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New Ohio University Zanesville youth mental health training prepares teachers to help students more
By: Shane Scalfaro
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ATHENS, Ohio (WOUB) — A new mental health training program aims to better equip teachers to connect students and their families with the resources they need.
The CARE Team at Ohio University’s Zanesville campus is hosting the training on Aug. 2 and 7 for those who signed up.
CARE team member Teri Peasley said talking about youth mental health is relatively new.
“The last four or five years, it’s a primary topic of conversation almost everywhere I go,” said Peasley.
The training is focused on helping students get the help they need.
“This training will help to prepare the participants to have conversations with those kiddos, potentially with their families,” said Peasley. “Certainly, to help connect them to resources that could help to better support them so that we can try to mitigate some of the concerns that our youth have, especially as they’re heading towards adulthood.”
Michael Starkey is the student services coordinator at Athens City School District. She said there is a massive benefit to having teachers who can help with mental health problems.
“The number one indicator of reversal of trauma in children is building relationships with adults,” said Starkey.
She also said it helps for students to have a teacher they can see more often.
“You might see a guidance counselor once a week because there’s only one of them and hundreds of students in the building,” said Starkey. “You get the opportunity to spend the entire day or couple periods with your teacher.”
Although it’s not just the teacher’s responsibility to get students the help they need.
“Teachers need to be knowledgeable and equipped with the skills to be able to help the students and we also need to take a team-based approach,” said Starkey. “It’s not just the teacher who’s trying to help the student. We have a whole team of mental health services to help the kids learn how to regulate and build skills so that they can be more successful in the classroom.”