Our current education curriculum has a vast number of classes that aid in the development of many different aspects of our students learning. We have physical education courses that help students maintain and grow in physical well being, math classes aid in cognitive development, social studies courses help our students grow in understanding of social dynamics, but what about courses that help our students learn how to keep a positive emotional state?
Depression, and suicide are everywhere and on the rise. We have all experienced it at some point, but very few of us have received direct education that teaches us how to deal with it. Throughout my whole time in the education system I have never received such an education. Why isn’t our education taking direct steps to educate our students about ways into which they can through negative emotions?
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I think we should have mandatory course throughout all levels of education that focus on issues such as these. There are a few concerns that could arise with having classes like these however. Some could say that it is the parents/guardians responsibility to educate their children about such matters. I agree with this statement, in an ideal world parents would educate their children about emotional health. Unfortunately however, this does not always happen and many children do not know how to navigate depression or ways in which they can maintain a positive emotional state. I know this is true because I have seen first hand the lack of understanding and inability for parents/guardians to teach their children. Often parents and guardians do not know how to get through depression and maintain positive emotional states.
I am First Nations and my people is an excellent example this issue. Tragically, many, parents themselves are depressed and unable to maintain their own emotional health. I believe this is because of the crippling effects residential schools had on my people. However it does not matter what the cause of ill emotional health is, the problem is the fact that we are lacking in this area, and not just in the First Nations population but across the board.
How could we bring this into the education system though? Such a class would stipulate that we as educators would need to be experts in emotional health, and heaven knows we are not. This would require that we ourselves would need to be taught how to maintain a healthy emotional state.
I don’s have all the answers but I definitely see a need for cahange. I was able to come across some good articles resources on emotional intelligence and have listed them bellow. Im interested in hearing other educators thoughts.
Emotional Intelligence
Global Suicide Rates Among Young People
Emotional Education Blog
Suicide Prevention Health Canada
There is also another great Ted Talk here on social emotional health.
Benjamin Ironstand 
Very interesting post. Just last night during my EHE class we were talking about anxiety disorders in children and adolescents so the idea of helping students maintain their mental and emotion health is pretty fresh in my mind. Did you know that anxiety disorders are the most common mental disorders among children and youth, occurring in 14-20% of children and adolescents? Additionally, mental health has become a rising issue in our society and, as you stated above, I think that educators must find ways to help our students learn and understand what they can do to when faced with issues that revolve mental or emotion health.
Personally, I believe that this issue should be approached not only inside the classroom, but also within the entire school. If staff can work together to foster an environment that helps youth feel secure, students may be more likely to seek the information or help that they need. With that being said, it will be crucial for staff to become more educated on the issue of emotional and mental well-being so that they have a greater sense of how to deal with challenges they may face while helping students. Like you pointed out, teachers are definitely not experts in mental health, but I also wouldn’t consider teachers experts in education or even in the subjects that they teach. Regardless, all teachers have one thing in common: they are passionate about helping students learn and grow. With this common interest and goal in mind, I think that there are several ways that educators could work both individually and collaboratively to support students, especially in maintaining their health.
Within the classroom, you could make many connections to a student’s health and well-being; whether you teach elementary, middle years or high school students, there is always a way to connect course material back to healthy development and well-being. During my internship at Campbell Collegiate there was also an advisory class that students would attend every day for fifteen minutes with their home room teacher. This provided time to discuss school announcements and also allowed teachers to really get to know their students and to discuss any issues that they may be facing. With that in mind, I believe that relationships with your students are key. As a teacher, you should become aware and educated on some signs of depression, stress and anxiety because over time, as you get to know each and every one of your students, you can identify changes in their behavior and you may be able to pick out certain signs of depression/stress/anxiety that they may be showing. At this point, you are able to provide them with proper support and resources, such as school counselling, for example.
Outside of the classroom, there is always the option collaborate with your colleagues to try and become more educated in this area of concern. I know that Regina Public provides several different PD opportunities for teachers, such as R.A.P. Training, that can help prepare you to respond to these types of situations that may occur in your class. You have also pointed out something fairly important, which is research. The internet is a powerful thing and provides resources for not only teachers, but students as well.
All in all, I believe that helping students maintain mental and emotional health is extremely important, and above are some of the strategies that I would use to approach this concern/issue. Below are some websites and links that I think could be quite helpful in educating teachers and youth about this mental and emotional health.
http://www.cmha.ca/ (Canadian Mental Health Association)
http://sk.cmha.ca/ (Canadian Mental Health – Saskatchewan Division)
http://www.cehl.org/ (Children’s Emotional Health Website)
Lots of resources out there! 🙂
Thank you for sharing your thoughts Christina. You made some good points and some great suggestions! I agree with you that the whole school should be involved in this issue. Thanks again! 🙂