wanting to be around anymore" or "going away and not coming back" rather than explicitly mentioning hurting or killing themselves, he said. Even more often, they may say nothing at all but instead show themes of violence or death in play or experience somatic behaviors like anxiety and irritability, stomachaches, and headaches.

"In a school setting, and certainly in an elementary school setting, mental health distress or stress can come out in certain behavioral issues in those students," Stout said. "And we know from the evidence that that kind of acting out often receives some more-punitive response if the young person is a person of color."

Moreover, Stout noted that many teachers have experienced trauma, stress, and burnout in the last few years and "teachers who also have experienced trauma, I'm not sure they're as equipped to bring a trauma-informed lens to their work with kids. ... So for kids acting out, the adults in the school may not be prepared to respond as constructively as they need to."

Experts say adults need to talk about mental health risks

If conversations are held in a developmentally appropriate and sensitive way, "it's not distressing for children to have an adult ask about [suicide], but typically adults avoid this topic. So if an adult is willing to be a trusted support, then it allows children to not hide these thoughts," Ackerman said.

That's why, in addition to providing suicide-prevention curriculum to elementary and middle school students, the Wolcott district trained all staff, from teachers and paraprofessionals to bus drivers and custodians, on how to recognize signs of depression and suicidal ideation among children and ensure every student has a "trusted adult" at school listed in case of emotional distress.

"It's a gatekeeper program. If a student comes up and has suicidal ideation or is talking about self-harm, [staff] are not really doing the counseling, but it's for the staff to recognize some of the language and the concerns and then refer to a counselor or a school psychologist," said Kevin Hollis of the Wolcott public schools.

"You should train anybody that kids have access to, because kids don't necessarily go to a teacher," Hollis said. "They may feel more comfortable and have a relationship with a custodian or somebody in the cafeteria or the bus driver."

In a nationally representative survey of school and district leaders conducted in January and February, 1 in 4 told the EdWeek Research Center that their districts have begun or expanded suicide-prevention training for staff and teachers since the start of the pandemic.

Studies do show that one suicide can raise the risk of other suicides among children and teenagers who knew or identified with the person in the community. Experts say it is important for educators and school leaders to actively respond to the death and give students the chance to grieve and discuss it.

"The fear of [suicide] contagion often causes schools to sort of go silent after there's a suicide death in the community," Stout said. While experts say memorials should be brief and not sensationalize the way a student died, "the best response is to act as you would if a young person had died of a car crash or cancer; allow the collective grieving."

Educators also can take the opportunity to make students aware of how they can get help if they have similar feelings of hopelessness.

"Young people who are in that level of distress usually feel a lot of relief at being able to talk about suicide. So asking, 'Are you thinking about ending your life?' it opens a door to a young person being able to express what they're going through," Stout said. "I think we all intuitively don't want to go there and are worried that we might be introducing the concept, but talking about suicide does not cause suicide."

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Suicide is Rising Among Younger Students. Here's How Schools Can Prevent Tragedy

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If you are in crisis, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255), or contact the Crisis Text Line by texting TALK to 741741. Teachers use a curriculum built around the dog to lead 5th graders though discussions of mental health, signs that they may have unhealthy feelings of sadness or hopelessness, and ways that they can both self-calm and find help for themselves or friends.

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Not all violence attempts towards schools can be prevented, one high school in Brooklyn experienced a school shooting where 3 had been shot, but expected to recover from the incident. 

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Not all violence attempts towards schools can be prevented, one high school in Brooklyn experienced a school shooting where 3 had been shot, but expected to recover from the incident. 

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In this edition of 'The Countdown,' we focus on a recent string of violence in schools among students.

Two students and a staff member at Williamsburg Charter High School were shot Wednesday afternoon in Brooklyn.

Thankfully, all three are being treated and are expected to physically recover.

In New Jersey, Eyewitness News reporter Michelle Charlesworth covered a tragic story involving bullying.

A 14-year-old girl died by suicide in Ocean County a day after girls in her class beat her up.

Her father and fellow classmates are now demanding accountability from the school.
If you are experiencing suicidal, substance use or other mental health crises please call or text the new three-digit code at 988. You will reach a trained crisis counselor for free, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. You can also go to 988lifeline.org. Mental Illness
Taking a closer look at the data, it can't be stressed enough how vulnerable young minds are to mental and emotional pain. Suicide is the second-leading cause of death among 15- to 24-year-olds. According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, one in five high school students report thoughts of taking their own lives, while nearly one in 10 have actually made an attempt. To help better understand the subject matter, we were joined by Dr. Scott Krakower, a child psychiatrist at Zucker Hillside Hospital.
Social media lawsuit interview
Last month, the Seattle Public School District filed a lawsuit against the social media giants, including the companies behind TikTok, Facebook and Instagram for causing the mental health crisis among young people. In recent years, the social media companies have been adding functions to allow for more parental supervision and to encourage healthy use of social media among teens. But that isn't stopping the lawsuits.

Investigative reporter Kristin Thorne recently spoke with attorney Matthew Bergman, the founder of the Social Media Victims Law Center based in Seattle. He told her his law center is representing more than 1,000 families across the U.S. and Canada who are filing lawsuits against the social media companies for causing harm to their loved ones.
You can watch 'The Countdown' live Monday-Friday at 6:30 p.m. on ABC7NY.com or our ABC7NY app on Roku, FireTV, Apple TV and Android TV.
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The Countdown: Violence in schools among students

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In this edition of 'The Countdown,' we focus on a recent string of violence in schools among students. Two students and a staff member at Williamsburg Charter High School were shot Wednesday afternoon in Brooklyn. Thankfully, all three are being treated and are expected to physically recover.

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Schools should play a significant role in discussing suicide prevention matters with students, utilizing resources to train proper individuals on how to discuss these matters and how to respond if there is a suicide case within the school. 

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Schools should play a significant role in discussing suicide prevention matters with students, utilizing resources to train proper individuals on how to discuss these matters and how to respond if there is a suicide case within the school. 

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Chef Anthony Bourdain, who was host of CNN's "Parts Unknown," died this week of an apparent suicide. (Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)

Suicide has been in the news this week - with designer Kate Spade and chef Anthony Bourdain taking their own lives, and new data showing that suicide rates in 49 states rose between 1999 and 2016. Adding to the horror: More than half of the suicides in 27 states were committed by people with no diagnosed mental health condition.

Suicide is the 10th-leading cause of death in the United States and the second-leading cause among people ages 15 to 34. There were twice as many suicides in this country in 2016 - nearly 45,000 - as homicides.

Suicide rates rise sharply across the United States, new report shows

Schools can and should play a big role in fostering discussion with young people about the subject, experts say, and should train personnel in suicide prevention as well as how to handle a crisis after a student's suicide.

To help with that, a group of organizations published a " Model School District Policy on Suicide Prevention: Model Language, Commentary, and Resources " (which you can see in full below). The program was created by the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention with the American School Counselor Association, the National Association of School Psychologists and the Trevor Project, which provides crisis intervention and suicide prevention services to LGBTQ youth.

And a resource titled "After a Suicide: A Toolkit for Schools," which was issued this year by the foundation and the Suicide Prevention Resource Center, provides guidance to school personnel on how to help students deal with the tragedy, work with the community and the media, and memorialize the student who died without contributing to emotional trauma or suicide risk among other students. (You can see it in full below.)

There are two key tasks for schools in preventing suicide among young people: identifying students at risk and referring them to a professional for assessment and evaluation, the foundation says. But most states do not require annual training.

There are now 11 states - Alaska, Delaware, Georgia, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Nebraska, North Dakota, Tennessee and Texas - that mandate annual suicide prevention training for school personnel, the foundation said. The required training is usually no more than two hours a year.

Washington D.C., plus 17 states - Arkansas, Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Mississippi, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia and Wyoming - mandate some training in suicide prevention for school personnel but do not say it must be done every year.

Fourteen states - Alabama, Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New York, Oklahoma, Rhode Island and Wisconsin - have laws that encourage suicide prevention training for school personnel but don't require it, the foundation said.

So how should schools approach the subject with students?

Thea Gallagher, clinical psychologist at the University of Pennsylvania's Center for the Treatment and Study of Anxiety, wrote the following for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention:

I value bringing awareness about mental health issues to the public. We know that talking about suicide and suicide prevention in productive ways is very important for both the individuals suffering from suicidal ideation, and the people who so desperately want to help them. Suicide can affect everyone. The good news is, there is room for all of us to get involved with suicide prevention.

School-based interventions that involve students, faculty and parents are one way we can promote and implement suicide prevention efforts. This work can begin with school administrators, but can easily extend to students and parents, as well.

So how do we start talking about suicide in our schools? And what are productive ways in which to do this?
One way is to create small groups for students to discuss difficult issues like mental health problems, family difficulties, interpersonal challenges and painful emotions. This is especially important as it is more likely that a student will report something to another student rather than to an adult. Helping establish relationships between students and faculty can also serve as a preventive measure with regard to suicidal ideation, violence, bullying, etc. Preventive measures should include promoting help-seeking, emotional well-being and networks of social support and "connectedness" among students, faculty and parents. After-school clubs and relationship-building activities are also ways to connect students to each other and provide alternatives to negative behaviors and isolation.

How do we implement preventive interventions?
It's important to enhance resilience and life skills among children and adolescents. Sponsoring mindfulness and stress reduction workshops can help individuals take control in managing their mental health. Providing information about self-help tools, coping and emotion regulation, and connecting students to apps they can use on their phones that assist in building these skills can help in the management of life stress and mental health challenges. Incorporating lessons about empathy, forgiveness and behavior management into curriculums can help expand one's insight and understanding. Other helpful interventions include showing kids how to reach out, encouraging them to do so, making care available and ensuring that asuicide hotline number is easily accessible. Teaching bullying prevention is also important, as it is linked to a variety of mental health issues, not just suicide.

What else can we do?
Identify students at risk! This includes prior attempts, misuse of drugs, family history of suicide, chronic illness or disability, and lack of access to mental health care. School-based screening programs that protect student identity while identifying the presence of suicidal ideation and risk factors can also help with suicide prevention. These screenings should include parents, school personnel and students in this process in a collaborative way. Screening should be done with efforts to educate and reach out to students regarding suicide in order to empower individuals to be aware of their own mental health as well as signs of people suffering around them.

Making concerted efforts to reach LGBTQ groups in schools is also critical, as stress from discrimination is a known risk factor for LGBTQ youth. It is important to educate students, parents and faculty as to the warning signs of suicide. These include but are not limited to suicide notes or plans, making final arrangements, preoccupation with death, changes in behaviors, thoughts and/or feelings.

How do we manage death by suicide?
In the event that someone dies of suicide in the school, plans for the presence of extra mental health counselors, grief groups, etc., should be established so that students and parents and faculty can talk, healthily process their feelings and support each other.

So what do we do now?
Start the conversation! The point is that social support and connection are key factors that buffer against suicide. In school and out, we should all strive to find more ways to communicate and connect about our own struggles and personal challenges . . . even when it is hard or uncomfortable.

Here's what a model school district policy on suicide prevention looks like, according to the program:

Protecting the health and well-being of all students is of utmost importance to the school district. The school board has adopted a suicide prevention policy which will help to protect all students through the following steps:
1. Students will learn about recognizing and responding to warning signs of suicide in friends, using coping skills, using support systems and seeking help for themselves and friends. This will occur in all health classes.
2. Each school will designate a suicide prevention coordinator to serve as a point of contact for students in crisis and to refer students to appropriate resources.
3. When a student is identified as being at risk, they will be assessed by a school-employed mental health professional who will work with the student and help connect them to appropriate local resources.
4. Students will have access to national resources that they can contact for additional support, such as:
* The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline - 800-273-8255 (TALK), suicidepreventionlifeline.org
* The Trevor Lifeline - 866-488-7386, thetrevorproject.org
5. All students will be expected to help create a school culture of respect and support in which students feel comfortable seeking help for themselves or friends. Students are encouraged to tell any staff member if they, or a friend, are feeling suicidal or in need of help.
6. Students should also know that because of the life-or-death nature of these matters, confidentiality or privacy concerns are secondary to seeking help for students in crisis.

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Suicide: How schools should approach the subject with students

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Suicide has been in the news this week - with designer Kate Spade and chef Anthony Bourdain taking their own lives, and new data showing that suicide rates in 49 states rose between 1999 and 2016. Adding to the horror: More than half of the suicides in 27 states were committed by people with no diagnosed mental health condition.

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Schools are focusing on providing positive and encouraging environments for their staff and students by having "school climate days".

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Schools are focusing on providing positive and encouraging environments for their staff and students by having "school climate days".

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School climate days can help teachers get more acquainted with resources available for students and better handle stressful situations in the classroom.

PORTLAND, Ore. - We've heard it over and over from teachers and other school staff. They say students have more needs than ever this year.

But this week, Portland educators got a day to focus on improving their school climate.

Elizabeth Thiel, president of the Portland Association of Teachers, said before the school year starts, educators typically have what's called a "school climate day." The purpose is to get on the same page about what supports are available to students and how teachers can get those supports to students if the situation arises.

"Because of COVID, that day to focus on school climate didn't happen before school started," said Thiel.

Margaret Calvert, a regional superintendent for Portland Public Schools (PPS), said the district touched on school climate at the beginning of the year, but a day with the intention that school climate be the focus didn't happen until this week.

With all the fights and outbursts in class this year, educators across the board have said kids need more help than ever managing their emotions and relationships.

"Due to subbing shortages, sometimes when there are conflicts between students, they [some of the larger middle and high schools] literally don't have staff to stop the conflict," said Jacque Dixon, a school climate specialist for PPS.

Dixon said stopping conflicts and facilitating productive conversations in the classroom, especially during an emotionally charged situation, is a skill that needs to be developed. School climate days can help teachers get more acquainted with what to do in those situations.

Dixon said on Monday, each school focused on their own specific issues.

"In some schools, they did a focus on self care," said Dixon. She said other schools focused on how to make sure certain supports were available to all students or what to do when students have higher need.

Dixon said while it's important for staff to have school climate days, it's also important to continue development.

"When we don't have continuity with the professional development, where it's not building on itself, then it's hard to have high expectations of educators as well if there's not a clear understanding of how they are supposed to be incorporating restorative justice into their classrooms and how are they supposed to be relying on supports," said Dixon.

Calvert said the district is trying to find ways to revisit topics related to school climate throughout the year.

As for the school climate day on Monday, Calvert said it was not only for building a more positive school climate through collaboration and promoting a sense of belonging and connectedness among students and staff, but part of the day was also for teachers to spend time planning.

"We want to break down the sense of isolation that teachers can sometimes feel, and so here's the space where you can really see the collective action, like here are our common agreements, here are the things we're in support students, here's how to access it, and we're doing this work together," explained Calvert.

But some teachers say the bigger issue that's preventing better support for students is the substitute shortage.

"A lot of our counselors and a lot of our social workers are substituting in buildings right now," said Beyoung Yu, an elementary school teacher in the district.

"It's created a huge strain in the sense that the social workers and these counselors aren't able to meet the supports of our students because they're filling other duties in our schools right now," he said.

The fix to that is not an easy on, Calvert said, but the district is continuing to hire substitute teachers in an effort to increase its substitute pool.

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'School climate day' focuses on creating supportive environment for educators and students

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School climate days can help teachers get more acquainted with resources available for students and better handle stressful situations in the classroom. PORTLAND, Ore. - We've heard it over and over from teachers and other school staff. They say students have more needs than ever this year.

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Schooling is not just about the academics, its about supporting students academically but also physically and mentally!!!

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Schooling is not just about the academics, its about supporting students academically but also physically and mentally!!!

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It Is Time to Rethink Student Supports in Schools - EdSurge News

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School isn’t just about academics. That’s perhaps the clearest lesson that emerged from the pandemic when it comes to education.To be a place where…