Anonymous
Post 03/26/2022 09:57     Subject: Children's mental health and the pandemic
Anonymous wrote:We need smaller class sizes and smaller schools then as teachers we can meet academic and emotional issues. As an educator of 30+ years who works with small groups I'm able to help students much more than a teacher with 28/30 kids


This. A 1,000 times this. Smaller classrooms would be so much more successful at addressing emotional issues as well as academic ones.
Anonymous
Post 03/26/2022 09:43     Subject: Re:Children's mental health and the pandemic
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
Post 03/26/2022 09:36     Subject: Re:Children's mental health and the pandemic
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
The training is specific to her condition. Her weekly sessions with the therapist can only go so far, she needs reinforcement on a daily basis. It's actually not complicated to learn and certainly doesn't require 8 hours of training. But the training is absolutely essential. The alternative is my child remains severely impaired, so I do not have a choice about wherher to ask the teacher to do this.


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.


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.



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.


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
Post 03/26/2022 09:13     Subject: Re:Children's mental health and the pandemic
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
The training is specific to her condition. Her weekly sessions with the therapist can only go so far, she needs reinforcement on a daily basis. It's actually not complicated to learn and certainly doesn't require 8 hours of training. But the training is absolutely essential. The alternative is my child remains severely impaired, so I do not have a choice about wherher to ask the teacher to do this.


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.


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.



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.


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
Post 03/26/2022 08:53     Subject: Re:Children's mental health and the pandemic
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
The training is specific to her condition. Her weekly sessions with the therapist can only go so far, she needs reinforcement on a daily basis. It's actually not complicated to learn and certainly doesn't require 8 hours of training. But the training is absolutely essential. The alternative is my child remains severely impaired, so I do not have a choice about wherher to ask the teacher to do this.


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.


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.



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
Post 03/26/2022 08:09     Subject: Re:Children's mental health and the pandemic
Anonymous wrote:
The training is specific to her condition. Her weekly sessions with the therapist can only go so far, she needs reinforcement on a daily basis. It's actually not complicated to learn and certainly doesn't require 8 hours of training. But the training is absolutely essential. The alternative is my child remains severely impaired, so I do not have a choice about wherher to ask the teacher to do this.


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.


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
Post 03/26/2022 07:53     Subject: Re:Children's mental health and the pandemic
The training is specific to her condition. Her weekly sessions with the therapist can only go so far, she needs reinforcement on a daily basis. It's actually not complicated to learn and certainly doesn't require 8 hours of training. But the training is absolutely essential. The alternative is my child remains severely impaired, so I do not have a choice about wherher to ask the teacher to do this.


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
Post 03/26/2022 07:33     Subject: Re:Children's mental health and the pandemic
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
OP here. Thankfully, my child's teacher is willing to get trained, because my child can't progress without support from the person she is with for hours every day.


Trained in what? As an educator, I have advanced training in my content area and in the practice of teaching. Additionally, I have undergone about 8 hours of training in trauma-sensitive practices, and two hours annually on identifying and properly referring students to the appropriate professional for mental health crises. I am of course empathetic and provide lots of encouragement and accommodations to my students who seem to need extra care with their mental health struggled (which I am often not privy to due to co7but am expected to read from their behavior). What additional training has your child’s teacher had that you think I need and am unwilling to get?


If you are the pp I responded to, you're the one who said it's not your job to learn how to help a child with mental illness.

The training is specific to her condition. Her weekly sessions with the therapist can only go so far, she needs reinforcement on a daily basis. It's actually not complicated to learn and certainly doesn't require 8 hours of training. But the training is absolutely essential. The alternative is my child remains severely impaired, so I do not have a choice about wherher to ask the teacher to do this.


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.


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
Post 03/25/2022 23:28     Subject: Children's mental health and the pandemic
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:NP. My child's mental health was harmed by the pandemic, as was that of DH and myself. Closing schools was very detrimental and reopening schools was very beneficial.

But I don't think that school counselors or therapists or psychiatrists are what is needed for children's mental health crises. I think the pandemic was a magnifier for the mental health crises that children already had before the pandemic - and I think the blame and the solution is in social media, screens, and the breakdown of culture in person. Meeting up at Starbucks or the park or local hang-out is healthy - texting is not, at the core of the issue. I think that parents and kids can be the solution, and I think that parents and kids need to be the solution.

JMO.


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.


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.


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
Post 03/25/2022 23:24     Subject: Children's mental health and the pandemic
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:NP. My child's mental health was harmed by the pandemic, as was that of DH and myself. Closing schools was very detrimental and reopening schools was very beneficial.

But I don't think that school counselors or therapists or psychiatrists are what is needed for children's mental health crises. I think the pandemic was a magnifier for the mental health crises that children already had before the pandemic - and I think the blame and the solution is in social media, screens, and the breakdown of culture in person. Meeting up at Starbucks or the park or local hang-out is healthy - texting is not, at the core of the issue. I think that parents and kids can be the solution, and I think that parents and kids need to be the solution.

JMO.


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.


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
Post 03/25/2022 21:46     Subject: Children's mental health and the pandemic
Anonymous wrote:NP. My child's mental health was harmed by the pandemic, as was that of DH and myself. Closing schools was very detrimental and reopening schools was very beneficial.

But I don't think that school counselors or therapists or psychiatrists are what is needed for children's mental health crises. I think the pandemic was a magnifier for the mental health crises that children already had before the pandemic - and I think the blame and the solution is in social media, screens, and the breakdown of culture in person. Meeting up at Starbucks or the park or local hang-out is healthy - texting is not, at the core of the issue. I think that parents and kids can be the solution, and I think that parents and kids need to be the solution.

JMO.


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
Post 03/25/2022 21:45     Subject: Re:Children's mental health and the pandemic
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
OP here. Thankfully, my child's teacher is willing to get trained, because my child can't progress without support from the person she is with for hours every day.


Trained in what? As an educator, I have advanced training in my content area and in the practice of teaching. Additionally, I have undergone about 8 hours of training in trauma-sensitive practices, and two hours annually on identifying and properly referring students to the appropriate professional for mental health crises. I am of course empathetic and provide lots of encouragement and accommodations to my students who seem to need extra care with their mental health struggled (which I am often not privy to due to co7but am expected to read from their behavior). What additional training has your child’s teacher had that you think I need and am unwilling to get?


If you are the pp I responded to, you're the one who said it's not your job to learn how to help a child with mental illness.

The training is specific to her condition. Her weekly sessions with the therapist can only go so far, she needs reinforcement on a daily basis. It's actually not complicated to learn and certainly doesn't require 8 hours of training. But the training is absolutely essential. The alternative is my child remains severely impaired, so I do not have a choice about wherher to ask the teacher to do this.


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
Post 03/25/2022 21:43     Subject: Re:Children's mental health and the pandemic
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
But more than that, we need investment in mental health care in a way we have never done before, not during the pandemic or before the pandemic. I really like the idea of giving better training to PCPs, school counselors, teachers and also training parents, that's such an important piece.


IMO it's not that we need to train counselors and teachers--we see the mental health problems, but we are not qualified to treat long-standing issues. What is needed is more counselors, social workers, and therapists in the school buildings to provide the support that we already know students need but can't offer because of a lack of personnel.


Stop expecting schools to replace parents. Mental health is not a school issue and parents need to get their kids treatmen.


OP here. It's interesting you think a child's teacher has no role in supporting their students' mental health. It doesn't mean they provide therapy, it does mean that when they interact with the child they can do so knowing what will help them progress. I agree, we need to do a better job of helping our society's most vulnerable and not rely on teachers to provide therapy, but this idea that teachers can't even bother to think about how to meet children's needs if those needs go beyond a typically developing child with no disabilities, well all I can say is thankfully my child's teacher does not view her job that way.

NP here. It's one thing to train teachers to look for signs of mental health issues and another thing altogether to expect them to treat them. If we expect schools to provide mental health services, it needs to be a separate army of staff who are trained and focused to do only that.



+1

I am a teacher and am trained to recognize signs of mental health concerns, signs of abuse, etc. I can’t treat or respond to any of those issues besides speaking kindly or checking in with a kid and referring them to the appropriate support staff or team. But we currently have one very overburdened school psychologist at our school and that’s it. I’m not sure how she could handle all of the mental health issues our students are facing.


Yeah, that's what I thought of when I heard "teacher training." And actually this is sort of what parents need too. Parents cannot be therapists; they need to be aware of the signs of their kid needing therapy and get it for them. MUCH easier said than done, obviously.


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
Post 03/25/2022 21:42     Subject: Children's mental health and the pandemic
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:We need smaller class sizes and smaller schools then as teachers we can meet academic and emotional issues. As an educator of 30+ years who works with small groups I'm able to help students much more than a teacher with 28/30 kids


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.


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
Post 03/25/2022 21:40     Subject: Children's mental health and the pandemic
Anonymous wrote:We need smaller class sizes and smaller schools then as teachers we can meet academic and emotional issues. As an educator of 30+ years who works with small groups I'm able to help students much more than a teacher with 28/30 kids


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.