You are at your desk, thinking about an interaction with a student that leaves you troubled. Many things are running through your mind. Is this a big deal? Should I call someone about this? Can I help this student myself? Should I even get involved?
For many students, personal matters affect academic performance, so such interactions are significant and can be a reason to be involved. But these are complicated issues, in complicated times, and getting involved can feel intimidating, resulting in educator and school staff stress.
Students struggle with anxiety, depression, general emotional upset, thoughts of self-harm, physical illnesses, family problems, financial pressures, and others. And having minoritized identities tends to exacerbate these struggles. This can then leave students distressed and seeking your help.
Your response may be a conversation with the school counselor, school social worker, school administrator, or others in your building who work with distressed students every day. You are never alone! There are partners to support you in helping students find school mental health and well-being resources.
Master Class participant confidence increased in handling student mental health/well-being concerns in these areas:
Asking about students’ mental health concerns: from 39% to 81%
Assisting students considering suicide: from 19% to 77%
Recognizing students in distress: from 36% to 77%
Learning Goals
This workshop helps 9-12th-grade school staff respond to students in distress. Participants will learn:
language and practical skills to help navigate challenging interactions
signs of what distress looks like
how to gauge student emotionality
ideas of what to do and what not to do
simple language to assist with having the confidence to act when students struggle
Training Details
- Modality: In-person
- Length: 8 hours (can be split into two 4-hour sessions)
- Cost: $4,000 (+ cost of presenter's travel)
- Training Capacity: 10-person minimum; 30-person maximum
- Presenter: Barry Schreier, Ph.D., Director of Higher Education Programming, Scanlan Center for School Mental Health; Clinical Professor of Counseling Psychology, University of Iowa College of Education