Teacher Tales #36 – Counselors, mental health and SEL: Hannah, school counselor and advocate for mental health professional resources and support
In this episode, we get to know Hannah, a multi-faceted and multi-talented educator and mental health professional. Hannah explains how she is a “third culture kid” as well as a product of a military family upbringing. She tells us how these experiences helped her to become highly sensitive and tune in to all the “other stuff” besides the academics in school that may be getting in the way of learning for students. During our powerful and insightful conversation, Hannah talks about how much both teachers and students struggle with anxiety and how their self-worth and identity are often tied to a grade, standard, evaluation or test score. She explains how a counselor, or better yet, mental health professional can be a resource and support to everyone both in school and beyond to help develop the whole child and not just the academic part. As a result, she has started a passion project of resources and support at www.bethinkgrow.com, a “modern wellness initiative that is changing the mental and behavioral health game”. Be sure to check it out! Finally, Hannah says that SEL is more than a worksheet or a PD packet or training module required of teachers by the district. She issues a strong plea for mental health support to “be done correctly and by mental health professionals”. Perhaps mental health professionals could even volunteer and provide community service in schools or become a Business Partner in Education to a school because, you know, it does “take a village”!