Are you a school [instructional] leader who wants to learn about school mental health, or a mental health provider who wants to learn about the contexts of schools and student learning outcomes? Often, the conversations between educators and mental health providers are siloed and separated. This session provides a platform to bridge the conversation so that both perspectives can learn from one another to better support the students they serve. Together we will explore common mental health issues among students (k-16) and their potential effects on learning outcomes; the relationship between socio-emotional development, student learning, and academic success; an introduction to mental health in the classroom and school, including barriers to help-seeking and provision; and how to enhance our role as supportive adults for students with mental health and emotional challenges and strengths.
Leora Wolf-Prusan, Ed.D., is the School Mental Health Lead for the Pacific Southwest Mental Health Technology Transfer Center, a project of SAMHSA that provides no-cost professional development to support the school mental health workforce in the Pacific Islands, Hawaii, California, Nevada, and Arizona. She formerly served as the field director for a SAMHSA Now Is The Time Initiative, ReCAST(Resiliency in Communities After Stress and Trauma), which involved providing support to the 10 grantee cities and counties as they built city-based resiliency plans to respond to civil unrest due to community-based trauma. In addition to these national grants, she provides consulting and training for numerous other clients around issues related to school climate and positive youth development, educator mental health and wellness, and trauma- informed approaches to education.
