Lesson Title: Prevention of mental health disorders and mental health awareness/assistance
Brief Summary: Everyone has mental health but not everyone experiences mental health problems or is diagnosed with a mental illness. Mental health problems and mental illness are prevalent in youth. During the course of a school year, 1 in 5 children in your school will have a diagnosable mental health disorder. 1 in 10 children and adolescents will suffer from a mental illness severe enough to result in significant impairment in his/her ability to function.
Mental health affects how we think and feel about things. Being mentally healthy means, more often than not, you feel happy and content. Everyone may feel sad, anxious, or depressed at times but those feelings go away. If someone is feeling constantly sad, anxious, depressed, worried, or unable to pay attention, and those feelings remain for more than two weeks, it could indicate something more serious that needs to be addressed.
Just like helping a physical illness, for example taking aspirin for a headache, there are coping strategies and tools we can use to help feelings seem less overwhelming. Taking care of your mental health is just as important as taking care of your physical health. Practicing self-care which includes focusing on balanced nutrition, getting enough sleep, curating healthy relationships, and expressing your feelings with words instead of impulses are all great strategies for good mental health.
PLEASE NOTE: Everybody has stressful days, happy days, and sad days. It is typical for adolescents to have mood swings and strong emotional responses on occasion. However, if changes in mood or behaviors are impairing a student’s ability to function academically or socially, and last more than two weeks, please contact the school counselor or district Mental Health Professional.
Response Guidelines
If a student asks a question or shares information that you don’t have the answers to or know how to respond to, take the following steps:
1. Stay calm.
2. Validate what the student said and how brave they were to share.
3. Let them know that you want to help in any way possible while protecting their privacy.
4. If the response indicates an emergency, get help immediately.
5. If the response does not indicate an emergency, get help as soon as class is over.
Lesson Objectives
Shared vocabulary:
Key Takeaways:
Upon completion of viewing online content Students will learn that mental health problems affect kids their age and are treatable. It’s not something they need to be afraid to talk about with others.
Teachers: Please have students complete the activity on the following page. As we connect today’s lesson to our curriculum, please use the appropriate grade-level rubric to assess your students.
Continue the Conversation:
Additional activities/resources/suggested reading:
Prevention of mental health disorders and mental health awareness/assistance student writing prompt
Question: We know that there are things we can do to take care of our bodies like eating health foods and getting enough exercise and sleep. How can you also take care of your mental health?