{"data":{"ID":1140,"Class":"Conversation","Created":1667347512,"CreatorID":79,"RevisionID":null,"Status":"Accepted","Title":"Navigating Mental Health in Schools","Handle":"navigating_mental_health_in_schools","ShortDescription":"With mental health resources overburdened, schools are increasingly finding themselves on the front lines of a larger mental health crisis. In this conversation, we will explore ways to meet the needs of our learners, support faculty and staff members, and continue to center joy.","Description":"As schools continue to assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on community members, one thing is for certain\u2013 mental health challenges loom large. In the context of overburdened traditional mental healthcare resources, schools are often left as the support system for students and families struggling to maintain mental and emotional well being. \r\n\r\nOur community, John Hancock Demonstration Schools, is a neighborhood public K-8 school in the School District of Philadelphia. In the previous two years, it became abundantly clear that declining student mental health, manifesting in ways ranging from academic struggles to unsafe behaviors, was taking its toll not only on the students themselves, but also on families and staff members. In response, we have become more deeply interested in exploring ways to empower all community members to understand student mental health challenges and to meet students where they are as we work together to foster healthy 21st century citizens.\r\n\r\nIn this conversation we will intentionally avoid \u201cadmiring the problem,\u201d while also allowing the space for participants to speak openly about problems of practice and build community around a common challenge. Our school will share how our community meetings, use of data, and the practice of centering joy have kept us afloat during these difficult times, though we are primarily interested in facilitating a conversation that pulls together best practices and deeper questions from all participants.","Link":[],"Audience":["All School Levels"],"Practice":"Facilitated by the Hancock administrative team and Philadelphia Inquirer mental health reporter Abraham Gutman, the goal of this conversation is to promote networking among educators from a variety of school contexts who are wrestling with the common challenge of student mental health, as well as to share solution-oriented strategies for maintaining healthy school communities. As such, this session will be interactive with time set for individual reflection and sharing of ideas.","Presenter":["Melissa Bragg","Abraham Gutman","Kevin Kelly","Christopher Oswald","Stacy Schwab"],"PresenterAffiliation":["School District of Philadelphia","Philadelphia Inquirer"],"PresenterEmail":["mbragg@philasd.org","agutman@inquirer.com","kmkelly@philasd.org","ceoswald@philasd.org","sschwab@philasd.org"],"ScheduleSlotID":146,"ScheduleLocationID":31,"SubmitterID":79,"AdditionalComments":null,"LiveChannel":null,"Hashtag":null,"VokleID":null,"RecordingURL":null,"ConferenceID":10}}