How to Enhance Well-being in Your Schools

Well-being is critical to address in today’s learning environments. 

50% of mental illness begins by age 14, and 25% begins by age 24. 

Those are the critical years that most people are in education. 

Without student well-being, it is challenging for students to flourish in their education and for learning to reach its full potential. Here are a few ways that you, as a school leader, can start leading the charge to enhance well-being in your school: 

1. Mindfulness Lessons 

According to the National Institutes of Mental Health, 25% of 13-18-year-olds will experience an anxiety disorder. Children today are faced with an unprecedented amount of stress and tragic events in their schools. Because of this, many schools are starting to implement mindfulness lessons into classroom curriculums. 

School-based mindfulness lessons teach students what it looks like to calm down anxiety, regulate difficult emotions, build inner resilience, and form healthy relationships. A few helpful tools that can help to aid in mindfulness lessons are – Mindful Schools, Learning to Breathe, and MindUp. Research has shown that mindfulness can help students improve social skills and overall learning. 

2. Create Wellness Days 

Wellness days are a great way to implement an emphasis on well-being into your school or district calendar. Wellness days should be days that students have off to focus on mental health and where teachers can choose to catch up on lesson planning or focus on their own personal mental health. We recommend implementing wellness days at least once a semester, you can consult with your mental health staff and school psychologists to create and implement plans. 

3. Provide Therapy & Services to Promote Well-being 

Every school should have a plan in place to provide therapy or additional help to students who are struggling with mental health, learning disabilities, or building relationships in school. If your school or district can’t provide full-time, on-campus staff to provide these services, there are other options available such as teleservices. 

With VocoVision, your school will gain access to a national network of highly qualified and experienced teletherapists who will help students reach their full potential. From school psychologists to school social workers, we have the teleprofessionals you need to promote well-being. 

You can learn more about our school staffing solutions and specific services here.