Mental Health in Schools by Lucy Patterson https://padlet.com/lpatterson19/a4v1fuh2k45f en-us 2018-08-16 18:51:13 UTC 2026-02-06 19:30:09 UTC hello@padlet.com https://padlet-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/icons/Lightdecrease.png lpatterson19 https://padlet.com/lpatterson19/a4v1fuh2k45f/wish/273580423 The best solution to fix the problem of unrecognized mental disorders is for teachers to have proper training so that they can be capable of recognizing when a child is suffering. If a teacher was to do something a simple as spend a few hours over a period of time to learn how to recognize signs of depression it would could seriously impact a kid's life. Once the teacher recognizes this, though, it is not their job to reach out to the student, because many of these students will believe that their teachers do not know what they are going and will not want to talk to them. It is the teacher's job, however, to inform the parent of the child that they think the kid is going through a hard time. A parent knows their own kid much better than a teacher does, and they know how to handle the situation more cautiously than a teacher. So the plan I am suggesting is simple, that teachers desperately need to get proper training so they can recognize a child in pain easily, and then they contact the parents. Hopefully in doing this, the parent will know what to do and they can help the child out, or at least get the kid help in a therapist or someone else they would be able to trust.]]> 2018-08-16 19:18:52 UTC https://padlet.com/lpatterson19/a4v1fuh2k45f/wish/273580423 lpatterson19 https://padlet.com/lpatterson19/a4v1fuh2k45f/wish/273592806 2018-08-16 20:08:24 UTC https://padlet.com/lpatterson19/a4v1fuh2k45f/wish/273592806 lpatterson19 https://padlet.com/lpatterson19/a4v1fuh2k45f/wish/273795760 2018-08-17 18:54:50 UTC https://padlet.com/lpatterson19/a4v1fuh2k45f/wish/273795760 lpatterson19 https://padlet.com/lpatterson19/a4v1fuh2k45f/wish/273795953 In public schools with thousands of kids, many of them can feel alone or friendless. This loneliness can lead to seriously low mental health, and eventually even to a mental illness. It is in these situations that a serious problem arises, a problem that schools everywhere should know how to deal with. The problem begins to be a continuous cycle for these kids who are struggling. They feel alone, then they feel even more helpless because no one around them knows what they are going through, so they can not talk to anyone, and after a period of time they have isolated themselves so much they start to feel depressed, or get anxiety, because they genuinely cannot handle normal social experiences. This is where teachers and school administrative staff come in. In an article about schools in California titled "New push for mental health training for teachers and principals",
it is stated that at a school with over 2000 children there is only one full-time nurse and one full-time mental health counselor. This shows how little prepared this school is to deal with the hundreds of children who could possibly have low mental health. The fact that they even have a mental health counselor is impressive though. At my old high school, White Station, there was no such thing. The guidance counselors were there, but they were really only used for disciplinary action. Large public schools all over the country have the same problem: not enough teachers with sufficient training in this area.
]]> 2018-08-17 18:55:47 UTC https://padlet.com/lpatterson19/a4v1fuh2k45f/wish/273795953 lpatterson19 https://padlet.com/lpatterson19/a4v1fuh2k45f/wish/273796293 Obviously the biggest barrier that comes with this potential solution is funding in large schools. Big public schools do not have enough money to pay for all of their teachers to get this kind of training. Also, many teachers are already overworked as is, and they do not need any more stress brought into their lives. So the two main barriers are a time constraint and budget problems.]]> 2018-08-17 18:57:17 UTC https://padlet.com/lpatterson19/a4v1fuh2k45f/wish/273796293 lpatterson19 https://padlet.com/lpatterson19/a4v1fuh2k45f/wish/275097824 In the article linked below, an example of a school where all the teachers are trained to be able to recognize mental health problems is mentioned. So it shows that even though it takes a lot of planning and hard work, it can be done. Once schools have most to all of their staffs trained in mental health problems in teens the rate of mental disorders should go down. As stated in the argument, the teachers need to contact the parent about what is going on. An alternative idea is to have several trained professionals in schools so students can talk to them, but that is not possible for schools with small budgets.]]> 2018-08-24 10:35:24 UTC https://padlet.com/lpatterson19/a4v1fuh2k45f/wish/275097824 lpatterson19 https://padlet.com/lpatterson19/a4v1fuh2k45f/wish/275114290 2018-08-24 12:46:01 UTC https://padlet.com/lpatterson19/a4v1fuh2k45f/wish/275114290