Mental Health and Wellness: Social Emotional Strategies for Students and Teachers, Grades K-12

Course Description

This course equips educators with a deep understanding of the mental health challenges students and teachers face. By addressing these challenges through the lens of social-emotional learning, educators develop practical skills to create nurturing, inclusive, and supportive classroom environments. As a result, they will be better prepared to enhance students’ well-being and their own, ultimately contributing to a healthier, more productive educational community.

This course delves into the critical intersection of mental health and education, comprehensively exploring the challenges and strategies surrounding mental health and wellness in the educational context.

Educators explore the impact of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) on students’ mental health and well-being. They learn to identify signs of ACEs, gain strategies for creating trauma-sensitive classrooms, and examine the prevalence of mental health challenges among students and the broader educational community.

The course also addresses the stigma surrounding mental health and ways to reduce it within educational settings. Educators will delve into the core concepts of social-emotional learning (SEL) and its role in promoting positive mental health. Through practical strategies for integrating social-emotional learning into classroom activities, educators learn how to implement techniques that promote mental health and well-being for students. The course explores the importance of self-awareness, self-regulation, empathy, and relationship-building in fostering students’ well-being.

Educators face many stressors in their profession, and the course includes strategies to help teachers maintain their mental health and wellness. The course concludes with an examination of self-care techniques, stress management, and strategies for building a supportive professional community.

Essential Questions

  • How do Adverse Childhood Experiences affect mental health?
  • What is the relationship between mental health and social-emotional learning?
  • What social-emotional learning strategies foster mental health and wellness in students?
  • What social-emotional learning strategies foster mental health and wellness in teachers?
Course Agenda

  1. Mental Health and Adverse Childhood Experiences
  2. Mental Health in Education
  3. Mental Health and Social-Emotional Learning
  4. Supporting Students’ Mental Health through Social-Emotional Learning
  5. Supporting Teachers’ Mental Health through Social-Emotional Learning
  6. Course Wrap Up
Course Syllabus

 

Danielson Teacher Framework Course Alignment

2a.

Creating an Environment of Respect and Rapport

2b.

Establishing a Culture for Learning

4e.

Growing and Developing Professionally