{"id":186814,"date":"2022-06-09T07:01:07","date_gmt":"2022-06-09T11:01:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=186814"},"modified":"2022-06-07T09:41:20","modified_gmt":"2022-06-07T13:41:20","slug":"school-mental-health-resources-are-critical-to-ensuring-safe-school-environments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2022\/06\/school-mental-health-resources-are-critical-to-ensuring-safe-school-environments\/","title":{"rendered":"School Mental Health Resources Are Critical to Ensuring Safe School Environments"},"content":{"rendered":"

Whenever a mass shooting takes place in schools, public discussion often focuses on laws or policies that might have prevented the tragedy. But averting school violence needs more than gun policy. It requires both\u00a0prevention and crisis response<\/a>\u00a0that take students\u2019 emotional well-being \u2013 not just their physical safety \u2013 into account.<\/p>\n

School violence prevention also requires professionals \u2013 counselors, psychologists and social workers \u2013 who know how to create an\u00a0emotionally safe environment<\/a>, which research shows is critical to safe schools. Unfortunately, statistics show there is a\u00a0critical shortage<\/a>\u00a0of such employees. Staffing shortages have become a major obstacle to creating schools that are emotionally safe for children.<\/p>\n

As\u00a0school psychology professors<\/a>\u00a0who\u00a0train future school psychologists<\/a>, we know that school counselors, psychologists and social workers are in short supply. Though school shootings have led to increased hiring of police officers\u00a0to serve in schools<\/a>, the hiring of experts in\u00a0school mental health<\/a>\u00a0has not kept pace. Demand is greater than supply, a trend that\u00a0is projected<\/a>\u00a0to continue in the years to come.<\/p>\n

Staffing Matters<\/strong><\/p>\n

Employment of school counselors is expected to\u00a0grow 11%<\/a>\u00a0over the coming decade. However, there are not enough trained professionals to fill the positions. Current ratios are already twice what they should be, with one\u00a0school counselor<\/a>\u00a0for every 464 students and one\u00a0school psychologist<\/a>\u00a0for every 1,200 students. These ratios are\u00a0even higher<\/a>\u00a0in schools where most students are members of ethnic or racial minorities.<\/p>\n

Better-staffed schools are\u00a0more likely<\/a>\u00a0to use preventive and restorative approaches to student violence \u2013 ones that aim to educate, rather than those that simply aim to punish. In understaffed schools, providers manage only to keep up with emergencies, rather than doing the preventative work required to\u00a0make schools safer and more successful<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Key preventive and restorative activities to promote emotionally safe environments include:<\/p>\n