Regular parent-teacher conferences focused on mental health updates, monthly wellness newsletters, and educational workshops help keep families informed and involved. This comprehensive approach ensures that no student falls through the cracks and that support is readily available when needed. “When we catch concerns early, we can provide support before they develop into more serious issues.” Teachers benefit from having more engaged and focused students in their gambling classrooms, leading to a more productive learning environment.

Suicide Prevention in Schools

In addition, bring information from your school climate committee (see #7) that further supports the need for student and staff wellness. I recommend you do a mental health and wellness survey for all the students and staff in your building two times a year. For the “how,” aspect of your statement, you will want to name your preliminary thinking on what the program might look like for students, staff, and families. Develop a statement that espouses the “what,”  “why,” and “how.”  In your statement, be sure to name the type of mental wellness services you will offer to students (that’s the “what”).

A deployment-focused approach that includes school and community partner perspectives from the outset helps to ensure that the resultant intervention can feasibly be implemented within the school context using existing school and community resources (Weisz, 2014). Data on the impact of these trainings is unavailable and it is unclear what share of schools provided trainings in the years prior. These decreases may be reflective of schools expanding their mental health teams in recent years so that they are less reliant on general counselors and medical staff. However, significant changes to Medicaid, including budget cuts, in the reconciliation bill passed in July 2025 may impact how Medicaid can support school services in the future. Service delivery can range from a single provider (who is not necessarily a licensed mental health professional) to a team of providers, including psychologists, social workers, and academic or guidance counselors. Additionally, a 2024 KFF survey found differences in receipt of mental health care services by race and ethnicity, with a larger share of White parents compared to Black, Hispanic, and Asian parents reporting that their children received these services in the past three years.

• School-based mental health programs typically offer a comprehensive range of services designed to support students’ emotional well-being.
• Learn about how to talk about suicide and strategies for supporting students who may be at risk
• As one of the six flagship programs under the OK (Oplan Kalusugan) sa DepEd, the School Mental Health Program of the Bureau of Learner Support Services – School Health Division (BLSS-SHD) aims to ensure mental health promotion and effective linkage to mental health services for learners and our school personnel.
• Parents often express relief knowing their children have access to professional support during school hours.

Role of Child and Adolescent Mental Health Professionals in School Mental

A study from Gujarat concluded that mental health screening should be incorporated intothe school health program protocol.24 Such screening needs to be done with the involvement of the family, school, andcommunity and requires a transformed mental health system. A proactive approach is needed in the form of commitment to helping schools at theindividual level and also incorporating SMH into the agenda for the state, zonal, andnational bodies.23 Physical presence of professionals may be difficult, but sharing expertise is not.Being on the advisory boards of schools and colleges could be a good starting point.Sharing of information, capacity building, and peer supports should help decrease stigmain schools as well. Other barriers such as lack of dedicated physical space, non-cooperation of the school management, the reluctance of teachers to refer children in needof help, non-availability of a counsellor regularly on campus, and lack of privacy are allpossible reasons.

Student Mental Health

But with more in-school staff who could help kids having a break down, “we maybe had two or three ambulance calls for the entire school year,” Asher said. The grant funding from three philanthropic foundations was only intended to get the program started. Some research suggests nearly half of teachers (45.6%) experience “much stress” at their jobs. Research highlights a strong connection between mental health and academic performance.