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GROVES' COMMITMENT TO MENTAL HEALTH
Students' mental health and academic success continue to be at the forefront at Groves Academy, especially given the COVID-19 pandemic and the consequent life stressors. These recent challenges made it abundantly clear how closely academic success and mental health are connected. The association between learning disabilities and mental health concerns has always existed. Often, there are co-occurring mental health concerns or other neurodevelopmental disorders present. Although the causes are not 100% clear, these connections are likely due to some combination of genetic, cognitive, and environmental factors. The relationship is symbiotic between mental health and academic achievement.
Acknowledging this, Groves created a Mental Health Task Force (MHTF) with the purpose of bringing together a multidisciplinary team made up of counselors, psychologists, and school administrators to support the mental health needs of our students. The goal is to use a systematic screening process that will allow Groves to identify students' social, emotional, and behavioral needs and create a plan to continue to support their mental health needs. This past school year the MHTF created a universal screening procedure that allowed the team to identify students who are either at-risk for or experiencing difficulties with social, emotional, or behavioral skills. Next, a parent survey was compiled to obtain a better understanding of our students' current mental health needs. Lastly, the task force piloted the new universal screening procedures with a small subtest of students to determine feasibility of this system.
The systematic screening efforts include:
• Groves teachers complete short questionnaires that measure students’ various mental health needs multiple times throughout the year, including social skills, feelings of anxiety or depression, or behavioral concerns. • For younger students, similar parent questionnaires will supplement teacher reports to ensure that students’ overall mental health needs are being met. • Older students supply self-ratings to provide a comprehensive picture of their current mental health development to identify any areas of concerns.
These efforts will continue to help meet Groves students' overall needs and allow understanding and individualized support necessary to strengthen their mental health. The future year goals of the MHTF are to expand the procedures to all students in the school (over time), continue to monitor Groves students' needs throughout the school year, and work on longterm goals of identifying additional ways to support our students' needs. Positive mental health and academic achievement can powerfully impact one another! Strong overall mental health, well-being, and resiliency positively impacts students’ school performance. If students feel adequately supported and successful in school, this improves their self-esteem and emotional health.
When every student’s unique needs and neurodiverse brain are recognized, understood, and supported, we allow each student to showcase their strengths and true potential. Our students’ mental health needs are part of them, and it is our job as educators to understand how this part may manifest in their learning.
