Leadership magazine Sept/Oct 2016 V46 No 1 | Page 36

SEL, mental health
and learning
Social-emotional
learning, resiliency
and mental health are
inextricably related.
Schools that create
collaborative systems
between teachers,
mental health providers
and family members will
increase the likelihood of
student success.

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Leadership

Public schools are playing a larger
role in the social and emotional education of
students. This presents a challenge to educators who are tasked with one more focus to
fit into the busy day. It is also an opportunity
for schools to fine tune systems of support for
students in order to maximize learning and
growth.
The relationship between social-emotional
development, mental health and learning has
been well documented. Social-emotional
competencies are a foundation of good mental health and provide skills that allow students to engage in school and benefit from
learning.
Howard Adelman and Linda Taylor from
the UCLA Center for Mental Health in
Schools talk about the history of fragmented,
piecemeal approaches to student support
programs. They state there is a need to look at
this from a systems perspective, analyze the
resources and engage in comprehensive mapping to align resources within and between
systems in order to support social-emotional
growth and mental health in students.
Leaders of 21st century schools understand
that a good administrator is not only an efficient manager and inspiring instructional
leader, but also one who can understand and
address the emotional needs and climate of stu-

dents and staff in their school.
Teachers are in an ideal position for early
identification of children who would benefit from social-emotional and behavioral
interventions. Evidence-based programs
are available at the tier one level that help
promote self-awareness, self-regulation and
social skills.
Developing these skills reinforces behaviors that are conducive to learning, such as
attention, impulse control and critical thinking. Schools that create systems of collaboration between teachers, mental health providers and family members will increase the
likelihood of success for students.
A good school-family collaboration model
will include components that welcome and
value all members in supporting student
growth. This process can be an opportunity
for members to share strategies that can be
implemented and reinforced to support students in various settings at school and home.
When needed, students can be referred for
more intensive interventions at the tier two
or tier three levels.

Effective approaches
A component of social-emotional learnBy Edward Thompson