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Over the past two school years, we’ve seen a rise in mental health crises among children and adolescents. Those working in education and mental health predicted it would happen. Certainly, the global pandemic, continued exposure to racial injustices, and the worsening climate crisis has fueled anxiety and fear among young people; but it wasn’t the start of this mental health epidemic.
The challenges we’re facing expose massive gaps and inequities in mental health prevention and treatment nationwide, and it’s been particularly disastrous for our youth. The problem has become so pronounced that the U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy issued an Advisory on Protecting Youth Mental Health.
In addition to the Surgeon General’s Advisory, three recent reports call upon schools to help fill those gaps through consistent, evidence-based approaches to social and emotional learning (SEL). There’s no mistaking the integral connection between SEL and student achievement, and we know that Mindfulness-Based Social Emotional Learning (MBSEL) creates the foundation on which social-emotional skills are successfully developed.
What is Mindfulness-Based Social Emotional Learning (MBSEL)?
MBSEL is an evidence-based approach to strengthening resilience and supporting mental health and well-being among students. More than 7,000 studies demonstrate the efficacy of the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction program on which Inner Explorer is formatted. MBSEL scaled programming supports educators and students at all levels of the multi-tiered systems of support (MTSS) and aligns with the recommendations in all these reports.
Report One: The U.S. Department of Education Recommends Mindfulness to Support Mental Health
The U.S. Department of Education released a report for educators, schools, and districts to help promote the mental health and social and emotional well-being of students. Supporting Child and Student Social, Emotional, Behavioral and Mental Health identifies seven recommendations for providing school-based mental health assistance and specifically recommends mindfulness as an evidence-based strategy for supporting the mental health and well-being of educators, students, and families.
Report Two: A National Mental Health Crisis Response
A second report, published by a coalition of state and national mental health organizations from across the U.S. proposes specific recommendations for building a national mental health crisis response continuum of care.
In the report, A Consensus Approach and Recommendations for the Creation of a Comprehensive Crisis Response System, the first pillar of care (Early Identification and Prevention) specifies the need to integrate trauma-informed practices, SEL, and MTSS in schools, and invest in prevention and early intervention in schools.
Report Three: International Study on Social-Emotional Skills in Children and Adolescents
The third set of recommendations come from the most comprehensive international survey to date that social-emotional skills impact students’ academic achievement, educational and occupational expectations, psychological well-being, and social interactions in school. Conducted by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Beyond Academic Learning: First Results from the Survey of Social and Emotional Skills (SSES) looks at how social-emotional skills vary by gender, social background, and age.
A key finding emphasizes that more attention be directed to closing the gender and socioeconomic gaps in social-emotional skills, test anxiety, and well-being with particular attention to supporting adolescent girls from marginalized communities. Further, the SSES confirms that adolescents tend to see a temporary drop in social-emotional skills, putting them at greater risk for academic struggles and vulnerability to mental health challenges. Similar to the U.S. Department of Education report, the SESS calls for teacher training on students’ psychological well-being so early identification and interventions can be put in place for at-risk students.
The Bottom Line
Funding for school-based mental health prevention and well-being programs like MBSEL has been increased by the federal government, including COVID relief funding. Education and mental health professionals nationwide agree these programs are needed and that schools are the best way to reach children and adolescents.
With federal leadership, guidance from education and mental health organizations, and reliable data from leading research institutions, we can and should embed SEL/MBSEL programs in schools and centers nationwide.
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