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Mental Health in Schools: Introduction

© Marilyn Robb

Mental Health in Schools: Introduction

Once a week I am the guest speaker on a radio program called School Talk. My central theme for my segment of the program has been ‘Improving our schools through Social and Emotional Learning’. Of course I have provided information and thoughts on every aspect of emotions and their effects on teaching and learning, and Social and Emotional learning theory and skills generally.

However, I continue to have concerns about the fact that despite all the efforts globally to raise awareness of the importance of the affective domain in the classroom, the changes are still slow to come. Not only are they slow to come, but it looks sometimes as if the stress and distress are piling up in our schools and in our societies faster than we can tackle them and eliminate them.

I believe that if we examine the issue of mental health in schools from many angles and perspectives it will help us to understand what is happening and what is actually keeping back the progress. Why with all the programs that have been created and all the trainings and workshops being conducted in our schools are we still plagued with dilemmas such as increasing violence in the schools, unhappy and frustrated teachers, overcrowded classroom, unsolvable issues of special education, and such high levels of poor academic performance?

I have identified some of the factors that are impeding the work as follows:

· In our societies, and perhaps in other societies of the world there is not enough value placed on the emotions and emotional work. Emotions are dismissed as frivolous or something to be passed over as quickly as possible; they are ignored, shoved aside, even laughed at sometimes. Emotional work is not seen as crucial to survival as other things in our lives.

· The length of time required for this work to take effect. Most schools are pressured for time and find it hard to notice that it is possible to incorporate Social and Emotional Learning into their daily classroom activities. Also the process of change is a long term one. Many of us need quick fixes.

· It is sometimes hard to acknowledge and understand that mental health issues also refer to children. There is a false notion that only adults ‘suffer’ from mental issues, such as depression, stress, etc.

· There is not enough understanding or valuing of childhood and its effect on adulthood. There are many effects of childhood experiences that we carry through adulthood, such as sense of helplessness and worthlessness, sense of violation and shame. These originate in early childhood but are only manifested when the person has to go out into the world and survive on his own.

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