Mental Health in Schools Through the Lens of the Whole Child

We are excited to share a new resource focused on mental health through the lens of the WSCC Framework. This project, that was completed in collaboration with The Jed Foundation (JED), a non-profit that works to protect emotional health and prevent suicide for our nation’s teens and young adults, and with support from Matchstick Consulting, approaches the work of promoting mental health and preventing suicide comprehensively.

The WSCC Framework is comprehensive and emphasizes the need for collaboration and coordination of people, policy and practice in a school to support the whole child – all with the shared goal of helping young people graduate from high school and feel ready to take on whatever lies ahead.

The new resource is unique because it demonstrates how efforts to support student mental health are consistent with the WSCC Framework – elevating strategies and resources that support mental health across an entire school community, not just within one area or profession.

The purpose of this resource is to create:

• A foundation of information and practices for mental health promotion in schools through the lens of the WSCC Framework.

• A place to access a broad array of resources that is kept up to date as practices and research in the area continue to evolve.

• A webpage highlighting on-the-ground efforts led by people in communities across the United States implementing promising and innovative work. 

In the resource, we use the WSCC Framework as a lens to identify practices, resources and stories to promote school mental health across all components of the framework. While we provide effective practices and resources within each component of the WSCC Framework, it’s the coordination and collaboration across policies, practices and programs that gives the framework its power to impact health and academic success. As you interact with the resource, consider how practices listed in each component connect with other areas, and are supported by policy. We also hope you will see how the pieces come together in each of the highlighted stories.

Access the resource here!

Share the resource! Use hashtags #WSCC, #ImproveSchoolHealth, #SchoolMentalHealth, #MentalHealth, #SEL and #WholeChild. Don’t forget to include @cairnguidance and @JedFoundation so we can share and re-tweet your posts!