Ending Unnecessary Barriers: Unmasking Mental Health for Students and Teachers to Break the Stigma
By Ebonie Lamb
My eighth-grade student Kevin experienced the violent death of his brother, then his grandmother. He was uprooted from one residence to another to escape gang retaliation and was significantly below grade level in reading and math. Unbelievably, despite navigating the hurdles of talking to various staff members including principals, counselors, and supervisors, as well as completing excessive paperwork, there was little urgency among them to collaborate and find services that addressed Kevin’s and his family’s safety, psychological, and emotional needs. Due to Kevin’s trauma-driven disruptive behaviors, he received many punitive consequences, such as in-school suspensions, out-of-school suspensions, and after-school detentions.
In the same way that Kevin was struggling, I was struggling, as the repetitive cycle of disruptive, disturbing, and escalating behaviors undermined my ability to teach, to advocate for my students, and to care for both my students and myself. My vicarious trauma, like Kevin’s immediate trauma, seemed invisible to my district and supervisors, who take a punitive approach when teachers take sick days — even ones they have earned — for mental health reasons. This forces many to take a leave of absence to receive the support and services needed to recover from the physical and emotional exhaustion of tirelessly working in an education space that does not value students’ or educators’ mental health.
Students, staff, and teachers are in desperate need of appropriate and ongoing resources for mental health as they struggle to cope with life-changing tragedies. I believe mental health must take priority for teachers to teach and for students to learn. Help is urgently needed and overdue as high school students in Pennsylvania with depression are twice as likely to drop out than their peers.
State Senators John Kane and Judy Schwank have teamed up to introduce legislation allowing K-12 students to take excused mental health days in Pennsylvania. Representative Napoleon Nelson introduced House Bill 1519, which would allow students to take three excused absences per school year for mental health reasons without requiring a doctor’s note. This is a step toward acknowledging and addressing students’ mental health needs. But it is illogical to pass a bill that provides students with mental health days that does not include the same needed resources for the teachers and staff who are educating the students.
Pre-K-12 teachers and staff need to be added to this new legislation for excused mental health days — separate from current sick days — to allow teachers the time and opportunity to cope with and address loss and trauma that affects their mental health. If Pennsylvania lawmakers want to support mental health in schools, then all individuals in schools need the opportunity to access mental health supports and services. In addition to this legislative step, districts can also take action to promote mental well-being among students and staff:
- Provide free mental wellness resources in every school. Schools should work with local partners such as universities, hospitals, and nonprofits to provide mental health screenings, in-school support groups, and workshops for families on mental health. Schools and community organizations should develop plans and a course of action to service students and their families inside schools daily and offer mental health services for every single school-aged child and staff member.
- Infuse mental health supports into instruction. Schools should embed social-emotional teaching and learning, infused with culturally relevant pedagogy, within all content areas rather than confining it to a single class period or one-off workshop. Simultaneously, districts shoul provide continual professional development in emotional intelligence for school and district administrators to foster effective leadership qualities with a focus on fidelity to measurable goals and outcomes. This approach influences both staff and student outcomes, fostering a positive work culture for a more supportive and thriving educational community.
- Treat teachers like professionals. Teachers’ mental health suffers when they are not trusted and treated like professionals. For example, districts should stop taking punitive disciplinary action against staff who use their allotted 10 sick days per school year.
Every individual has mental health needs; we all need to feel socially and emotionally well before we can effectively teach and learn. Kevin’s unmet mental health needs resulted in behavioral challenges, and punitive consequences rather than necessary assistance to help him heal from trauma and to support the other students and staff around him. If educational leaders and lawmakers turn a blind eye to cries for help, both students and teachers will inevitably continue to suffer, affecting society as a whole. If we want to truly prioritize student success always, and in all ways, then the stigma surrounding mental health must be addressed, and our leaders must make the mental well-being of students, families, and teachers a priority.
Ebonie Lamb was a 2023–2024 Teach Plus Pennsylvania Senior Policy Fellow and a former teacher at Pittsburgh Public Schools.
