This article explores the importance and value of using recreation therapy (RT) as a way to increase social connection. RT can be incorporated into a school-based environment through a collaboration between members of the individualized education program (IEP) team, including physical educators.

While youth sports can come with numerous mental health benefits, there can also be some risks. Understanding mental health in the context of youth sports involves recognizing the psychological pressures and challenges unique to this environment. This article describes a coaching model that coaches can use to teach coping strategies and…

Platt outlines some simple but effective strategies to help students who are struggling with trauma. She relies on her own personal story with trauma to influence how she identifies and helps students who are struggling and offers tips on how to show love, stay calm, and be consistent when dealing with students who may be having a meltdown, acting…

How can educators regain a sense of control during these tumultuous times? Author and school counselor Phyllis Fagell identifies six ways to cope and be a reassuring source of strength for students when the only constant right now is change.

With the widespread prevalence of trauma in schools due to adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and exacerbated by COVID-19, teachers are faced with a myriad of challenges, both in their professional and personal lives. Resilience can help teachers cope with these challenges. Resilience is the ability to adapt well, cope, and rebound in the face…

The Phoenix Players Theatre Group (PPTG) was founded in 2009 by incarcerated men at the Auburn Correctional Facility in Upstate New York. This article explores PPTG's work using Nicholas Mirzoeff's (2011) theory of the 'right to look' in order to understand how prison theatre functions within and against the visual regime of carcerality. This…

It's time to make your mental bandwidth work for you. Being an educator is more stressful than ever, and teachers and administrators must constantly shift gears. You can do a quick self-check and begin fueling your brain energy: take the Educator Bandwidth Survey. "Educator Bandwidth: How to Reclaim Your Energy, Passion, and Time"…

Three academics reflect on how to stay positive during the COVID-19 pandemic. Sarah Higginbotham finds that some of her most heartening experiences during this time have been while enacting unrehearsed Zoom Shakespeare plays with colleagues and students. She usually experiences telepresence events as rather flattened interactions, while insulated…

Space is the product of spatial and social relations (Massey 2005). Educators are constantly moving in and out of physical or virtual spaces in classrooms. In geography education particularly, space is integral to teaching and learning. For example, students situate spatial knowledge within social contexts to make sense of geographical concepts…

Consultant and speaker Baruti Kafele talks frankly about his challenges to be healthy mentally and physically when he was a school principal and gives advice for leaders who are struggling with the mental balancing act.

The purpose of this self-directed learning (SDL) project for my doctoral level "Adult Learning in Social Contexts" class in the fall of 2018 was to develop an idea to use photography, music, and writing to tell a person's trauma story. Memory Narratives (MN) as a creative method for women survivors of abuse returning to college (WSARC)…

The dissolution of adolescent romantic relationships can lead to a host of detrimental mental health, academic, and social issues for students. The purpose of this article is to discuss specific ways in which school counselors, using direct and indirect services can support students experiencing the trauma of a severed relationship. The article…

This paper presents a unique school-based programme that harnesses the benefits of both trauma-informed practice (TIP) and outdoor environments to support children's social and emotional wellbeing throughout the pandemic and beyond. In the opening sections of the paper, we discuss the extant literature and conceptual underpinning of TIP and…

The COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically changed the job requirements of school leaders and has negatively impacted the academic outcomes for students (Kuhfeld et al., 2020). As a result of the ongoing demands and stress caused by this pandemic, school leaders are at an increased risk for physical and mental health problems (Boyatzis & McKee,…

This reflection on practice provides a foundation for understanding the impact of Hurricane Harvey on teachers and children across the Texas Gulf Coast. It also documents the emergence of a professional development initiative born when early childhood teacher educators in the community outreach arm of a major university sought to provide immediate…