Resources for Mental Health Awareness Month — and Every Day

During the month of May, Pear Deck shines a brighter light on mental health awareness, but it’s always a good time to refresh your knowledge about the best ways to help your students (and yourself!) manage stress throughout the year. As hectic as the pandemic has been, taking time to help students identify, process, and share their feelings can help ease anxiety and prepare them for the future.

Here, we’ve rounded up some of our favorite blogs and templates created with mental health experts and educators to help you create learning environments where students can be open and honest about how they are feeling.

Supporting student mental health

• Helping Students Create Healthy Relationships

Now more than ever, it’s vital to provide opportunities for students to build powerful bonds with classmates, teachers, counselors, and others. Discover how you can empower students to strengthen skills like empathy, integrity, and bravery.

• Celebrating Student Success At the End of the Year: Cheering on your pupils is key to improving their self-esteem. Pull out the party poppers and start prepping your shout-outs. Special education teacher Christina Ramsay’s blog contains great ideas to help you celebrate even the smallest wins.

• Refining Our Campus Culture: SEL Is Not Extra, It's Essential: Encouraging a classroom environment of respect and growth isn’t optional — it’s crucial. Rebekah Kmieciak, a social-emotional behavior coach, provides practices and actionable advice for creating a place where students feel like they belong and can grow.

• A Student Self-Care Recipe: Taking care of yourself is made up of many different components, and the special ingredient is different for each individual. Check out these great Pear Deck Templates that will help students understand the importance of doing what makes them feel healthy and happy.

• The Surprise Benefits of Virtual SEL and Mindfulness Learning: This interview with special education teacher Christina Ramsay by EdSurge’s Wendy McMahon is a wonderful example of how Pear Deck can help teach social-emotional and mindfulness skills.

• Practices for Combating Pandemic Fatigue: Michael E. Creekmore, Jr. LPC, CPCS, a professional school counselor for 4th and 5th graders, writes about how educators can take a proactive approach to normalizing the discussion of feelings and encouraging open conversations about pandemic struggles.

Especially for educators

• Career-Sustaining Behaviors for Educational Leaders: Teachers need self-care, too! Former Superintendent Dr. C.J. Huff provides guidance on keeping up with physical, family, and spiritual care to ensure you aren’t neglecting these important aspects of life while nurturing others.

Pear Deck templates for social emotional learning and mental health

• Pear Deck Templates for School Counseling: Understanding Feelings
• SEL Templates
• Tools for Managing Stress
• Templates for Helping Students Navigate Social Media
• Templates for Celebrating the End of the School Year