Mental health concerns, particularly those relating to children and youth, are increasing in number and complexity. In the face of this serious issue, how can we as educators help our students to be well—mentally, physically, and emotionally?

Beyond the media’s focus on symptoms and disorders, we are seeing a shift toward understanding that developing positive mental health is foundational to academic achievement, effective life skills, and overall well-being for all students. This book provides you with the research-based evidence, practical tools, and ready-to-use strategies to help create a culture of positive mental health in your classroom. It reveals how, by working together, teachers and the larger educational community can make a difference to a student’s mental health.

Features & Benefits

Educators have always been concerned with students’ well-being and healthy development. What is new is a recognition that we need to be

• more informed about mental health promotion
• more tactical about promoting healthy habits and addressing problems early
• more focused when using evidence-based strategies at the classroom, school, and community levels

How can this resource help you? The goal is to provide you with the research-based evidence, tools, and strategies to help support students’ healthy development in practical and effective ways. It is difficult to overstate the difference a teacher, or a school, can make in a child’s or youth’s mental health — not through expensive or sophisticated interventions — but through compassion, inclusion, encouragement, and effective instruction.