Schoolwide Mental Health Literacy

As Maslow’s Hierarchy teaches us, basic needs (safety, food, shelter, belonging) must be met in order for learning to occur.  My proposal was created in response to the alarming, growing trend of students coming to school without those basic needs met.  We saw this before the pandemic but after 2020 our systems of support were completely overwhelmed and we needed something different. When crafting my proposal the guiding questions were, “How do we create a school wide mental health literacy program?  How do we change the way we use our resources to support more students and staff?  How do we harness our students’ desire to help each other to create peer support programs?”

These questions continue to drive our work, although they have distilled into one: using the resources we have, how do we create a comprehensive system of support for our whole school community? Our project focuses on three areas of growth; mental health education for all, the creation of a wellness space and creating a peer support program.  

Throughout the year we have developed a committed, connected steering committee, traveled to conferences and learned from communities across Vermont and across the globe.  We have been inspired by robust peer support programs in Norway, small grassroots groups in rural Puerto Rico and the fully functional school based health center at Winooski High School. 

Currently we have partnered with local agencies to help us collect data about our community’s needs and create workshops for students who are interested in advocacy and mentoring. We have secured a spot for our Wellness Space where members of our community will be able to get their basic needs met, access services and learn coping strategies.  Our next focus will be raising community awareness and involvement by sharing our work widely throughout our community.