April 2005 Mental Health Curriculum in the Schools
Mental Health Curriculum in the Schools
A question often asked by student support personnel is “How can I get a mental health curriculum started in my school?” There is no easy answer when teachers cling to every moment of students’ time to prepare them for the end-of-grade testing. The Article of the Month addresses this question with two resources. One is from the fall 2004 edition of The Bell, the newsletter of the National Mental Health Association. The article, Lessons Learned: MHA Takes Mental Health Back to School (http://www.nmha.org/newsroom/bell/2004/fall2004/lessons.cfm), is an interview with the Executive Director of the Mental Health Association of Tarrant County (Texas). This local MHA has developed “a mental health education curriculum, based on a public health model, that is fully integrated into general school curriculum.” Read about the early success of the curriculum.
The second resource is from the 4/4/2005 edition of MENTAL HEALTH IN SCHOOLS PRACTITIONER LISTSERV, published by the Center for Mental Health in Schools at UCLA (http://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/).
Question:
Could you please steer me towards developmentally appropriate curricula to use
with students in school settings? I would like to see our guidance counselors
and school social workers become more proactive in addressing the
social-emotional needs of our students.
Response:
For links to a wide range of curriculum resources related to social and emotional learning go to our Quick Find online clearinghouse topic Mental Health Curriculum (http://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/qf/p2311_01.htm).
In addition to specific links to curricula, you will also see links to other Centers that focus on this topic. Note that the Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning (CASEL) (http://www.casel.org) has done an extensive review of the nationally available curriculum for classrooms that promote social and emotional learning. The document is Safe And Sound: An Educational Leader's Guide to Evidence-Based Social and Emotional Learning Program (http://www.casel.org/projects_products/safeandsound.php).