Digest #158: Mental Health and Wellbeing in Education
By Carolina Kuepper-Tetzel
In education many students and staff report experiencing mental health and wellbeing challenges at some point in their studies or their work - often for prolonged periods. The pandemic has contributed to the burden on mental health many students and teachers were already facing – and they often must wait for a long time for counselling service appointments. In today’s digest, I put together some information and resources on the ‘mental health crisis’, how wellbeing can be integrated into the curriculum, and what individuals could try to increase their mental health and wellbeing.
1. Surgeon general warns of emerging youth mental health crisis in rare public advisory, Howard Blume (@howardblume) and Melissa Gomez (@melissagomez004) for the Los Angeles Times
A very recent piece that provides an overview of the prevalence of mental health challenges particularly young people are facing and which have been exacerbated during the pandemic. The piece calls for an increase in formal and informal services to support young people.
2. Embedding mental wellbeing in the curriculum: Maximising success in higher education, Ann-Marie Houghton and Jill Anderson for the Higher Education Academy (@HEAcademy)
How can we integrate wellbeing into the educational curriculum in a meaningful way? In this report, the authors outline different approaches to this and underpin their ideas with empirical evidence.
3. Healthy ways to handle life’s stressors by the American Psychological Association (@APA)
This resource offers 11 concrete tips to encourage coping with and reducing stress. Not all suggestions will work for everyone but have a look and see what would work best for you.
4. Looking after your mental wellbeing by student minds (@studentmindsorg)
My favorite part of this resource is the section “What can I do if I don’t have a lot of time?”. In that section, you will find things you can do for your mental wellbeing if you only have, say, 5, 10, or 30 minutes to spare. Small tweaks can sometimes make a big difference.
5. Videos, tools and tips for student mental health by mind.org.uk (@MindCharity)
A wonderful collection of short videos that are tailored to students on different aspects of mental health and wellbeing, for example ‘tips for better sleep’, ‘tips for your self-esteem’, and so on. Take a look.
From time to time, we pick a theme and provide a curated list of links. If you have a theme suggestion, please don’t hesitate to contact us! Occasionally we publish a guest digest, and If you'd like to propose a guest digest click here. Our 5 most recent digests can be found here:
Digest #153: Neurodiversity in Education
Digest #154: Memorizing vs Understanding
Digest #155: The Effect of Stereotype Threat on Cognition
