Role Of School Community In Supporting Students’ Mental Health

Imagine living in an incomplete world. Wearing one shoe, one glove or eating with a single chopstick!

Wellbeing is a holistic concept. It is necessary to treat mental health as a part of our overall well being and cannot let it be looked at separately (just like a single chopstick!). This means we curate every teaching-learning opportunity to promote wellbeing at the classroom level.

Classes and sessions should be implicitly and/or explicitly aimed at supporting students’ mental health. For example, the student support teams need to plan extensive SEL (social-emotional learning) sessions for students. These sessions cover core SEL competencies like self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills and responsible decision-making. High school students attend well-being classes per cycle. On the other hand, a carefully planned academic curriculum supports wellbeing implicitly. For example, Drama games or PHE classes also teach students about mental wellbeing.

Furthermore, the homeroom teachers and grade leaders are key points of contact for students. The daily check-in meetings and homeroom discussions create a supportive environment for the students to flourish. Homeroom is another time where teachers ‘check in’ regularly on their students’ wellbeing. Under the guidance of Grade Leaders (GL’s), homeroom teachers can engage students in activities that promote wellbeing such as ice-breaker strategies, listening and communication skills, social and emotional skills run by our counsellors to name a few. Similarly, the counselling programme in school should have an open-door policy. Students can walk into the room (or send a message/email during the Learning from Home mode) at any time.

Celebrations should be one of the core things at schools. Celebrating Mental Health Day has given us a wonderful opportunity to create a week-long plan to celebrate wellbeing in morning homerooms. 

Sneha Potnis

Guest Author The author is Social and Emotional Counselor at Oberoi International School, JVLR