Connecting Social And Emotional Learning With Mental
Connecting Social and EmotionalLearning with Mental Health
Connecting Social and Emotional Learning with Mental HealthIntroductionGiven schools' unique abilityto access large numbersof children, they are mostcommonly identified as thebest place to provide supportsto promote the universalmental health of children.In 1999, the U.S. surgeon general defined mentalhealth as successful functioning that results in“productive activities, fulfilling relationships withothers, and the ability to adapt to change and tocope with adversity” (Mental Health: A Report of theSurgeon General, 1999). The surgeon general’s reportcontributed to a heightened awareness of the roleof mental health in promoting success in school,job productivity and retention, rewarding familylife, and engaged community involvement, as wellas identifying and treating social, emotional, andbehavioral problems.In recent years, a number of initiatives began toaddress students’ mental health in schools. Thegoal of these initiatives is two-fold: (1) to meetchildren’s needs prior to the development ofsignificant mental health issues and (2) to allocateresources and support for children and adolescentswith mental health needs to prevent problems frombeing exacerbated. Schoolwide interventions, whenimplemented effectively, have the ability to positivelyaffect a number of critical school and life outcomes,including fewer classroom disruptions, greaterstudent engagement in learning, and fewer specialeducation placements.5As knowledge of effective treatments for mentaldisorders has grown, so too has the field of mentalhealth promotion and positive development.Studies completed during the last two decades havesynthesized the state of mental health promotionand documented that universal mental healthsupports positively affect child and adolescentdevelopmental outcomes.Universal mental healthsupports positively affectchild and adolescentdevelopmental outcomes.Schools and districts, both in the United States andinternationally, are becoming more intentional intheir focus on mental health promotion throughthe development of students’ skills and thecreation of positive and engaging school climate.6Students’ involvement in school and communitybased programs that focus on developing socialand emotional skills has been linked to improvedacademic outcomes as well as overall success inschool and life.7These findings are significant, because more thanhalf of all lifetime cases of mental disorders beginby age 14, and three-quarters by age 24.1 Positivemental health interventions also are often costeffective, particularly in cases where multiple riskfactors can be addressed by a single intervention.2,3This recognition of the critical importance of mentalhealth has led to an emphasis on the roles schoolscan play in promoting mental health for all students,in addition to providing supports for those who areat risk or are already demonstrating mental healthproblems. Given schools’ unique ability to accesslarge numbers of children, they are most commonlyidentified as the best place to provide supports topromote the universal mental health of children.“While schools are primarily concerned witheducation, mental health is essential to learning aswell as to social and emotional development. Becauseof this important interplay between emotional healthand school success, schools must be partners in themental health care of our children”. 4The promotion of social and emotional developmentin schools supports aspects of mental health throughthe provision of related skills and the enhancementof environmental contexts that promote the health,academic, social, and emotional success of learners.Mental Health Promotion andSocial and Emotional LearningPromoting the mental health of all students requiresschools to effectively address barriers to learning andto promote every student’s well-being. To accomplishthese goals, schools and communities should do thefollowing:1
Connecting Social and Emotional Learning with Mental Health Weave resources into a cohesive and integratedcontinuum of interventions that promotehealthy development and prevent problems.Implementing SupportivePublic Policies Allow for early intervention to addressproblems as soon after onset as feasible. Provide assistance to those with chronic andsevere problems.8SEL and mental health promotion can be bolsteredin schools and communities through policies thatsupport those efforts. At the broadest level, thatsupport can occur through federal or state legislation.For example, the state of Illinois is at the forefront ofstates’ efforts to ensure that the social and emotionalneeds of children are recognized and addressed inschools. In 2004, Illinois became the first state inthe nation to adopt student learning standards inSEL. (New York state followed suit in 2006.) TheIllinois Children’s Mental Health Act, which calledfor the Illinois State Board of Education to create SELstandards, also required every district in the stateto develop an SEL policy as part of its instructionalplan; all 893 districts have complied. In 2006, theIllinois legislature allocated several million dollars tosupport the implementation of the standards.Mental health promotion focuses on increasingprotective factors and decreasing risk factors in thegeneral student population, not on the identificationof specific risk factors. According to the WorldHealth Organization9 and Rickwood,1 strategies oftenused to promote children’s mental health include thefollowing:1. Implementing supportive public policies2. Developing safe, caring, and supportiveenvironments3. Providing direct instruction for students onskills and strategiesAt the school or district level, supportivepolicies often include the articulation of a schoolimprovement goal that focuses on children’s socialand emotional development. Such school-levelpolicies ensure that addressing children’s socialand emotional outcomes receives similar attentionas do math and reading. At the district level,discipline policies or initiatives might include afocus on prevention and promotion rather thanzero tolerance efforts (e.g., restorative justice, peerjuries, community service, in-school suspension thatincludes skill building and problem-solving).4. Creating infrastructure for community action5. Coordinating with community agencies,schools, families, and students to create acommon vision, language, and coordinatedservices to support healthy outcomesThe approach to education called social andemotional learning (SEL) comprises these strategies.Safe Schools/Healthy Students (SS/HS) projectsare in a unique position to promote SEL throughintegrating supports provided by schools, communityagencies, and other community-based partners.Developing Safe, Caring, andSupportive Environments andProviding Direct Instructionfor Students on Skills andStrategiesSafe Schools/HealthyStudents (SS/HS) projectsare in a unique positionto promote SEL throughintegrating supportsprovided by schools,community agencies, andother community-basedpartners.SEL is the process for helping children and adultsdevelop the fundamental skills for life effectiveness.It teaches the skills needed to handle oneself andrelationships and to work effectively and ethically.These skills include recognizing and managingemotions, developing caring and concern for others,making responsible decisions, establishing positive2
Connecting Social and Emotional Learning with Mental Healthrelationships, and handling challenging situationseffectively. These are the skills that allow bothchildren and adults to calm themselves when angry,make friends, resolve conflicts respectfully, andmake ethical and safe choices.10,11,7 SEL providesprerequisite skills necessary for children to be activeand successful learners in school and to have highquality peer and teacher interactions.these special needs students to be more empathic,compassionate, supportive, and effective ininteractions with them.SEL programming may reduce thenumber of students who requireearly intervention, becauseparticipation in SEL programsfosters in children the skillsthey will need to cope with life’schallenges and helps teachersmanage their classrooms inways that promote interest andengagement, all within a caringschool environment.(For additional information on SEL, please referto the National Center’s Center Brief on Social andEmotional Learning, which can be accessed at EL provides prerequisiteskills necessary for childrento be active and successfullearners in schools and tohave high-quality peer andteacher interactions.Schools can invoke SEL to help support the mentalhealth of students as the schools help students totransition into or out of the building. Transitionscan be especially challenging for many students.For students starting in a school, the environmentof the school and skills of the other students canbe as important as their own skills in making thetransition a positive experience. For example,at one school that had been implementing SELprogramming for more than 10 years, a new studentwho had joined the school was demonstratingbehavioral problems. After a little while, anotherstudent spoke kindly to the child, saying that theschool was a safe place and assuring the child “youdon’t have to be that way here.” The student’scomment meant that the teacher did not have tointervene with the student to address the behavior.Social and emotional programming can promotethe mental health of all children by helping schoolsfocus on addressing children’s skill development andcreating a safe and caring school climate.6 However,SEL does not replace the need for comprehensivesystems and services for children at risk for orcurrently experiencing mental health difficulties.Rather, SEL programming addresses the foundationthat promotes the success of all children and providesa framework to support early intervention andintensive interventions for children and youth.Evidence-based SEL programs are implemented inclassrooms and schoolwide to address the needsof all students, without any predetermination ofrisk. SEL programming may reduce the number ofstudents who require early intervention, becauseparticipation in SEL programs fosters in children theskills they will need to cope with life’s challenges andhelps teachers manage their classrooms in ways thatpromote interest and engagement, all within a caringschool environment.Creating Infrastructurefor Community Action andCoordinating with Communityto Support Healthy OutcomesSS/HS initiatives can play a pivotal role in theimplementation of SEL programming and theintegration of those skills into the broadercommunity.For those students who need additional support,the skills being taught in the classroom can beincorporated and reinforced within mental healthinterventions provided by school mental healthprofessionals. SEL also equips the classmates of3
Connecting Social and Emotional Learning with Mental HealthIn some SS/HS sites, mental health providers aretrained in the SEL program being implementedin classrooms. This training, along with closecommunication with the classroom teachers, allowsmental health providers to reinforce SEL skillsand help children practice them as part of theirintervention. (For an example of how one SS/HS sitedid this, see Adapting an Evidence-Based Interventionat tice/adapting%20intervention.html.)She then worked with the providers to map theirservices onto those skills. This created a broader setof outcomes for the project, building on individualprogram initiatives to create a unified frameworkdesigned to address the needs of the whole childthrough common understanding and language. Italso helped to advance the infrastructure beingdeveloped to sustain the SS/HS initiative after thetermination of the grant. In addition, individualagencies had a more coordinated vision of theproject; this vision helped motivate them to identifyresources within their own organizations that couldbe leveraged to support the broader effort. Theexample of West Chicago demonstrates how one site,by focusing on key skills that support students’ socialand emotional health, increased communitywidesupport for children and began the work ofsustaining its initiative over time.Fostering coordination between educators andmental health providers is another critical rolefacilitated by the SS/HS grant. Consultationfrom mental health providers to teachers on theimplementation of universal programs, in addition toaddressing specific mental health issues of identifiedor at risk students, has been documented to decreaseteacher stress and to promote teachers’ sense ofefficacy in addressing students’ issues.12 Mentalhealth providers also can help teachers establishclassroom learning environments that promotetheir own and students’ social and emotional wellbeing through the establishment of consistentexpectations, working with students, staff, andfamilies to develop skills and competencies, andassisting them in the development of strategies tohelp cope with stress more adaptively.Addressing children’s mental health is critical forschool and life success. Social and emotional learningprogramming, when implemented with fidelityand integrated into the fabric of the school andcommunity, provides students with the skills theyneed to be successful within an environment thatpromotes their physical and emotional safety andwell-being.SS/HS initiatives canplay a pivotal role inthe implementation ofSEL programming andthe integration of thoseskills into the broadercommunity.At a systems level, SS/HSproject directors can workwith schools, communityagencies, families, andother providers to create acommon understanding of thesocial and emotional skillsthat all children across thedevelopmental spectrumneed to be taught and havereinforced.At a systems level, SS/HS project directors can workwith schools, community agencies, families, andother providers to create a common understanding ofthe social and emotional skills that all children acrossthe developmental spectrum need to be taught andhave reinforced.For example, the project director at the West ChicagoSS/HS site convened school representatives as well ascommunity providers on its stakeholder’s committeeto discuss SEL skills and Illinois state SEL standards.4
Connecting Social and Emotional Learning with Mental HealthStrategies for ConnectingMental Health with SchoolwideSEL ProgrammingStrategies for PrincipalsStrategies for Project Directors Create opportunities for networking andcollaborating between community agenciesand school personnel to ensure coordination ofservices.Assess existing efforts by schools and districtsto promote students’ social and emotionaldevelopment, to ensure initiatives are meetingidentified needs.Implement, with schools and districts,sustainable programming to address students’needs. For example, have teachers partnerwith school mental health providers to providetargeted SEL lessons rather than have theschool mental health provider provide thoseservices in the classroom without teacherengagement.Provide practical and easy-to-use ideas forteachers and school staff to promote children’smental health (e.g., greeting students in thehallway, talking respectfully to students andother staff, creating displays that celebrate thework of students, creating positively wordedclassroom rules with students). Celebrate successes focused on children andadults demonstrating SEL skills, through Websites, newsletters, e-mail, letters, and so forth Review the initiative’s logic model in terms ofSEL competencies, assess gaps in services, andcreate a comprehensive vision for the skillsand competencies for all students to developas a result of SS/HS and the collaborativepartnerships. Promote high academic standards andexpectations. Ensure that everyone in the building is heldaccountable for upholding and modeling therules and teaching and supporting respectfulbehavior. Ensure that every student in the school hasan adult assigned to know and “watch out” forthat student. Meet with key stakeholders to promote SEL asa framework for student success. Engage all staff in thinking through thecurricular and instructional value ofcoordinated schoolwide SEL. Provide professional development and supportfor those implementing programming. Adopt school rules and policies that are fairand apply them equitably. Expand staff teams that address children’ssocial and emotional needs to includecommunity providers when appropriateto ensure coordination across school andcommunity. Add a social and emotional learning goal to theSchool Improvement Plan.Strategies for Teaching StaffWork with mental health providers to createconsistency of language across settings. Forexample, if the school is using a problemsolving method, can mental health providersincorporate the same problem-solving methodinto their work with the student?5 Teach, model, and reinforce SEL skills in andout of the classroom. Implement evidence-based programs thataddress social and emotional skill developmentand link those skills to academic content. Establish high academic expectations. Provide specific feedback on students’ workrather than more global praise. Encourage cooperative learning and peerassisted teaching. Encourage students in language arts or socialstudies lessons to discuss how characters orhistorical figures used problem-solving skillsor expressed understanding of others’ feelings.
Connecting Social and Emotional Learning with Mental Health Communicate regularly with parents to letthem know about SEL-related classroomactivities. Create democratic classrooms. Share positive reports of student behavior andachievement with parents. Develop routines and rituals for the class. Create physically and emotionally safeenvironments for students. Be consistent with rituals, rules, and routinesin the classroom. Develop supportive programming for at-riskstudents that provides opportunities for themto practice the skills in multiple settings. Co-facilitate lessons and provide additional“booster” support for those students whomight need additional time and practice tolearn and demonstrate certain skills. With the teaching staff and communitypartners, provide resources for families thatteach caregivers about SEL and strategiesthat they can use at home to promote thegeneralization of skills.Strategies for Community MentalHealth ProvidersOne school formed an after-school club whereactivities were created that required demonstrationof SEL skills (e.g., turn taking, frustration tolerance)without being overly didactic. In one instance,the students were invited to develop a newspaper,an activity that drew on all of their SEL skills incommunication, relationship management, andproblem-solving, and also created an opportunityfor the students to be engaged in the school in ameaningful way. Connect with schools and districts to learnabout ongoing SEL programming. Work with schools and districts to receiveconcurrent training on SEL programming topromote generalization of programming skillsand language into the broader community. Reinforce SEL programming through theintegration of the skills and language intowork with individual children and families. Coordinate with school mental healthproviders to provide resources and professionaldevelopment for teachers on the signs andsymptoms of common mental health issues. Provide resources to families and childrenabout typical developmental milestones andwhom they may contact with concerns abouttheir children’s social, emotional, and physicaldevelopment. Map how community health servicesare addressing the social and emotionalcompetencies of children and ways that thoseservices might support other ongoing efforts.Strategies for Student Support Staff Provide coaching and modeling to school staff. Employ strengths-
promote the universal mental health of children. “While schools are primarily concerned with education, mental health is essential to learning as well as to social and emotional development. Because of this important interplay between emotional health and school success, schools must
to Social-Emotional Learning Communities can strengthen children's social-emotional skills by taking a comprehensive approach to social-emotional learning (SEL). A wealth of evidence reveals the positive effects of universal, classroom-based social-emotional learning (SEL) programs for children. Alongside this evidence is broad recognition among
Learning Objectives Learn how social emotional learning works. Learn how social emotional learning is connected to preventing onset of serious emotional problems and mental illnesses in later life. Identify best practices for implementing social emotional learning programs from preschool through high school.
Emotional Learning (SEL) curricula to address the social and emotional needs of their students. Social-Emotional Learning programs for elementary and middle school youth seek to promote various social and emotional skills a
its original connecting rod before another connecting rod bearing cap is removed. 5. Remove the connecting rod bearing cap with the connecting rod bearing. 6. Inspect the connecting rod bearing for damage. If the connecting rod bearing is damaged, replace all main and connecting rod bearings. a. Acceptable bearing wear (1). b.
2.6.1 Emotional and Social Competency Inventory 51 2.6.2 Emotional Quotient Inventory 52 2.6.3 Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test 53 2.6.4 Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire 54 2.7 EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE- RELATED STUDIES 55 2.8 EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE IN EDUCATION 58
Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL), and a group of stakeholders to discuss and detail the core elements of social and emotional learning. In January 2019, that team published the . PK-12 Social-Emotional Learning Competencies (Desautels &
The impact of social emotional learning on student outcomes and future life success becomes essential; therefore, more district’s across the country are implementing a variety of initiatives and programs focused on social emotional learning. Planning for how we can engage families in social emotional learning is critical.
relevant background research in social-emotional learning, including a discussion of why you should consider incorporating social-emotional learning practices in the classroom. Specifically, we detail the connection between social-emotional learning and important academic outcomes, such as academic buoyancy and anxiety-reduction.
