Blog #4, Mental Health

    In class this week, we read multiple articles and learned more about mental health. Mental health is an extremely important topic and being aware of the signs of mental illness and or mental health disorders is something all teachers should consider educating themselves in. Reading the slideshow called A Silent Epidemic, I learned a lot more about how schools are struggling to help students with mental illness. According to A Silent Epidemic slideshow, every 1 in 5 students struggles with mental health disorders or shows signs of it. The problem is that schools have hundreds of students, and not enough school psychologists or social workers. There are not enough people within schools to support students in need of counseling; " About one in five children in the United States shows signs of a mental health disorder — anything from ADHD to eating disorders to suicide. And yet, as we've been reporting this month, many schools aren't prepared to work with these students. Often, there's been too little training in recognizing the problems, the staff who are trained are overworked, and there just isn't enough money" (Anderson, 2016). As teachers, we are not professionally trained the same way that the psychologists or social workers are, but we can always help our students in many different ways. We can let our students know that we support them, be a listener when they need to talk, talk with them when they need it, and make accommodations when necessary depending on the situation. 

    Listening to the short podcast, it was kind of an eye opener for me. Hearing about how anxious the boy Jared was when it came to going to school broke my heart. He hadn't been to school in weeks, and it got to the point where if he was pushed into going by his mother, he would retreat in fetal position. I understand that a lot of kids have anxiety about going to school. I used to feel the same way, although it has eased for me, I know it is not the same for every student. I did not realize how severe some students anxiety about going to school could be. This is why it is so important for us as educators to make our students feel safe in the classroom. If our students aren't feeling safe, they could potentially end up in a situation like Jared's, and that is the last thing I would want to see for any of my future students. Anxiety isn't the only issue that students may have, they could even have depression, bipolar disorder, OCD, PTSD, ADHD, eating disorders and so much more. As teachers, we should be aware of the signs of different disorders or students may have in order to give them the best education they can get, while dealing with these mental health disorders. 

    Another part of our assignment this week was to pick a mental health disorder, educate ourselves on it, and lastly make a slideshow page for it. I chose Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder also known as OCD. OCD is; "Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is characterized by repetitive, unwanted, intrusive thoughts (obsessions) and irrational, excessive urges to do certain actions (compulsions). Although people with OCD may know that their thoughts and behavior don't make sense, they are often unable to stop them" (National Alliance on Mental Health). Scientists and researchers are not totally sure about what the cause of OCD is, but they believe it has to do with an abnormality with the brain processing serotonin. OCD can start to affect a person as early as childhood, teenage years or early adulthood. While it is not as common as other disorders, it is still equally as important to recognize. When it comes to teachers making accommodations suited for mental health disorders such as OCD, there are a few things that I learned. Some things that can be done to help a student struggling with OCD would be giving extended time for tests and papers, laptops for writing instead of a pencil, using the buddy system to help keep the student on track, private test rooms to avoid distractions, skip reading out loud, doing homework in chunks, plan an escape route for if there is a triggering situation for the student and be aware of these triggers and signs.

I really enjoyed this weeks module about mental health in schools. Mental health is something that should be prioritized, just as physical health is. Reading my peers slides really helped to give me a better understanding of the different mental health disorders and I now know some things to look out for in the classroom and how to accommodate different mental health disorders. Being aware and educated on different mental health disorders and their signs can help to make the classroom a safer and more productive environment for everyone, and it will help to give each student the quality education that they deserve.

Slideshow References:

https://www.nami.org/About-Mental-Illness/Mental-Health-Conditions/Obsessive-compulsive-Disorder

https://www.escneo.org/Downloads/Obsessive%20Compulsive%20Disorder-%20Recommendations%20for%20Teachers.pdf

https://childmind.org/article/how-teachers-can-help-kids-with-ocd/

https://iocdf.org/about-ocd/ocd-treatment/

Slideshow Videos:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lBbVzvIoPCQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQNsjMtMFO4&feature=emb_title

Photo: https://pin.it/26kQRQU

Blog References:

Nadworny, E. & Drummond, S. (2016). A silent epidemic. National Public Radio. (Links to an external site.)

Cardoza, K. (2016). For kids, anxiety about school can feel like 'being chased by a lion'.  NPREd. (Links to an external site.)

Anderson, M. (2016). Here's how schools can support students' mental health. NPREd.  (Links to an external site.)

Conditions. (n.d.). National Alliance on Mental Health.  (Links to an external site.)