Two years ago I wrote a Reporter article to share my why (as in Sinek, 2011) – improving mental health outcomes for all students.  Since then I have participated in the National Interconnected Systems Framework (ISF) Targeted Workgroup and conducted doctoral research on this topic.  My three biggest takeaways are that we need to: (a) Start with why, (b) Demystify mental health, and (c) Leverage what works.

Starting with Why

Schools and communities have recently reported increases in students’ anxiety, acts of hate, drug abuse, and suicide.  Consequently, there’s a sense of urgency to remedy these critical challenges, challenges that were historically addressed outside of schools.  Six data points demonstrate our national context:

1) Approximately 20% to 33% of students are experiencing, or are at risk of developing, a mental health challenge (Centers for Disease Control, 2013).

2) That rate is expected to increase by more than 50% by 2020 (McIntosh, Ty, & Miller, 2014).

3) Only approximately 20% of students with a mental health challenge receive support (Duchnowski, 2013).

4) Of the students who do receive support, approximately 70% receive support in school (Duchnowski, 2013).

5) Schools are the primary provider of mental health supports to youth, followed by the juvenile justice system (Duchnowski, 2013).

6) Suicide is the second leading cause of death among adolescents (Heron, 2016).

Starting with why means putting student outcomes first and doing whatever it takes to achieve those outcomes.  I believe this is the first step toward improving all students’ mental health outcomes.  Students, families, communities, and schools identify requisite academic and cognitive skills for students’ school and community success, now and as adults.  Articulating those outcomes and skills and being driven by, and to, them is starting with your why.  Your compelling purpose guides you, not your resources or the way your school has always done things.  Discussions about improving students’ mental health within the school context is an essential first step toward improving students’ outcomes.

Demystifying Mental Health

Let’s apply the same why-logic to mental health and shift our perspective from remedying crises to teaching and growing critical life skills.  First, we need to understand what comprises mental health; i.e. social, emotional and behavioral skills (The Center for Health and Health Care in Schools, 2014).  Second, we can identify across these three areas the student outcomes, now and as adults, that are important to students, families, community, and school.  Third, we must juxtapose our academic and cognitive why with our mental health why to see how these domains are aligned and interconnected, and how each thrives with the support of the other.

Leveraging what Works

Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) and Explicit Instruction (EI) are two of schools’ most efficacious systems and practices.  Leveraging PBIS’s tiered prevention logic helps us view mental health skills as something we can teach, acknowledge, reinforce, monitor, and remediate.  Many schools have a poster, or matrix, that defines three to five behaviors, is highly visible throughout the school, and is a frequent reference for all staff and students.  That matrix can be enhanced to include the important social and emotional expectations identified in your why.  Mental health must be explicitly taught with the same intentionality and explicit instructional strategies that we teach behavior and academics. See the School Tools which has a tool for each step of this process.

Two quotes impact the way I frame this work: “Every system is perfectly designed to get the results it gets” (Batalden, undated) and “Student behavior won’t change until adult behavior changes” (Scott, 2015).  The first quote tells us what happens if we do nothing.  The second quote tells us when and where to start – with why.

References

Batalden, P. B. (Undated). Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2013). Mental health surveillance among children – United States, 2005 – 2011. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, 62(2), 1-35.

Duchnowski, A. J. (2013). Preface. In S. Barrett, L. Eber, & M. Weist (Eds.), Advancing education effectiveness: Interconnecting school mental health and school-wide positive behavior support (pp. v-vi). Retrieved from www.pbis.org/school/school-mental-health/interconnected-systems.

Heron, M. (2016). Deaths: Leading causes for 2014. (National Vital Statistics Reports; Vol. 65 No. 5). Retrieved from National Center for Health Statistics website: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr65/nvsr65_05.pdf.

McIntosh, K. Ty, S. V., Miller, L. D. (2014). Effects of school-wide positive behavioral interventions and supports on internalizing problems: Current evidence and future directions. Journal of Positive Behavior Interventions, 16(4), 209-218.

Scott, T. M. (2015, May). Managing challenging students: Effective teaching behavior. Keynote presented at the Northeast PBIS Network Leadership Forum of the Office of Special Education Programs Center on Positive Behavioral Interventions & Supports and the Center for Behavioral Education & Research, Mystic, CT.

Sinek, S. (2011). Start with why: How great leaders inspire everyone to take action. New York: Portfolio Trade.

The Center for Health and Health Care in Schools. (2014). The impact of school-connected behavioral and emotional health interventions on student academic performance: An annotated bibliography of research literature. Retrieved from http://www.cep- dc.org/cfcontent_file.cfm?Attachment=RentnerPrice_Bibliography_GuidetoFedPrograms _050714.pdf