Children's mental health and the pandemic
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Anonymous
This is the reality of it. I’m one of the PPs and that’s my average class size with about 135 total students. I’m doing the best I can to fit them in a room, teach the content and make up for learning loss. Of course teachers look lit for warning signs and alert the counselors if we see any issues. They are also overwhelmed and we are often told to email parents directly with concerns. It’s tricky. We are not counselors or therapists. I’m a HS science teacher. |
Anonymous
This is entirely the problem. Parents expect teachers to be parents, therapists, doctors, nurses, babysitters and you aren't and those of us who parent, have our kids suffering academically because of this. Small classes are impossible in public. |
Anonymous
This is why parents are struggling. Parenting is part therapist and you need to adapt your parenting style if its not working vs. expecting someone else to fix your home life. A therapist can help you change your behavior but your child cannot change if you are also not willing. |
Anonymous
A teacher can support but this is your primary responsibility and if the mental health is that serious, your child may need another program as its not realistic to expect a teacher to teach and handle it. A teacher can look out for signs and communicate with you but ultimately you need to help and get them help. it is complicated if a teacher has 150 other students. |
Anonymous
How was your mental health harmed? Maybe you are projecting on your kids and your entire family needs to get help. You can blame social media, culture and screens but ultimately you control what goes on in your house and you can choose not to have those things. |
Anonymous
NP. Is this a joke? You don’t think trying to juggle your own job as well as your kid’s virtual learning is going to have an impact on stress levels? I luckily did not have to deal with this but I know people who did and unless they have a super flexible job or an older/independent child, it was not fun. |
Anonymous
We've been doing it for over two years now. May continue for a third depending on covid. Some of us don't have the option to just complain about it and found a way to make it work. |
Anonymous
A self contained classroom would not be appropriate for her condition, and OF COURSE it is my primary responsibility, I have done my own much longer training. She is entitled to accommodations and to be in the least restrictive environment possible. My point is teachers can have a vital role in supporting children with mental illness that goes beyond just "identifying" it but also does not involve talk therapy. When you are the adult around children for six hours a day you have an enormous influence on them. In my experience teachers welcome the opportunity to learn how to best support their students. |
Anonymous
You’re getting into the weeds. Your OP was about general mental health issues and not your child’s specific condition. As a teacher I always welcome the opportunity to support my students in any way I can. Parents may forget, though, that while you ask a teacher to do this for your child, dozens of other parents have their own requests about supporting their children. It can be a LOT to juggle on top of everything else we do, which is why you are having teachers push back a little. I have students with severe mental health issues and it would be unwise of me to pretend to know how to address those beyond sample measures like compassion, encouragement, and modifications as directed by a counselor or social worker. A trained mental health provider is a far better resource. |
Anonymous
Believe me, I know perfectly well my child's teacher has a LOT on her plate. I don't WANT to ask her for help, but I have to. Many teachers don't realize how excrutiating it is to be the parent of a child with special needs. We would love to not have to ask for anything and not be the family that causes inconveniences. I can only to my experience of the parent of a child with mental illness (which you are alleging is somehow irrelevant to "general mental health issues", whatever that means, but you should really read the article to know what it is about, I don't think it is what you think it is about), but this is why that part of the article I posted rung very true for me. I honestly think a lot of the reaction to that piece of the article on this thread stems from ignorance. |
Anonymous
Do you really understand how much is on your teacher’s plate? I’m a teacher. I work over 70 hours a week. I receive emails weekly from many parents about their own children’s social/emotional needs. I get it. I also really care. But how can I reasonably provide effective SE services to so many desperate students while simultaneously being responsible for educational content? I am one person, yet I’m currently being asked to do the work of three or four. I put in the extra 30 hours a week because I DO care, and I give up every lunch to sit with students who need me because I do care. Here’s the problem: I have my own special needs child at home. I have to also budget getting her to therapy sessions (two different types) and be a part of her support team at her school. I am up to my ears in social/emotional needs, both at home and at work. I care about your child, but I am also caring for about 30 others and my own children. Here’s another thought: your teachers aren’t doing well. I find colleagues crying regularly after school now. They are stretched too thin and responsible for too much. It’s taking a toll and we are losing more teachers at the end of the year. It’s time for solutions that don’t involve putting MORE on teachers. We care, but we can’t do it all. It isn’t fair to expect it. |
Anonymous
As someone who moved my kids to private, this is the reason. It wasn’t the teachers - many were lovely, caring and talented. It was the administration and how they put so much on these teachers, as well as the school boards, who increasingly got unreasonable. I had one school board member tell me that she would ‘ensure my child never drove in the state of Virginia’ because I asked for her driver’s ed records. The private driving school had asked for them and the DMV told me that’s typical and perfectly fine. Apparently this school board member felt that THEY somehow controlled teen drivers and not the state. Rest assured, one call to Richmond set her straight! The blame and extra responsibility shouldn’t be laid on teachers. I’m glad parents are fighting back. |
Anonymous
I do get it as much as you insist I don't. I also have a demanding job that is stressful and hard to balance with my family responsibilities. But based on my own experience what I read this article as saying is not to add to teachers' responsibilities but to give them better tools to fulfill their core responsibilities, which is not to teach widgets but to teach individual children, some.of whom may have unique needs. |
Anonymous
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We had a staff meeting the other day and were told we were getting another FT counselor next year to bring us up to two FT counselors, one PT mental health therapist, one psychologist, one social worker. When we heard about the additional counselor, teachers spontaneously started texting each other that the counselor should be for us. We are overwhelmed with the fallout from a year of schools being closed and kids doing whatever they wanted at home. At least 6 teachers are leaving next year and no candidates exist to replace them. We will probably end up combining classes if we can't find anyone to hire which means we will have 35+ kids in many grades.
I have a child with a severe mental illness and while his teachers have read his neuropsych report and give him some accommodations (extra time, etc), I would never expect anything more from them. Don't expect teachers to be your kid's mental health counselor. We aren't trained in anything but recognizing signs of abuse or neglect and what to do about it. In my district, we are also trained in de-escalation training (the same training the police get). That is to try to avoid the behaviors that cause students to shut down a classroom and disrupt learning. Our job is to teach and refer students with other needs to other professionals. |
Anonymous
This. A 1,000 times this. Smaller classrooms would be so much more successful at addressing emotional issues as well as academic ones. |