Reflections from our Executive Director, Megan Pacheco
Offering mental health interventions at school isn’t enough – we must work upstream.
The CDC recently released a list of six school-based strategies that, “can help prevent mental health problems and promote positive behavioral and mental health of students.” While we agree these are important components for addressing youth mental health, we believe more is needed to address root causes. We aren’t going to fix the youth mental health crisis only by teaching kids mental health literacy, mindfulness, and healthy coping skills.
Yes, we need on-site mental health services. But we’re letting ourselves off the hook if we don’t acknowledge and address the inherently flawed system. While we support all of the strategies proposed by the CDC, we believe even more is needed to address some of the root causes of the problem. As the stewards of young people’s development, it is our responsibility to go beyond teaching them how to be resilient; we need to work with them to change the system that necessitates these skills.
What if we allowed ourselves to recognize the root causes of the distress our youth are facing? What if we diagnosed the system itself?
By emphasizing academic achievement at all costs, school environments may unintentionally harm students – especially those who have been historically marginalized. Based on our years of research and experience partnering with schools across the country, here are three strategies we recommend for transforming the student experience to more effectively meet the mental health needs of your students.
