My hope is that one day our mental health care will be just as a routine part of our self care as making sure we eat enough greens…but arriving at that day means that we must be purposeful in building the pathways to it.

One way we can start to normalize mental health is to ensure that it is an open, accepted, and supported topic within our classroom space. The beauty of this is in its simplicity. It doesn’t have to be a big to-do and its likely even more effective if its not.

Again, we are aiming for NORMALIZATION. Students need to see how it looks in real-life. They need to understand how to assess their own mental health and care for the mental health of those around them. Not just when someone has experienced an overtly difficult life event, but in the REGULAR day to day of the human experience.

Here are some suggestions for bringing the topic of mental health into your classroom (from the covert to the overt):

1. Post Mental Health Signage

This one is likely the simplest of the suggestions. You can find all sorts of signage that would make a great addition to your room. Whether you search on Amazon, Etsy, Teachers Pay Teachers, or somewhere else, their availability has become more widespread.

Pin up a couple of posters outside your classroom, on your classroom door, throughout your room, or even designate an entire bulletin board to it. Just make sure you are ready to discuss the topic when students inevitably ask questions or start conversations about it (check out #3).

2. Don’t Shy Away from MH Conversations

Discussing mental health may be easier for some people than it is for others. One important thing to note is that WE ALL have mental health and WE ALL must do things to maintain our mental health. While some people don’t give their mental health much thought, some people experience mental illness, others simply struggle to maintain their mental health.

Learning more about mental health and mental wellness is NEVER a bad idea. There are plenty of books out there that could be informative and podcasts are another learning tool you could use. The podcast, “We Can Do Hard Things.” with Glennon Doyle, Abby Wambach, and Amanda Doyle is a great place to start. “Man Enough,” with Jamey Heath, Justin Baldoni, and Liz Plank is another.

Increasing your own awareness will improve your ability to hold conversations about mental health and be a model for what it means to hold space for other people (in times of struggle and on a regular basis).

Oftentimes people just need someone that will listen and they yearn to be able to bring up their struggles without being shut down or shamed for them. If a conversation gets too intense or you have concerns, remember to touch base with the school counselors to ensure students are getting all the support they need.

3. Daily Check-in

This could be a routine activity you do with students. If you’re an elementary teacher, it could be part of the morning meeting (or circle time).

Provide students with emoji images of different emotional states, having them choose the one that applies to them, and allowing them ways to share why they chose that. This simple sharing activity is the perfect example of how simple it can be to normalize mental health.

A similar thing can be done with older students (middle and high school). I would recommend not doing it whole group as students start to become more private and less likely to share honestly in front of their peers. Creating an anonymous poll could be a great way to get a feel for the “temperature” of the classroom.

You could also incorporate a mental health check-in as a classroom routine. You could again use emojis or memes on a bulletin board to illustrate different emotional states and have students place post-it notes under the one that applies to them. You could allow students to share if they want to or create a way that students can submit a note anonymously for you to read later (like a drop box – electronic or physical).

An activity that may take slightly more time, but provides students with a way of diving deeper is through daily journaling. The beauty of journaling as a practice is that it provides a space for students to get out of their own head while also learning more about themselves. Sometimes that journal page is the only safe space a student has to share what they’re actually going through.

This may also serve as a tool that would help teachers notice patterns of mental health in order to have discussions with the students’ family and/or refer students to the mental health supports that the school offers.

Daily writing journals are just one of the many resources I develop for the classroom. Check out this Mental Health Awareness themed journal set. It comes with 10 journaling pages and over 20 prompts that will helps students learn more about their own mental health.

4. Make Resources Available

Make sure to discuss and keep posted how students can seek mental health support – from the school and from OUTSIDE the school. We want to make sure that students have multiple ways to access support because we don’t know what they will or will not be comfortable with.

Sharing with students their options for mental health support should be a routine part of the BACK TO SCHOOL time of year and would be beneficial to do intermittently throughout the school year. Discussing it once a month or so not only supports the goal of normalizing mental health, but also serves as a way to inform any newcomers or students who may be experiencing something for the first time.

Again, this is where having a bulletin board designated to mental health would be useful. The posters or information could be posted on the bulletin board for easy reference. Just make sure you have information for where to go in your particular organization and some options for outside of school. If their struggle is somehow connected to the school, they need to have a safe place to turn to and be heard.

The poster on the left is an example of this type of resource. Click on the link to download your own. The NIH has a great webpage thats filled with digital (and printable) resources that would be a perfect addition to your bulletin board, classroom, or school hallways.

Another support I’ve seen in classrooms is referred to as a “safe space.” This is an area of the classroom that students can retreat to for a short time in order to disengage and reset before rejoining the classroom. Often it is a designated chair that has some supports near it like sound cancelling headphones, stuffies, fidgets, social-emotional tools, etc.

My recommendation for this type of support is to make sure you discuss the norms of the space and if a student seems to utilize it quite a bit, that this is brought up with the student support team and the family to make sure the student is receiving all the support they need (outside of your classroom).

5. Share/Model

Let students know how you’re feeling! I’m not saying you have to share your whole life story, but join in with them when the conversations arise.

If the class is doing the morning meeting piece, make sure you participate too. If you are doing a check-in on a bulletin board, add a post-it note for yourself. If you have an anonymous check-in box, show kiddos how to write and submit something.

If students have daily journaling prompts, write out your response on the board in front of them at the same time they are writing too. If you’re writing in a journal, read your response out loud for them to hear.

NOTE: Know your audience and the content of your own writing. There may be topics that are unsafe for students, or students that are unsafe for you to be vulnerable with.

When I started to incorporate daily writing with my students, the modeling I did established academically what the expectations were, modeled how to engage more deeply with the prompts, and demonstrated how to dig below the surface level of our own self-awareness.

6. Guest Speakers

Nothing makes a topic land more authentically than a first-hand account. If you’re looking for ways to discuss mental health in your classroom, there are various options for guest speakers:

1. school personnel: counselor, nurse, administration, student support specialists
2. community expert: psychologist, family counselor, local clinics or organizations that focus on mental health
3. individual stories: peers or students who are slightly older (high schoolers speaking in middle school classrooms, or graduates talking to high schoolers), community members who have their own mental health stories
4. Can’t get a live speaker: use Ted Talk videos. There are a multitude to choose from and can often be paired seamlessly with numerous topics you would already be covering in your space. I simply googled, “mental health in schools” and several GREAT choices popped up!

To conclude,

Bringing the topic of mental health into the classroom does not have to be complicated. Start small and expand with what feels comfortable to you. If you notice your own discomfort with the topic, starting with YOURSELF is the best option.

Lean on your colleagues and your building/district experts on the topic. Often as teachers it feels like we’re stranded on an island with only our own resources and tools. We forget the wealth of information and support we have within our reach. We are definitely NOT on an island and just like when struggling with our mental health, reaching out is the first step toward improvement!

I’d love to hear how you are working towards normalizing the topic of mental health in your education spaces. Respond below, send me an email, or shoot me a dm.

Hopefully we’ll talk soon.