Educator Toolkit
Click here to learn how to access Kognito’s At-Risk training for free.
Download “Filling your child’s emotional backpack?” flyer: English and Spanish
Download “Are you ready for the emotional storm?” flyer: English and Spanish
RESOURCES
After The Storm: A Guide to Help Children Cope with the Psychological Effects of a Hurricane
Developed by 7-Dippity, Inc. and Dr. Annette La Greca, Professor of Psychology and Pediatrics at the University of Miami, this special edition of After the Storm was created to better address the needs of children and families impacted by Hurricane Harvey. The interactive workbook contains information, activities and coping strategies to help parents and caregivers assist children in coping with their reactions and feelings from the hurricane and its aftermath. Accede al libro de trabajo en español aquí.
This Resource Flyer was created by Mental Health America of Greater Houston as a listing of local and web-based resources to prevent and treat bullying for all ages.
Talking about Mental Illness: Teacher’s Resource Guide
This Teacher’s Resource Guide contains all the information, support and tools teachers will need to implement Talking about Mental Illness in their classroom — an awareness program that has been proven to bring about positive change in students’ knowledge and attitudes about mental illness.
This website provides science-based information about youth mental health in a variety of digital formats including ebooks, mobile apps, and animations. Online teacher-training provides an overview of mental illnesses and disorders at no cost.
The ABCs of Mental Health provides two free, web-based resources – one for teachers and one for parents. They include ideas for promoting the mental health of children and adolescents, information about how children change as they get older, descriptions of behaviors that might indicate a problem, and practical suggestions for steps to take.
MHA’s 2017 Back to School Toolkit
MHA’s 2017 Back to School Toolkit aims to increase emotional intelligence and self-regulation through materials for parents, school personnel, and young people.
TRAUMA RESOURCES
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ACE Study site
From the site: “Childhood abuse, neglect, and exposure to other traumatic stressors which we term adverse childhood experiences (ACE) are common. Almost two-thirds of our study participants reported at least one ACE, and more than one of five reported three or more ACE. The short- and long-term outcomes of these childhood exposures include a multitude of health and social problems.”
In response to the recent high school shooting in Santa Fe Texas, the National Child Traumatic Stress Network has developed resources to help families and communities. These resources include tip sheets on:
- The Psychological Impact of the Recent Shooting
- Tips for Parents on Media Coverage
- Tip Sheet for Youth Talking to Journalists about the Shooting
- Parent Guidelines for Helping Youth after the Recent Shooting
- Talking to Children about the Shooting
- Helping Teens with Traumatic Grief: Tips for Caregivers
- Helping School-Age Children with Traumatic Grief: Tips for Caregivers
- Helping Young Children with Traumatic Grief: Tips for Caregivers
- After a Crisis: Helping Young Children Heal
- After the Injury—website for families with injured children
- Health Care Toolbox—website for pediatric health providers working with injured children
The NCTSN also has resources for responders on Psychological First Aid (PFA). PFA is an early intervention to support children, adolescents, adults, and families impacted by these types of events. An online training course for PFA is available on our NCTSN Learning Center. PFA Mobile is an app that can be accessed for free for Android and Apple mobile devices
DISASTER HOTLINE
SAMHSA has a Disaster Distress Hotline – call 1-800-985-5900 or text TALKWITHUS to 66746.
RESOURCES FOR SB 460* COMPLIANCE
Center for School Behavioral Health Mental Health Trainings
This is a listing of all available trainings that the Center for School Behavioral Health offers.
Helping students in distress (online simulation training)
Kognito offers research-proven training simulations designed to prepare educators, staff, students, physicians, and caregivers to: (1) recognize when someone is exhibiting signs of psychological distress or underlying trauma and (2) manage a conversation with the goal of connecting them with the appropriate support.
Talking about Mental Illness: A Guide for Developing an Awareness Program for Youth
This guide provides:
practical ideas for teaching about mental illness in secondary school
- practical ideas for teaching about mental illness in secondary school
- curriculum guidelines for various courses showing how the program fits curriculum requirements
- ready-to-use overheads and activities that address various mental health topics, such as causes, treatment and stigma
- evaluation tools to help teachers measure the program’s impact on students’ knowledge and attitudes
- resources and supports for teachers.
LESSON PLANS: K-12
Activities for Children’s Mental Health Week
“Children’s Mental Health Week” is across the world and is a pertinent time to raise awareness at your school about mental health. Through various activities, individual classes and the whole school can help to bring this issue out of the shadows.
Teach Resiliency is a door to an online library of practical, evidence-informed resources and tools to support mental health in our classrooms and schools—for students as well as educators. It’s also a place to learn from one another: to exchange ideas, create new resources, and share important perspectives and ideas
LESSON PLANS: ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
Mental Health and Stress Reduction
This lesson helps students learn about healthy self-esteem, the importance of a positive outlook on life, and strategies for healthy decision making and coping with stress.
LESSON PLANS: MIDDLE SCHOOL
After completing this lesson, students will be able to define stigma and understand key elements of mental illness.
LESSON PLANS: HIGH SCHOOL
Can We Talk? contains three lesson plans for junior and senior high school. Topics include stigma and tracking emotions and stress. Activities and evaluations are included.
For grades 9-12. In this lesson, students examine teenage depression: what it’s all about, how it feels, and ways to deal with it. This is accomplished by small group discussions, recalling life events that trigger depressive episodes, self-reflection and topic research. Upon completion, students have a better understanding of depression and how it relates to their own lives.
Mental Health and High School Curriculum Guide
By using the activities in the curriculum guide, teachers and students will explore the language of mental health and mental illness and learn about the causes, symptoms and approaches for dealing with different mental illnesses such as mood, anxiety, eating and psychotic disorders. Through the audiovisual materials, students will hear directly from other young people about their experiences with mental illness, and the impact of stigma on their personal struggles and at the community and societal level.
BOOKS
A list of children’s books to help youth develop important social, emotional, and mental wellness skills.
Children’s Books for Talking About Trauma
The National Traumatic Stress Network provides many free resources for parents, including a library of books that parents can use to talk to their children about trauma.
Children’s Mental Health Emotional E-book Library
This e-book library, donated by Capstone Interactive, has excellent books that spark conversations around mental wellbeing and the development of social emotional skills. E-books have unlimited access to multiple users. Site username: mhahouston
Site password: houston
A children’s book written to help children and grown-ups (parents, teachers, and other important adults) understand how stress can affect children and ways to help them. The book is available in Arabic, English, Spanish and Turkish
Social and Emotional Learning through Literature
This list of books is focused on teasing and bullying for those nine years and older.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
An article from the Stanford Social Innovation Review about the Collective Impact Model and its success in school systems.
Risk and Protective Factors for Mental, Emotional, and Behavioral Disorders Across the Life Cycle
A brochure on the risk and protective factors for mental, emotional, and behavioral disorders throughout the life span, published by the US Department of Health and Human Services.
Youth.gov’s mental health overview
The Mental Health webpage for youth.gov. Youth.gov is the U.S. government website that helps you create, maintain, and strengthen effective youth programs. Included are youth facts, funding information, and tools to help you assess community assets, generate maps of local and federal resources, search for evidence-based youth programs, and keep up-to-date on the latest, youth-related news.
* Senate Bill (SB) 460, passed by the 83rd Texas Legislature in 2013, requires school districts to provide teachers, administrators and staff with training in mental health intervention and suicide prevention to help them identify red flags in a child behavior and respond effectivelyHouse Bill (HB) 2186, passed by the 84th Texas Legislature in 2015, requires suicide prevention training for all new school district and open-enrollment charter school educators annually and for existing school district and open-enrollment charter school educators on a schedule adopted by the Texas Education Agency (TEA) by rule.
*Materials were created or identified as resources by the Center for School Behavioral Health at Mental Health America of Greater Houston.
