The mental wellbeing of students is absolutely within the realm of the teacher's work. Hollistic wellbeing cannot exist where a students mental health is in need of support that is unforthcoming. Without an understanding of any mental dis-ease the teacher cannot effectively engage the student in learning activities or build upon their capacities. Indeed a child's teacher may be hold a priveleged position in the child's life of being one of few adults who actively engage the child and can recognise &/or understand their needs.
Collaboration is going to be so vital in supporting students mental health. The teacher may well need to work in a certain way to support student needs in the classroom, however, there will also need to be supportive, collaborative relationships established between the teacher and the parent(s), the teacher and school based support services, and possibly between the teacher and outside specialist support services if necessary in certain circumstances. The teacher-student relationship should not be isolated when working through complex and/or significant mental health issues!
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"Never underestimate your potential to 'save' a student from failure, withdrawal, self-harm, misery, underachievement,accelerating conflict or denial. Observing and responding tactfully and swiftly to signs of distress or regression can prevent the worsening of mental health problems and more optimistically, can arrest many problems before they become serious issues."
[Fogelgarn, R., (2016) Classroom Management: Educating for hollistic wellbeing. LaTrobe University, Section 4 "Introduction to mental health in teaching".]
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