September 2, 2009
Dear Community
I wanted to share some thoughts about the recent tragedies involving Palo Alto students and our efforts to respond to them. I would also like to invite you to work with us as we strive to improve communication, provide access to resources, and develop additional prevention approaches.
Based on our research regarding mental health support and input from the numerous experts we have consulted, it is clear that schools have important roles to play in student social and emotional health. We believe our work centers on three areas: (1) educating students on mental health issues and how to identify mental illness; (2) identifying students with mental health issues and working with their families to connect with school/community resources; and (3) removing the stigma associated with mental depression and illness through educating students, parents, and staff.
During the year, we will be providing staff members with additional training on how to identify mental health issues amongst students. District psychologists, counselors, and behaviorists will be using the professional development day on September 25 for this purpose. We will also be reviewing our curricular offerings in order to identify opportunities to provide students with knowledge about mental health. This includes looking at ways to help our students feel more comfortable sharing their concerns with staff and to alerting school officials if they have friends in need.
Virtually every conversation on mental health comes back to the social stigma associated with mental illness. It feels counterintuitive that we all recognize the fact that we become physically ill from time to time, but we expect people always to be mentally healthy. Parents and guardians of students with mental health issues need to feel just as comfortable informing us of their student’s condition as do parents of students with any other medical need. We need to make sure that these issues are handled sensitively. Schools are changing the culture around tolerance and other social issues. We can do considerable work on the stigmas associated with mental health as well.
Our community does remarkable work to nurture and support its young people. One of the many assets of Palo Alto is the strength of its medical community, particularly concerning mental health issues. Our schools are well connected to these resources and stand ready to assist any student and family needing to access support. Collectively, we will find ways to do more and to do it better. We are committed to continuing our work helping students and look forward to increasing collaboration with mental health and medical professionals, parents, and city and state organizations to ensure every student and family who seeks help gets it.
You can help by being more alert to the needs of your own child, and to your child’s friends, by attending upcoming community meetings and facilitating and supporting dialogues among all groups within the community.
Sincerely,
Kevin
Kevin Skelly, Ph.D.
Superintendent
p.s. I found the book Night Falls Fast by Kay Redfield Jamison extremely helpful to my thinking about mental health. Excerpts from this book are available at http://pausd.org/community/Superintendent/message2009_09_02.shtml
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