Newswise — University Hospitals has partnered with the Willoughby-Eastlake school district to launch a pilot program designed to help teachers better identify students suffering from behavioral health issues and connect them to help.
Supporting Teachers for Improving Students’ Mental Health was developed by Dr. Molly McVoy, a psychiatrist who treats adolescents at UH. The product of a long line of educators, Dr. McVoy knows that teachers are often expected to be the first line of defense against anything and everything ailing America’s children.
“Almost every mental health disorder presents as trouble at school,” Dr. McVoy says. “Teachers want, so much, to do well by their students, but feel under-prepared with how to support the increasingly complex needs students have.”
Teachers are often asked to address these problems – anxiety, substance abuse disorder, mental health challenges, among others – with little to no specialized training. That’s why UH has partnered with the Willoughby-Eastlake school district to launch training to help teachers better identify behavioral health issues in students and get them the help they need.
Topics include anxiety, developing resiliency, social media and how to talk to parents about behavioral health. The sessions take place during previously scheduled in-service training days required by the state.
“Kids are stressed out, on phones, not talking to each other at lunch,” Dr. McVoy said. “Teachers are often the first to know that kids are stressed, but don’t always know why.”
Heather Dodd, Director of Pupil Services, Willoughby-Eastlake City Schools, said: “Willoughby-Eastlake Schools views this collaboration as an important step in expanding mental health awareness and strengthening systems of support across our schools. By engaging educators and other key staff, we believe this work has the potential to positively impact both staff preparedness and student outcomes.”
Dr. McVoy has been part of UH’s Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Division since graduating medical school in 2005. Her mother, grandmother and great aunt were teachers, so she understands how educators are often called upon to fill a variety of roles in addition to teaching in the classroom.
This training program was developed over several years using focus groups made up of teachers, parents and students. Dr. McVoy plans to use feedback from these initial sessions to refine the program. She is optimistic it can be expanded and scaled to meet the needs of schools throughout the region.