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A newly launched virtual platform is aimed at helping teachers provide better mental health support to students. <\/p>\n
The Illinois State Board of Education and the Center for Childhood Resilience at Lurie Children\u2019s Hospital announced Thursday the launch of Resilience-Supportive Schools Illinois \u2014 a free online program that gives schools tools to support mental health and resilience of students and educators.<\/p>\n
The initiative was created after health experts and educators noticed a need for mental health support in children, said Dr. Colleen Cicchetti, pediatric psychologist and executive director at the Center for Childhood Resilience at Lurie Children\u2019s Hospital. <\/p>\n
\u201cOnly about 25% of kids who need mental health services are getting those services, so we\u2019re trying to figure out a better mechanism to increase access to mental health services in our country,\u201d Cicchetti said.<\/p>\n
For many children, the only mental health professional they\u2019ll ever see is at school, Cicchetti said. The program will help educators recognize students facing mental health challenges<\/a> and give them basic tools to support those students or connect them with additional services.<\/p>\n \u201cResilience is sort of the capacity to bounce back from challenges, and so what we really stress when we talk about resilience is that resilience is like a muscle. It is not something that you either have or don\u2019t have, but rather it\u2019s a skill that you can develop,\u201d Cicchetti said. \u201cSo when we talk about resilience in [schools], what we\u2019re talking about is schools that are aligning resources to help students develop these skills so that they can be able to function, and focus, and cope with challenges that come their way.\u201d<\/p>\n The platform grew out of a program launched during the COVID-19 pandemic, when ISBE and mental health professionals saw that educators were struggling to support their students. <\/p>\n Cicchetti said data from the Resilience Education to Advance Community Healing Initiative received a lot of positive feedback. Over three years, the data showed it reduced chronic absenteeism<\/a>, improved teacher retention, decreased suspensions and improved trauma-responsiveness in participating schools. <\/p>\n The program will require principals to complete a 15-minute survey and then give them access to a dashboard showing their school\u2019s performance in four areas: social-emotional learning, trauma-informed practices, mental health services and cultural awareness.<\/p>\n \u201cThat survey gives us some information about how the school is doing meeting kids\u2019 mental health support, providing social-emotional learning and supporting the educators in their building to do this work,\u201d said Cicchetti. <\/p>\n Survey results will be combined with data from ISBE to develop an action plan tailored to each educator\u2019s goals. The platform will also include free online resources to help them to meet those goals, said Cicchetti. <\/p>\n