Three Ways Parents and Educators Can Build Connection at School

MHA Admin

Tue, 08/27/2024 – 14:57

by Ariana Hoet, Ph.D., and Whitney Raglin Bignall, Ph.D, the Kids Mental Health Foundation

Since the pandemic, we continue to hear concerns about kids and their mental health at school. Those concerns include increased isolation, loneliness, feelings of anxiety, school avoidance, and a widening gap in academic achievement.

One way to help protect the mental health of children this back-to-school season is through connection. When kids feel connected at school, it improves their mental health by:

Improving their grades/scores
Building self-confidence
Keeping them engaged
Reducing risky behaviors (like violence or substance use)
Reducing loneliness, anxiety, and depression

And both parents and teachers have a role in helping kids feel like they are connected and belong.

How Parents Can Help Build Connection at School

1. Show interest in your child’s life at school 

Ask your child how school is going and try to keep questions open-ended versus yes/no questions. You might ask about who they spend time with at school and what they do together, what projects they’re working on, or something fun they learned this week. Try to give kids your full attention so you can absorb what they’re saying.

When you can, follow up a day or two later with a question about that group project, a test they have coming up, or a teacher they enjoy. This shows that you’ve listened and that you care about their school life.

2. Encourage school friendships 

Relationships with others at school will help them feel like they are part of something bigger. Teach your children social skills (like patiently waiting for their turn or thinking of how someone else might feel), how to make new friends, and what healthy friendships look like. Talk about how they can make plans outside of school, and how they can ask for parental contact information.

3. Involve yourself in the school community 

Ask the school office or check the school’s website for a calendar of events so you have the dates of breaks, conferences, events and other important dates. Show up to the school as much as your schedule allows. Attend a curriculum night to meet their teacher, go to a game or after-school concert performance, or volunteer at an event. When your schedule is limited, small actions like emailing the teacher to introduce yourself and find out what the classroom needs are can also go a long way.

How Educators Can Help Build Connection at School

1. Get to know each student 

You can use classroom conversation starters to get to know students in a group setting. Taking the time to greet them as an individual or ask them a follow-up question about something that they’ve shared can give students a feeling of being important and belonging.

2. Help kids work together 

When students feel closer to their peers, they will also have an increased sense of belonging and connection. Encourage them to get to know one another through projects or activities. As a teacher, you may notice when a student is being left out or is isolating. Supporting that student in finding like-minded friends or noticing their strengths through different classroom activities can have an important impact on their mental health.

3. Set a positive vision 

Your expectations for your students, and how you share those expectations, are important to their confidence and success. If you feel confident that they can do well in the classroom and share the strengths you notice in them, students can feel welcomed and accepted.

Find more ideas and free downloads for parents and teachers at KidsMentalHealthFoundation.org.

Ariana Hoet, Ph.D., is the executive clinical director of the Kids Mental Health Foundation and a pediatric psychologist at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. Dr. Hoet works at a Primary Care Center where she serves primarily Latino and Somali immigrant children.

Whitney J. Raglin Bignall, Ph.D., is the associate clinical director of the Kids Mental Health Foundation. Dr. Raglin Bignall works with families at a Nationwide Children’s Primary Care Center, which serves a primarily low-income and racially diverse community.

The Kids Mental Health Foundation is the leading organization promoting mental health for children in the United States. To achieve its vision to build a world where mental health is a vital part of every child’s upbringing, more than 1,000 mental health professionals and researchers at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, in partnership with other trusted experts, provide real-world knowledge and expertise to power the Foundation’s free educational videos, guides and curriculum.

DID YOU KNOW?

The Capital City Emergency “Level II” Trauma & Wellness Center will house a “state of the art” Outreach Community Resource Center, that will provide case management, mental health community advocacy, and oversight from the M.I. Mother’s Keeper mental health advocates. 
 
The Capital City Emergency “Level II” Trauma & Wellness Center will offer patrons access to immediate coverage by general surgeons as well as coverage by the specialties of orthopedic surgery, neurosurgery, anesthesiology, emergency medicine, radiology and critical care.
 
Our goal is to help people in the best way possible in an effort to preserve and to save more lives in the Nation’s Capital and beyond.

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Gunshot Victim
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Physical Assault Victim
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and more…

trauma

Child Sex Assault Victim
Domestic Violence Victim
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and more…

Mental Health

At Capital City Emergency Trauma & Wellness Center patrons with mental health emergencies that include life threatening situations in which an individual is imminently threatening harm to self or others, severely disoriented or out of touch with reality, has a severe inability to function or is otherwise distraught and out of control, will have access to quality and psychiatric emergency services and referrals.

Physical Health

Whether your life threatening medical emergency involves excessive or uncontrollable bleeding, head injury. difficulty with breathing, severe pain, heart attack, vision impairments, stroke, physically collapsing, or seizure related, rest assured that our professionals will properly assess and evaluate the level of response that will be most needed to help provide stabilized care solutions and minimize complications as well as reduce early mortality.

Holistic Healthcare

We offer healthcare solutions that will support the whole person which includes their physical, psychological, emotional, social, & spiritual wellbeing. Research supports that because your mental state can affect your overall health we support and offer the inclusion of complimentary and alternative medicine(CAM) practitioners and naturopathic doctor recommendations and referrals as a part of our Outreach Community Resource Center’s care regimen and support.

Rehabilitative

Emergency care can typically result in traumatic injuries for which rehabilitation becomes an essential component of care in trying to achieve the best long-term outcomes for the patient. In addition to speeding up recovery times and helping to prevent further complications, rehabilitative care also helps to support a patient’s self-managed recovery once discharged from our facility. Our Outreach Community Resource Center works closely with our trauma center’s discharge department to assure that patrons requiring these services are linked with qualified professionals who will be accountable to the standard of care required to help the patron be successful in their recovery.

Social Services

Our “state of the art” Outreach Community Resource Center intends to promote “expansive” beneficial community enriching services, programs, case management, & linkage to “approved” partner resources and supports in all of the following intended areas and more:

Social Services

  • Clothing
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  • Etc.

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Program Partner
(Bridging the Gap)

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Workshops, & Programs

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Nutritional Outreach

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Community Outreach

The Healthy DC & Me Leadership Coalition is partnering with the M.I. Mother’s Keeper Mental Health advocacy organization to provide outreach services on the community level as an aid in reducing the existent health inequities that many District citizens are facing as a direct result of the presence of debilitating social determinants and the lack of culturally appropriate care choices and realities for community members residing in marginalized and lower-income communities.

It is the vision and intentions of the M.I. Mother’s Keeper Mental Health Advocates organization to help improve the quality of living for citizens living in our Nation’s Capital and beyond by overseeing the delicate linkage to services and by maintaining higher standards of care accountability for deserving citizens of the Nation’s Capital.

For more information or to enroll as one of our service providers, please email us at:
info@healthydcandme.org