Investing in Student Social Emotional Wellbeing

Often, adults reflect back on childhood as a time of fun, carefree living. We tend to associate emotions like anxiety and depression as adult-only issues. In truth, school-age children are experiencing mental health challenges now more than ever before.

Locally, more than 24% of middle and high school students report feeling hopelessness for a period of two weeks or more. More than 18% have seriously contemplated committing suicide, according to the most recent Youth Risk Behavior Survey.

Over the last 18 months, GWCHF has provided over $200,000 in funding to support the Dodgeland, Hustisford, Watertown and Jefferson school districts in the implementation of the WI School Mental Health Framework, a best-practice strategy in building a comprehensive school mental health system.

Why invest here?

If mental health problems go untreated, they can continue into adulthood and contribute to ongoing problems. Schools are an ideal place to provide mental health services to children and youth because:

• Most children spend at least 6 hours a day in school
• Schools offer an ideal context for prevention, intervention, positive development, and regular communication between school and families. School-employed mental health professionals know the students, parents, and other staff, which contributes to accessibility of services. In fact, research has shown that students are more likely to seek counseling when services are available in schools. In some cases, such as rural areas, schools provide the only mental health services in the community.

What is being done?

The funds provided by GWCHF will go toward implementation of two key strategies proven to improve youth wellbeing and school performance:

• Formal social and emotional learning curriculum, which will help all students cultivate five key "life skills"
• Social awareness
• Self-management
• Emotional regulation
• Relationship skills
• Responsible decision making
• Staff professional development in the areas of trauma, resiliency and restorative practices.

How will we measure success?

We have put measures in place to track the investment’s effectiveness in moving the needle on the following indicators. These include the reduction of:

• the number of teens who report feeling hopeless for a period of 2 weeks or more
• the number of teens who have seriously contemplated committing suicide
• the number of students who miss more than 9 days of school annually
• school discipline occurrences