Compassionate Education and America’s Mental Health Crisis.
- melissanilsen3
- Sep 30, 2024
- 2 min read
As depression, anxiety, and death by suicide become an increasing threat in the lives of ten- to eighteen-year-olds, schools have an opportunity to become safe havens for vulnerable teens and preteens by adopting a compassionate approach to education, which prioritizes caring, authentic student-teacher relationships and supports students’ mental health and wellbeing.
Educators who know their students are not just brains to be filled, but multifaceted human beings with mental, emotional, and spiritual dimensions, naturally feel the necessity of building authentic relationships with each of them. Relationship-building enables teachers to know important aspects of each student, including their cultural heritage, family background, gender identity, and sexual orientation. When teachers approach education with this posture of compassionate curiosity, students are more likely to feel a sense of
belonging with their teacher and their peers and be more invested in their educational experience. But even more importantly, teachers who get to know their students deeply will be positioned to intercede when their students face mental health problems.
According to a 2023 report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the number of teenagers with clinical depression doubled from 2011 to 2021, and in 2021, twenty-five percent of teenage girls made a suicide plan. Students interviewed consistently reported that the cause of their depression and anxiety was in large part due to stressors in school like doing well on tests and assignments and being popular and attractive. And among LGBTQ+ students, the risks of poor mental health are even more severe: in 2023, fourteen percent of LGBTQ+ students attempted suicide, and forty-five percent seriously considered it. A commonlycited reason was lacking a sense of belonging with their peers.
A comprehensive national survey on the state of mental health and wellbeing amongst LGBTQ+ youth by The Trevor Project reported that nearly thirty percent of LGBTQ+ students have been bullied or physically threatened because of their gender identity or sexual orientation. Sixty-three percent felt that their school was not an affirming community for them, severely increasing these students’ risk of depression and suicide.
Due to the increasing number of students self-reporting mental health problems and the school-related factors contributing to them, teachers and administrators should be sensitized to the issue of teen depression and be ready to intervene on behalf of students who are at risk for depression and suicide...
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