How can you lead the charge for mental health advocacy in educational institutions?

Every institution has a mental health pulse – but reading it requires more than data points. Through my experience in educational advocacy, I've learned that true assessment happens in the spaces between formal metrics. It's in the hallway conversations where teachers let their guard down. The subtle shift in a student's participation pattern. The recurring themes in parent-teacher conferences. These daily moments paint a more vivid picture than any survey alone. Effective assessment blends quantitative data with qualitative understanding. When we combine attendance patterns with personal stories, survey responses with lunchroom observations, we uncover not just what's happening, but why.

In the book on change management by Kotter entitled, Our Iceberg is Melting, one of the most important steps, and the first one, is creating a sense of urgency. After assessing the need for mental health advocacy, this sense of urgency can be created by sharing compelling data and personal stories that highlight the immediate need for action. This strategy can galvanize support and drive collective efforts to prioritize mental health initiatives.

O Brasil é considerado o país mais ansioso do mundo e o quinto mais depressivo, segundo a Organização Mundial da Saúde (OMS). Liderar a defesa da saúde mental nas instituições de ensino, pode começar pela conscientização de toda a comunidade escolar e de seu entorno, de que ações emergências devem ser tomadas.

Y más simple, gestionar reuniones sistemáticas donde se comience por el cómo están? Que les ha pasado? cómo se han sentido esta semana? Qué les ha resultado?

It's more than assessing the needs after the 'diagnosis' it should be about identifying the actual root cause of the behaviors that were used to arrive at the diagnosis. This is where most traditional mental health advocacy falls short. It's one thing to advocate for someone to receive services to treat a diagnosis - but what if you could identify why they were given the diagnosis in the first place and possibly identify a way to remove that label??

I would like to see more holistic resources made available. Such as looking at Traditional Chinese Medicine's 5 Element Perspective which identifies the behaviors often used to diagnose a variety of disorders and links these behaviors directly to nutrient deficiencies. If eliminating the nutrient deficiency would in turn eliminate the behavior the need for further treatment would also be eliminated as long as the nutrient needs are being met either with the foods the person is eating or with quality supplements.

Mental health plays a huge role in every stage of education. This is why educators need to learn about it and seek out coping strategies. Today, many students face bullying, stigmatising, humiliation, and other sorts of disregarding challenges. The problem with educational institutions is that most of them do not understand the importance of mental health; therefore, they do not have a department or section within the school to support students with their challenges, which leads students not to share their experiences of bullying, etc. I consider that leading educational organisations in countries, particularly developing countries, should launch campaigns for supporting students mental health.

To create a supportive culture the organization needs to make sure everyone at every level is educated on what they can do to support a healthy person. Programs that support social-emotional learning, resilience, and well-being among students are very important, however, nothing is more important than making sure the organization is NOT poisoning their students by serving meals loaded with chemical toxins like artificial flavors, colors, and genetically modified ingredients.

Anyone in a leadership role should be modeling behaviors for those in their organization. An education leader should never be eating a higher quality food product than they are willing to serve to their students. As an example, a local congressman in Western North Carolina eats organic foods at home but owns/co-owns at least one McDonald's Restaurant. Money should never take priority over a person's health.

Empower parents, students, and teachers to advocate for themselves and for each other by educating them on what is in the foods they are eating and how they can make changes to benefit everyone.

A implementação de novas tecnologias educacionais de avaliação cognitiva e triagem de distúrbios socioemocionais pode ser um caminho interessante. O ideal é atuar preventivamente em relação a saúde mental. Uma dessas tecnologias que podem ajudar é o Littmetrics, ferramenta tecnológica, criada pela Mobile Brain, que avalia a complexidade narrativa de histórias contadas pelos estudantes.