The Trump administration says it will stop paying out $1 billion in federal grants that school districts across the country have been using for student mental health funding, including to hire mental health professionals like counselors and social workers. The Department of Education is telling impacted districts that the Biden administration, in awarding the grants, violated “the letter or purpose of Federal civil rights law.” The grants were part of the 2022 Bipartisan Safer Communities…
For many teachers, building relationships is a priority in the classroom – they put in time and effort to incorporate strategies into lesson plans and daily routines to forge bonds with their students. But what happens when there’s a breakdown in communication or a relationship degrades over time due to conflict or disagreements? Developing a relationship is one skill; repairing that relationship when it becomes fractured is another, according to author and high school history…
When kids feel bombarded by difficult emotions, they may feel a sense of helplessness, as if there is nothing they can do to pull themselves out of the storm. As parents, we know effective strategies are out there to manage emotions, but knowing which ones to use in the moment can feel overwhelming. In his new book, “Shift: Managing Your Emotions – So They Don’t Manage You,” neuroscientist Ethan Kross shares the most current research…
Adolescence is a time of intense learning and adaptation when we forge our sense of who we are and who we want to be. Throughout this remarkable period of development, we begin to explore the world and create new relationships with our peers and communities. Young people who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning (LGBTQ) are often tackling these developmental tasks with the added challenges of discrimination and victimization from their communities,…
Anybody can develop effective study habits to make studying more efficient and even enjoyable. A great way to begin is to start small with one or two new habits and work your way up to bigger changes. It’s also important to set realistic and achievable goals for yourself. Learn more about how to develop effective study habits with these six suggestions. 1. Set study goals for each session. These can be time-based or content-based. For…
On her son’s first day of kindergarten, Ruth Whippman, author of BoyMom: Reimagining Boyhood in the Age of Impossible Masculinity, stood by as a parent volunteer welcomed each child at the gate. Two nervous little girls walked in first, and the volunteer crouched down, his voice warm and tender: “Hi, sweetheart.” Then came Whippman’s son. The volunteer straightened up, his tone dropping an octave as he gave a hearty high five and said, “Hey, buddy!”…
As a parent trying to do the best you can for your children, there is a jungle of advise, experts and books out there telling you what to do, what not to do and how to parent your children. Parenting is something for which we all have an instinct, but due to our own childhood pain, trauma, and the cultural burdens of our societies, we disconnect from that inherent wisdom in many ways, and thereby…
Everyone deserves to live in a welcoming, loving world, and organizations like the Trevor Project strive to help make it so. The Trevor Project is an American nonprofit organization focused on suicide prevention efforts among lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning youth. If you are interested in learning more about being an ally to LGBTQ+ youth, please read on for excerpts from the Trevor Project’s guide for allies. The first step to becoming an…
As anti-LGBTQ+ legislation skyrockets across the country, so do suicide attempts and other mental-health concerns among LGBTQ+ youth. A 2022 national survey of nearly 34,000 LGBTQ+ youth, ages 13-24, paints a clear, distressing picture of the trauma endured by LGBTQ+ students in America. Nearly three-quarters reported symptoms of anxiety; 58 percent reported symptoms of depression; and 45 percent said they had seriously considered committing suicide within the past year. However, the survey also shows that…
Youth mental health has steadily declined in the years prior to and following the COVID-19 pandemic. Among the worst affected are pre-teen boys and teenage girls, according to the August 2024 report, “A Nation’s Children At Risk,” published by the Center for Applied Research in Education at the University of Southern California. According to the study, teen girls were more than three times as likely to experience abnormal levels of emotional symptoms compared to the…
