The COVID-19 pandemic and the closure of schools shone a spotlight on the issue of student mental health. Rates of depression and anxiety among youth skyrocketed, resulting in an increase in emergency room visits related to youth mental health. While children and youth were reporting the need for behavioral health supports prior to the pandemic,…

Excessive workloads, crammed schedules, and "perfectionism" are causing today's teens undue stress. Cathy Vatterott, an international expert on K-12 homework, describes this as an epidemic of "rudderless box checkers--four AP classes, check; debate team, check; two sports, check; honor roll, check." What can educators do then…

The majority of school-age children with or displaying characteristics of a mental health disorder do not independently seek help, often go undiagnosed or undetected, and fail to receive treatment or intervention leaving them susceptible to and at risk for poor school and life outcomes. In response to these concerns and in an effort to improve the…

Scholarship on students who enter college without a declared major indicates that this population of students faces unique challenges (Anderson, 1985; Beal & Noel, 1980; Lewallen, 1993), but also may be more likely to persist to graduation and earn higher grades than those who enter college with a declared major (Lewallen, 1995). Based on…

Educating for human rights and justice requires attention to the well-being of those being prepared to pursue these aims. This article describes an MSW program's implementation of teaching self-care as a core practice skill. This curricular innovation stems from the increasing literature documenting the deleterious effects of burnout in…

Community based programmes for adolescents receiving mental health services have been previously linked with the effective acquisition of knowledge, change in perceptions and attitudes, as well as change in behaviours. This article will detail how the new Teen Life Skills Programme was able to address some of the barriers and equip the…

This article describes the Attachment Vitamins program, a trauma-informed parent group intervention for families with young children. Attachment Vitamins is a relational psychoeducational intervention based on the principles of Child-Parent Psychotherapy (CPP). Its goal is to repair the impact of chronic stress and trauma through strengthening the…

The following paper describes the rationale for creating an online therapy program of cognitive behavioral therapy, or CBT, for students at the University of Florida who are struggling with stress and anxiety. In addition, the paper discusses the unique challenges of the instructional design process of creating psychoeducational materials through…

The Teacher Incentive Fund (TIF) was first authorized in 2006 to support efforts to develop and implement performance-based compensation systems for teachers and principals in high-need schools. The authorizing statue specifies that grantees' performance pay systems are to provide incentives based on gains in student academic achievement,…

Anxiety disorders in youth are common and, if left untreated, can lead to a variety of negative sequelae. Randomized clinical trials have demonstrated that cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) is an efficacious treatment for anxiety disorders in youth with preliminary evidence showing that CBT can be successfully transported into schools. The…

Healthier, happier teachers promote healthier, happier, and more effective learning environments. Yet, many teachers experience considerable stress. Studies have found that between one fifth and one fourth of teachers frequently experience a great deal of stress (Kyriacou, 1998). Stress in teaching appears to be universal across nations and…

Childhood anxiety is a common condition which, if untreated, can cause considerable distress and impairment and increase the likelihood of mental health problems in adulthood. Developing good emotional health in children is therefore an important objective which has been emphasised in recent governmental initiatives and policies. In particular,…

This article analyzes a social statistics class that engaged in self-grading. Students liked self-grading because they identified their own mistakes, it reinforced what they learned, and they received immediate feedback. Some students worried that others would cheat, but this assertion was not confirmed in the data and the possibility of cheating…

Offers suggestions and strategies designed to enhance skills for planning, motivating, and implementing organizational change for librarians assuming the role of change agent. Highlights include the human side of change, including fear and anxiety; and a process model of change that includes three stages: endings, transitions, and new beginnings.…

A committee of students, faculty, and administration at the Pennsylvania College of Podiatric Medicine developed a program designed to encourage a climate at the college conducive to maintaining a high morale. The program is described and results of the Medical School Learning Environment Questionnaire are outlined. (MLW)