School staff across San Diego county will participate in training sessions for student mental health awareness starting this week. The San Diego County Office of Education put together the series after starting it during the pandemic three years ago.
School staff will attend sessions on depression and anxiety in youth, building stronger relationships, eating disorders and the connection between vaping, cannabis and mental health.
Nemour said school staff often do not get a lot of training on early identification of mental health challenges in students and one goal of the series is to help reduce stigma.
“We want to increase mental health literacy for all staff in a school campus so that there are all these caring eyes and ears on students,” said Heather Nemour, coordinator of student wellness and school culture at the San Diego County Office of Education. “(So) everyone has common knowledge, common understanding, of what are some warning signs — what to look out for.”
For the first time there is also a mental health webinar series for parents and caregivers. The sessions are in partnership with experts from Scripps Health and Rady Children’s Hospital.
Parent and Caregiver Sessions
- Feb. 28: Drug use and its connection to mental health, ways to spot the symptoms and help.
- March 21: Depression and anxiety in youth and how to build trust and connection at home
- April 25: Importance of healthy relationships
All sessions are from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. and Spanish interpretation will be provided.
“We’ve been seeing rates of mental health just increasing and increasing and teachers in our schools are on the frontline of this crisis,” said Willough Jenkins, medical director of emergency medicine and psychiatry at Rady Children’s Hospital.
Jenkins will lead the discussion on the connection between cannabis, vaping and mental health.
“Nicotine withdrawal can cause anxiety, (it) can cause irritability, depression and if parents and teachers don't know their students are using these things they might not know what’s going on,” Jenkins said.
There is also a focus on eating disorders, which have been on the rise. She said one of the biggest misconceptions about eating disorders is people living with them are always underweight.
“You can’t look and see and tell if someone has an eating disorder,” Jenkins said.
Rady’s has seen an increase in youth eating disorders during the pandemic, partially because of isolation, Jenkins said. She added those with an eating disorder may also have depression or anxiety.
“Depending on your family — your stress — you’re using eating as a way to control or deal with underlying kinds of stressors or concerns,” Jenkins said. “That’s a little bit of an oversimplification but that’s why eating disorders are considered a mental health disorder.”
There is a webinar on Feb. 28 for parents and caregivers relating to childhood drug use and mental health. On March 21 there is a session on depression and anxiety and on April 25 the focus is on the importance of healthy relationships. The webinar series is free and Spanish translations will be available.
