Mental Health Well Being
Content
Providing Social Emotional, Mental Health and Wellbeing Support to Students and School Community
Promoting inclusion a sense of belonging and a sense of achievement
Among young Australians aged 12-25 years, depression is the most common mental health problem. Around one in ten young Australians will experience an anxiety disorder in any given 12 month period. At least one third of young people have had an episode of mental illness by the age of 25 years.
Orygen Youth Health. oyh.org.au Making Sense of Orygen Youth Health www.orygen.org.au/docs/INFO/MS%200YH2(1)
World Health Organisation model for school mental health promotion
Who is involved
3 – 12 % students Professional treatment
Level of intervention
students needing additional mental health treatment Students needing additional help in school
20 – 30% Students Psycho social interventions and problems All teachers and students
Mental health education -knowledge attitudes -And behaviour Create environment conductive to promoting psycho social competence and Wellbeing
Part of general curriculum
Entire School Community
Whole School Environment
Adapted from the WHO 1994 Mind Matters
FOCUS AREAS
Therapeutic Intervention
– Individual Counselling - Small Group Work
(Mind Matters, U Can Do It, PSWB) Value adding to Curriculum – Targeted topics – mental health, healthy relationships, bullying, protective behaviours Social and Emotional Programs (Heart masters, Peer Skills, Rock & Water)
Whole School Approach
Staff – strategies, wellbeing response plan, resources, vent
Mandatory Reporting, Child Protection, Keeping Safe Protective Behaviours, sexual health Critical Incident Support
Whole of Programme Issues 2009 Top Six
500
450 400 350 300 250 200 150 100 50 0
mixed male female
Whole of Programme Interventions 2009 Top Six 1200 1000 800 600 400 200 0
mixed male female
Working with teachers and support staff
Although students comprise the bulk of counsellor clientele, limited brief intervention & support is available to staff. Ongoing support can be accessed through EAP providers (EASA, DCP). Today though we’d like to focus on ‘self-care’ for school staff working in Special Education.
Why Mental Health?
Everyone has mental health! What are mental health problems? A mental health problem causes major changes in a person’s thinking, emotional state and behaviour and disrupts the person’s ability to work and carry on their usual personal relationships.
MENTAL ILLNESS IS DISABLING
The burden of mental illness is often underestimated. Mental illness can be more disabling for the sufferer than many chronic physical illnesses. Research by WHO compared the amount of disability caused by a mental health problem to the amount of disability caused by a physical health problem. The results are outstanding: The disability rendered by moderate depression is similar to the disability from relapsing MS, severe asthma, chronic Hepatitis B or deafness;
Severe post traumatic stress disorder disability is comparable to disability from paraplegia;
Severe schizophrenia is comparable to quadriplegia.
10
One in five Australian adults, in any one year, will have a mental health problem
National Mental Health & Wellbeing Survey 1997
Three most common mental illness:
Anxiety Disorder Depressive Disorder Substance Misuse Disorder
Teaching is demanding
Teaching ranks in the top quartile on complexity for all occupations and this inherent complexity makes it a demanding profession to master.
Snowman & Biehler (2000)
Teaching is stressful
Research has indicated that teaching has become one of the most stressful professions in recent years. Billingsley (2004)
Special Education is particularly demanding
The additional demand corresponds to a greater degree of stress. This has a significant impact on teacher attrition. Gersten, Keating, Yovanoff & Harniss (2001)
Its not just teachers!
Demands associated with special needs children have impacts, including stress, across school community. Ray (2002)
Support staff – special ed support officers (ISAs), teachers’ aides, behaviour advisors, school-based constables, counsellors etc... And of course – parents!
Parental stress
Caring for a child with a chronic disability or illness poses significant challenges in addition to those inherent in raising a healthy child. Ray (2002) Parents of special needs students are of course invaluable partners in educational outcomes – but are often managing considerable stress of their own.
Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction
MBSR is effective for moderating stress for parents of special needs students. reduction in stress symptoms of 32% and in total mood disturbance of 56%.
Minor, Carlson, Mackenzie, Zernicke & Jones (2006)
MBSR - moderating stress in teachers
The results showed improvement for most participants for anxiety, depression, and stress. MBSR could be a potentially cost-effective method to combat teacher stress and burnout Gold, Smith, Hopper, Herne, Tansey & Hulland, (April 2010)
Mindfulness
"a kind of nonelaborative, nonjudgmental, present-centered awareness in which each thought, feeling, or sensation that arises in the attentional field is acknowledged and accepted as it is“ Bishop et al. (2004) For more info see: www.mindfulness.net.au or www.mindfulness.org.au
What’s special about Special Educators?
Special needs educators reported having an average level of coping resources at their disposal. Special needs educators reported having a high level of ‘Sense of Coherence’. Positive psychology & strengths focus
Brown, Howcroft, & Jacobs (2009)
The salutogenic paradigm
focuses on health as opposed to illness rejects the traditional medical-model dichotomy separating health and illness continuous variable - what he called the ‘health-ease’ versus dis-ease continuum fundamental conceptual shift DSM-V
Antonovsky (1979)
Why invest time?
Depression accounts for six million full workdays lost each year Mental Health Council of Australia
Untreated mental disorders rob our young people of their capacity to complete education, start work and form families. In 15 – 34 yr olds, 60% of disability costs are due to mental health problems. Three quarters of mental illnesses begin between the ages of 15 & 25 yrs.
Mental Health Council of Australia
…the more people in a community, such as
a school, who are emotionally and socially competent, the easier it will be to help those with acute problems.
Wearne, (2006) Developing the Emotionally Literate School
Exercise: What can you do?
Assess the degree of stress in your work unit. What do you currently do to address it? What could you perhaps do better? OPERATIONALISE IT: set a time to devise an action plan. Be SMART.
Toy Box
Resources
Resource networks
You
Resource networks Resource networks
www.curriculum.edu.au/mindmatters
What can you do for yourself?
Don’t be too hard on yourself Identify that you are stressed Utilise the available resources Work colleagues Employee Assistance Programme: - EASA 1800 193 123 - DCP 1800 289129 Personal resources
Promoting inclusion a sense of belonging and a sense of achievement
Among young Australians aged 12-25 years, depression is the most common mental health problem. Around one in ten young Australians will experience an anxiety disorder in any given 12 month period. At least one third of young people have had an episode of mental illness by the age of 25 years.
Orygen Youth Health. oyh.org.au Making Sense of Orygen Youth Health www.orygen.org.au/docs/INFO/MS%200YH2(1)
World Health Organisation model for school mental health promotion
Who is involved
3 – 12 % students Professional treatment
Level of intervention
students needing additional mental health treatment Students needing additional help in school
20 – 30% Students Psycho social interventions and problems All teachers and students
Mental health education -knowledge attitudes -And behaviour Create environment conductive to promoting psycho social competence and Wellbeing
Part of general curriculum
Entire School Community
Whole School Environment
Adapted from the WHO 1994 Mind Matters
FOCUS AREAS
Therapeutic Intervention
– Individual Counselling - Small Group Work
(Mind Matters, U Can Do It, PSWB) Value adding to Curriculum – Targeted topics – mental health, healthy relationships, bullying, protective behaviours Social and Emotional Programs (Heart masters, Peer Skills, Rock & Water)
Whole School Approach
Staff – strategies, wellbeing response plan, resources, vent
Mandatory Reporting, Child Protection, Keeping Safe Protective Behaviours, sexual health Critical Incident Support
Whole of Programme Issues 2009 Top Six
500
450 400 350 300 250 200 150 100 50 0
mixed male female
Whole of Programme Interventions 2009 Top Six 1200 1000 800 600 400 200 0
mixed male female
Working with teachers and support staff
Although students comprise the bulk of counsellor clientele, limited brief intervention & support is available to staff. Ongoing support can be accessed through EAP providers (EASA, DCP). Today though we’d like to focus on ‘self-care’ for school staff working in Special Education.
Why Mental Health?
Everyone has mental health! What are mental health problems? A mental health problem causes major changes in a person’s thinking, emotional state and behaviour and disrupts the person’s ability to work and carry on their usual personal relationships.
MENTAL ILLNESS IS DISABLING
The burden of mental illness is often underestimated. Mental illness can be more disabling for the sufferer than many chronic physical illnesses. Research by WHO compared the amount of disability caused by a mental health problem to the amount of disability caused by a physical health problem. The results are outstanding: The disability rendered by moderate depression is similar to the disability from relapsing MS, severe asthma, chronic Hepatitis B or deafness;
Severe post traumatic stress disorder disability is comparable to disability from paraplegia;
Severe schizophrenia is comparable to quadriplegia.
10
One in five Australian adults, in any one year, will have a mental health problem
National Mental Health & Wellbeing Survey 1997
Three most common mental illness:
Anxiety Disorder Depressive Disorder Substance Misuse Disorder
Teaching is demanding
Teaching ranks in the top quartile on complexity for all occupations and this inherent complexity makes it a demanding profession to master.
Snowman & Biehler (2000)
Teaching is stressful
Research has indicated that teaching has become one of the most stressful professions in recent years. Billingsley (2004)
Special Education is particularly demanding
The additional demand corresponds to a greater degree of stress. This has a significant impact on teacher attrition. Gersten, Keating, Yovanoff & Harniss (2001)
Its not just teachers!
Demands associated with special needs children have impacts, including stress, across school community. Ray (2002)
Support staff – special ed support officers (ISAs), teachers’ aides, behaviour advisors, school-based constables, counsellors etc... And of course – parents!
Parental stress
Caring for a child with a chronic disability or illness poses significant challenges in addition to those inherent in raising a healthy child. Ray (2002) Parents of special needs students are of course invaluable partners in educational outcomes – but are often managing considerable stress of their own.
Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction
MBSR is effective for moderating stress for parents of special needs students. reduction in stress symptoms of 32% and in total mood disturbance of 56%.
Minor, Carlson, Mackenzie, Zernicke & Jones (2006)
MBSR - moderating stress in teachers
The results showed improvement for most participants for anxiety, depression, and stress. MBSR could be a potentially cost-effective method to combat teacher stress and burnout Gold, Smith, Hopper, Herne, Tansey & Hulland, (April 2010)
Mindfulness
"a kind of nonelaborative, nonjudgmental, present-centered awareness in which each thought, feeling, or sensation that arises in the attentional field is acknowledged and accepted as it is“ Bishop et al. (2004) For more info see: www.mindfulness.net.au or www.mindfulness.org.au
What’s special about Special Educators?
Special needs educators reported having an average level of coping resources at their disposal. Special needs educators reported having a high level of ‘Sense of Coherence’. Positive psychology & strengths focus
Brown, Howcroft, & Jacobs (2009)
The salutogenic paradigm
focuses on health as opposed to illness rejects the traditional medical-model dichotomy separating health and illness continuous variable - what he called the ‘health-ease’ versus dis-ease continuum fundamental conceptual shift DSM-V
Antonovsky (1979)
Why invest time?
Depression accounts for six million full workdays lost each year Mental Health Council of Australia
Untreated mental disorders rob our young people of their capacity to complete education, start work and form families. In 15 – 34 yr olds, 60% of disability costs are due to mental health problems. Three quarters of mental illnesses begin between the ages of 15 & 25 yrs.
Mental Health Council of Australia
…the more people in a community, such as
a school, who are emotionally and socially competent, the easier it will be to help those with acute problems.
Wearne, (2006) Developing the Emotionally Literate School
Exercise: What can you do?
Assess the degree of stress in your work unit. What do you currently do to address it? What could you perhaps do better? OPERATIONALISE IT: set a time to devise an action plan. Be SMART.
Toy Box
Resources
Resource networks
You
Resource networks Resource networks
www.curriculum.edu.au/mindmatters
What can you do for yourself?
Don’t be too hard on yourself Identify that you are stressed Utilise the available resources Work colleagues Employee Assistance Programme: - EASA 1800 193 123 - DCP 1800 289129 Personal resources
