Produced by: Keegan McKoskey
Mary Gregorio is a MHFA instructor in the PA region, Delaware and Maryland. Learn about what is taught in a mental health first aid course. Mary instructs a course for adult, youth, higher ed, older adult and veterans modules.
Teachers Need To Be Taught As Much As Students
Between 2014 and 2024, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) projects nearly 1.9 million job openings for teachers of preschool through postsecondary school. A student’s mental health has a strong impact on their social life and in the classroom as well. This also impacts teachers’ lives as well, if a student is living with a mental health condition. Without the proper training, teachers have no experience on how to handle a situation where a student is living with a mental health condition.
The usual precaution a teacher or guidance counselor does for a student is a 504 Accommodation. A 504 Accommodation is a when a student has an accommodation such as needing to take breaks throughout the day or sit in the front row of their classes. After that, guidance counselors are usually required to contact the students parent or guardian along with outside resources.
“With the amount of students that we work with, we may not be able to counsel those students as much as we’d like so we recommend outside counseling,” Jamond Hunt, school counselor for Preparatory Charter High School, said.
Many teachers do not receive the correct training for a students mental health training unless they reach out on their own. It is not mandatory to receive training if you are a teacher.
If a teacher is interested in receiving mental health training, click here to find the nearest mental health first aid course.
Written by: Keegan McKoskey
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.