CDE Blank Default Post - When There Are No Closures or Notices
.
Health and Wellbeing
Health and wellbeing is a complex concept, and it is an essential prerequisite for success for both students and adults. Schools support the health and wellbeing of their community in a variety of ways: from providing healthy food and ensuring time to play to modeling appropriate self-care and providing access to counselors.
Here, health and well-being refers to the physical, social, emotional, behavioral, and mental health of the whole person, that when optimized through education and access to care, leads to improved quality of life and outcomes.
What can I expect in a school that values health and wellbeing?
Positive changes in health and wellbeing in the school community are associated with:
-
Increases in teachers' sense of self-efficacy and correspondingly lower rates of burnout (Bentea, 2017)
- Increases in intrinsic motivation (Bücker, et al., 2018)
- Decreases in disciplinary issues (Bücker, et al., 2018)
- Increases in healthy behaviors (Bücker, et al., 2018)
- Decreased risk for mental health challenges such as depression (Lindorff, 2020)
- Improvement in school (Lindorff, 2020)
Essential Elements
- Culture of Prevention
- Promoting Health and Wellbeing
- Screening and Assessment for Health and Wellbeing
- Data-Driven Response
- Practices and Procedures
Culture of Prevention
The school has a culture of prevention which provides education on health and wellbeing.
In the context of health and wellbeing in schools, prevention refers to the set of evidence-based actions and strategies taken to minimize the likelihood of negative health outcomes and promote positive health outcomes among students, staff, and families, usually through a combination of measures to both reduce risk factors and enhance protective factors. Significantly, this includes engaging school and community partners to provide multiple, integrated, and inclusive opportunities for students, staff, and families to gain knowledge and skills that support health and wellbeing.
Guiding Questions
- How do schools provide opportunities for individuals to learn about health and wellbeing?
- What kinds of education do you provide and for whom?
- How do you support conversations around difficult/sensitive topics?
- How do administration and leadership create systems that create balance for students and staff?
Mindsets
- Staff believe that providing information about health is a precursor for healthy behaviors.
- Staff understand prevention vs. intervention.
- Staff believe that prevention is more effective than intervention on a large scale.
- Staff believe that access matters - you have to have access to preventative care to have prevention work.
- Staff believe that school has an important role to play in preventing health challenges and promoting well being.
Skills & Practices
- All staff are trained in mental health literacy fundamentals.
- Staff are trained in cultural responsivity and develop awareness of their own biases.
- Staff are trained in risk factors and protective factors that impact health and wellbeing.
- Opportunities are created within the school day for individuals to learn about health and wellbeing.
- Staff utilize a strengths-based approach to discussing students and each other. ("Anna's math skills are strong, but reading is hard for her." "Mr. Heath values connection time, and needs some help organizing his classroom.")
- Leadership considers and addresses systemic/contextual challenges to wellbeing. ("Many of our students from South Elementary School are often absent. What do we know about health resources in that community?")
Resources
- Suicide Prevention Policy and Implementation Guide (CDE-Project AWARE)
- Mental Health Literacy Implementation Resources (CDE-Project AWARE)
- Building a Culture of Staff Wellness Through a Multi-Tiered System of Supports (Center on PBIS)
- Guiding Principles for Creating Safe, Inclusive, Supportive and Fair School Climates (U.S. Department of Education)
- School Health Guidelines (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
- Resources for Youth Suicide Prevention and Intervention (Colorado Office of School Safety)
- Teaching and Learning Conditions in Colorado (TLCC) Survey - (CDE - Accountability and Supports)
Promoting Health and Wellbeing
The school prioritizes and promotes health and wellbeing for all.
School prioritization of health and wellbeing for all includes providing regular opportunities for physical movement, nutritious food, school health services, meaningful socialization and relationship building, mental health/emotional support and appropriate intellectual stimulation.
Guiding Questions
- How does school climate and culture prioritize health and wellbeing for all?
- How does the school promote healthy behaviors?
- How does the school connect its members to school health services?
- How does leadership in the school model and encourage a positive work-life balance, and support wellbeing among staff?
- How does the school encourage everyone to say something when there’s a problem? How do schools demonstrate they are good stewards of information when they are told?
Mindsets
- Staff believe that everyone deserves health and well-being, and that health and well-being are possible for all.
- Staff believe that educators and schools are responsible for creating spaces/places to access health supports.
- Staff believe health is multifaceted: includes mental health, physical health, etc.
- Staff understand that health is not equally accessible to all members of society and believe that school can promote health equity.
Skills & Practices
- The school environment includes options for promoting health, such as healthy foods; spaces to play, socialize and exercise; access to mental health support.
- Opportunities are created so that everyone has the chance to prioritize their health and wellbeing during the school day.
- Leadership encourages staff to engage in meaningful, preventative self-care. ("I'm glad you are taking some time for yourself tomorrow! Good luck at the dentist!")
- Leadership develops a comprehensive set of programs, policies, benefits, and environmental supports designed to meet the health and wellbeing needs of all staff.
- Staff and students are trained to intervene effectively when they witness harm being done to youth (e.g., Bystander/Upstander Training, RIR Protocol).
Resources
- Promoting Health and Wellbeing in Schools - An Action Guide for School and District Leaders (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
- Local School Wellness Policy (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
- Policies and Guidelines for Colorado Comprehensive Health and Physical Education Standards and Instruction (CDE - Health Education Services)
Screening and Assessment for Health and Wellbeing
Schools use intentional screening methods to regularly determine the current levels of health and wellbeing in the school community.
Screening and assessment for health and wellbeing may refer to a variety of data-gathering practices and may include universal screening, targeted assessment, informal data gathering, etc., in order to gain information.
Regular screening can include but isn't limited to:
- Hearing
- Vision
- Oral
- Environmental health
- Physical fitness assessments
- School climate
- Social emotional skills
- Mental health
- Systems of support
- Progress Monitoring
Climate data are utilized to monitor ongoing challenges among staff, such as burnout, secondary traumatic stress, etc.
Guiding Questions
Mindsets
Skills & Practices
- School staff use both passive and active screening methods that screen for strengths and challenges.
- Staff are trained to identify when students need to be referred for additional supports. ("Rory has seemed really different since Winter Break. I'm noticing that her head is often down during class, she's not turning in assignments, and she's arguing with me all of a sudden. I'm concerned.")
- A school team reviews behavioral and mental health referrals regularly. The team facilitates a warm-hand off to service providers, and the team follows up on whether a student has been able to regularly access services. ("Ethan was referred to Mental Health Partners last month. Do we know whether he's been able to get in and see someone? How's the waitlist over there?")
- School leadership use and review voluntary self-report data to assess overall staff wellbeing (i.e., teacher perception surveys, TLCC survey data, etc.).
Resources
- Colorado Universal Mental Health Screening Toolkit and Resources (CDE-Project AWARE)
- Suicide Prevention Policy and Implementation Guide (CDE-Project AWARE)
- Best Practices in Universal Social, Emotional, and Behavioral Screening (Center on PBIS)
- Health Services - Required and Optional Screenings (CDE - School Health Services)
- School Wellness Policies (CDE - Office of School Nutrition)
- SHAPE System (National Center for School Mental Health)
Data-Driven Response
Schools utilize data to drive their response and interventions.
Schools are responsive to the data they collect around health & wellbeing and develop a plan to intervene at the system, group and individual level. Data-driven response refers to the practice of using data to inform decision-making processes (including analysis, intervention planning, implementation monitoring and adjustment) aimed at improving the health and well-being of students in schools.
Progress is monitored throughout interventions, and adjustments are made in response to the new data collected.
Guiding Questions
- In what ways is the school approach to health and wellbeing driven by data?
- What formal and informal measurements of student and staff health and wellbeing are collected on a regular basis? When and how is this data reviewed and analyzed?
- How does the school use available data in order to develop and implement tier 1, tier 2, & tier 3 interventions for the student and staff populations?
- How does the school use progress monitoring data to adjust interventions?
Mindsets
Skills & Practices
- The leadership team reviews formal and informal measurements of student and staff health and wellbeing regularly.
- The leadership team develops a plan to intervene at the system, group, and individual levels.
- School staff utilize evidence-based practices to support the health of students.
- Data is collected during the implementation of evidence-based practices to monitor change and make adjustments.
Resources
- Data-Based Decision-Making Protocol (CDE - COMTSS - Office of Learning Supports)
Practices and Procedures
Schools establish practices and procedures for accessing health and wellbeing support.
Practices and procedures refer to the systemic methods by which individuals in the school system are referred for and receive support at all levels (i.e., Tier 1, Tier 2, and Tier 3). Additionally, schools create practices and procedures to monitor the effectiveness of the health and wellbeing supports provided.
Guiding Questions
- What are the school/district policies & procedures around everyone in the school community accessing health and wellbeing support?
- How does your school/district MTSS framework reflect an awareness and responsiveness to health and wellbeing?
- How is student health and wellbeing supported in a variety of contexts and settings within the school?
- What partnerships exist with supports outside of the school for wrap around services?
Mindsets
Skills & Practices
- Staff are encouraged and supported when they ask for help from administration/leadership.
- Health and wellbeing are included the MTSS framework and practices.
- All school staff are trained in mental health literacy.
- The school provides interventions for health and well-being across tier one, tier two, and tier three.
- The school establishes clear referral processes to school-based service providers and community supports, including the school nurse, counseling, and wraparound services.
- The school provides a warm handoff when making a referral and frequently follow-up on the status of the referral to ensure services were accessed.
Resources
- School Mental Health Quality Guides (National Center for School Mental Health)
- A Toolkit for School Systems to Advance Comprehensive School Employee Wellness (Child Trends)
- Understanding and Developing a Positive School Climate (CDE - School Climate Transformation)
- Resources for Youth Suicide Prevention and Intervention (Office of School Safety - CO School Safety Resource Center)
- Secondary School Student Substance Use Report on Practices for Districts (CDE - Health Education Services)
- Mild Traumatic Brain Injury (Concussion) Resources (CDE - School Health Services)