Why Teaching Social-Emotional Skills Is Essential For Students’ Mental Health
Mental Health or Mental Illness
How do we promote mental/emotional and social health in the classroom? How do we help students be healthier now, and in the future? Unfortunately, when people talk about mental health, they are usually talking about the lack of it. Discussions about improving mental health usually revolve around prevention, early detection, intervention, and treatment. As essential as these are, these efforts are not enough. We also need to focus on promoting optimal mental/emotional and social well-being.
Health Promotion
What is health promotion, and why is it important? The CDC defines health as a “state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.” Just because we are not sick or injured does not mean we are physically healthy. Similarly, not having a mental health condition, a mental disorder, a psychosocial disability, or other mental state associated with significant distress does not mean we are mentally/emotionally/socially healthy.
Promoting optimal physical, mental, emotional, and social health makes people healthier; it also helps prevent problems and can make treatment more successful when they do occur. For example, we recognize the importance of regular aerobic exercise in promoting optimal physical, emotional, and social well-being and in preventing heart disease, stroke, and certain cancers. In schools and the community, we facilitate the development of behaviors and skills that promote physical health. We need to place the same emphasis on promoting mental, emotional, and social well-being, thus making people healthier, which in turn will help prevent health problems from developing and possibly facilitate early intervention and treatment when they do occur.
SEL Research & Mental Health
Research indicates that students who participate in SEL programs show improved social and emotional skills, attitudes, and behaviors, including self-efficacy, self-esteem, perseverance, and optimism. In addition, students report less anxiety, stress, depression, and suicidal thoughts, and they have better relationships with peers. If we are serious about students’ emotional and social health, now and in the future, schools need to focus more on teaching and mastery of the social-emotional skills of self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, personal problem-solving/decision-making, effective communication, and interpersonal conflict resolution. Mastering these skills will not only improve their mental/emotional, social, and physical health now and in the future; it will also help prevent problems and, hopefully, make it easier to recognize them early so intervention and treatment can begin before a problem worsens.
Resources for Teaching Social-Emotional Skills in the Classroom
Social-emotional skills can be learned when they are modeled and systematically taught by teachers. If students are taught and given multiple opportunities to practice the skills in the classroom, process their use, receive feedback, and apply them in their lives outside of school, they will be able to master them and make them an integral part of their lives. To learn more about teaching SES in the classroom and how my research and teaching experience informed the development of these materials, please visit my website, Teaching Social-Emotional Skills . Modules include:
student SES learning experiences that facilitate the development of self-awareness, self-management, decision-making and personal problem-solving, relationship skills
readings that provide background information about the importance of each skill
skill cards that outline what students need to say and do when using them
projects that require students to apply the skills in real-life situations
student self-assessments
modules on How to Teach SES and How to Assess & Grade SES
The website includes over 150 research-informed, teacher-tested, free documents, including student learning experiences, projects, background readings for teachers and students, skill cards, and assessments. The purpose of the website is to help teachers facilitate the development and mastery of social-emotional skills, with the ultimate goal of promoting their students’ social-emotional well-being.
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