Setting Them Up for Success: The School System and Children’s Mental Health

The children attending primary school are the future leaders of our society. They are the politicians, doctors, police officers, teachers, and social service workers of our future. Yet we are failing them every day within the school system. As society changes, the needs of our children change as well. The school system, however, has not drastically changed over multiple generations. Funding, staffing, learning objectives methodology, and mental health support within the school system need to be reexamined and adapted to better fit the needs of our children. Within this presentation, I will be discussing current literature around this topic, personal experiences working within the school/mental health system as a Child and Youth Worker (CYW) and an Educational Assistant (EA), the impacts of Covid-19, and questions that need to be addressed. Where there is a strong emphasis on governmental statistics and success rates, many students are falling through holes in the system. For the sake of the presentation, I will be writing a paper, along with creating a slide presentation.