he North American Division Office of Education (NADOE) has been working on a mental health (MH) initiative during the last year to help address MH concerns in our educational institutions across the division. Our goal is to help you to spot signs of MH signs in students, with the understanding that you are not qualified to diagnosis any MH condition; that is left to the MH professionals.

Because students spend so much of their daily life at school, you become MH first responders. We want to make sure that you have the right tools at your fingertips to navigate any potential MH problems that come your way. By being able to spot signs of MH, you will be able to have important conversations with parents, and offer them resources and guidance as to where they can go for help.

We are excited to share with you that we are currently building an electronic MH educator toolkit that will be placed on our NAD website.  The toolkit will include, but not limited to, MH trainings, resources, videos with strategies, and much more, to guide you through this journey.  Our plan is to have this toolkit available for you in 2021.  In the meantime, we will use this channel to share updates, tips, and pertinent MH information to continue the conversation.  Contact your local conference office of education for the SLACK invitation. By the way, check out our other SLACK channels in the NAD Educators’ workplace.

Join us on the journey,

Evelyn Sullivan,

Director for Early Childhood/REACH