In recent years, school communities across the country have taken a considerable interest in the whole lives of their students. While we truly believe that educators have always considered the lived experiences of their students outside of their 4-walls of higher learning, heightened circumstances have increased the stress of students and the educators who pour into them daily. With the increase in stressful moments that occur in the lives of school communities, it has elevated negative mental health to all associated.

We are at the crossroads of an urgent need to shine a light on depression and anxiety among our school students, families, and staff.

You may ask, “What exactly are we spotlighting when we shine a light on depression?”.

The National Alliance of Mental Illness reported that 1 in 6 adolescents aged 12-16 years old has experienced a major depressive disorder. Putting direct attention on the importance of caring for mental health can be related to students who stated that their COVID experience of isolation, loss of family members/ or friends, lack of social connection, and missing out on milestone events. These negative moments in the lives of youth and adults are emotions, experiences, and events that have caused shifts in their perspectives of what is meaningful to them.

Shining the light on depression means that the entire community is making an intentional effort to equip itself in educating, connecting, and caring about the struggles of mental disparities.

Why Should Shine Light on Depression be implemented in my school community?

The mission of Shine Light on Depression is to provide school communities and community-based organizations with a web-based resource toolkit. In this free resource toolkit, you will find the three pillars of proficiency: Classroom Education, Teen Empowerment, and Family Engagement. The ability to shine light on depression allows the educator, student, and family to participate in providing protective factors against depression and anxiety. The multi-layer approach captures the possibilities of educating students on mental health crises, providing advocacy and peer leadership through teen empowerment activities, and creating wrap-around support by engaging with family members in the shared language of mental wellness.

Shine Light on Depression has reconnected with society’s strong origins of the “village mentality approach”, helping youth mold into fixtures of greatness that they can be. Imagine if the high school coach implemented deep breathing techniques after practice after learning from a teen empowerment video or the Director of Nutrition posted positive mental health affirmations in the lunchroom that they found on the web-based toolkit. What if a grandmother learns the signs of depression and anxiety because she read the Family Engagement Handbook and now can better advocate for her grandson? These are all examples of how Shine Light on Depression can be a pivotal avenue in providing care and hope for our school communities.

To sign up to provide your community with free resources and a turnkey curriculum for your students, educators, and families visit www.shinelightondepression.org or www.erikaslighthouse.org to sign up.

This microblog post was a featured post in #slowchathealth’s #microblogmonth event. You can search for all of the featured posts here. Please do follow each of the outstanding contributors on social media including the author of this post, Sterling Ta’Bon who is the Healthy Schools Manager at Cairn Guidance. Please also consider writing a microblog post of your own to be shared with the global audience of slowchathealth.com

Pair this post with the following:

Embrace the Goblin by Michelle Rawcliffe

Three Tips for Self-Care as an Educator by Pran Patel

A Poem About Stories by Amy Dawson

Have you read the latest Book of the Month recommendation?