A Call to Action: School and District Leaders Needed for Student Mental Health

How can our education systems stay abreast of changing mental health needs in schools? This question has been top-of-mind for us as we examine how schools and school authorities in Alberta are implementing initiatives to improve their multi-tiered systems of support. According to the World Health Organization, mental health emphasizes an individual’s ability to realize their potential, cope with normal stresses, work productively, and contribute to their community. The costs of poor mental health are now widely recognized as preventable through timely, evidence-informed interventions.  

Participants in the projects we are studying encountered significant challenges in engaging leaders at various levels. Participants noted difficulties such as “helping principals understand it’s part of the curriculum and requires intentional focus” and “still trying to help principals and district leaders understand why and how mental health needs to be addressed in the school.” They also highlighted the need to build capacity among principals and district leadership.  

The Local and International Landscape 

While the challenges engaging leadership we observed might be expected at the beginning of an initiative focused on students’ mental health, it was surprising to see them persisting 18 months into the projects. However, we perhaps shouldn’t have been surprised: our recent scoping review and environmental scan (MacGregor et al., in press), analyzing 47 sources from the research, practice, and policy literature, revealed that leadership was mentioned in only six. This points to a broader issue: the critical need for education systems to prioritize leadership in addressing mental health in schools. The absence of organizational drivers—mechanisms that create and sustain supportive environments for change—further exacerbates this challenge. Effective leadership is essential for integrating mental health initiatives into the school culture and ensuring they are not sidelined by other priorities. 

The Mental Health Commission of Canada (2013) indicates that nearly one in four young people aged 9-12 struggle with mental health issues. Without the necessary support systems, students with mental health challenges are at a higher risk of dropping out of school, achieving lower academic success, experiencing poor social outcomes, facing unemployment, and being susceptible to substance abuse (Doran & Kinchin, 2019; Larson et al., 2017; Mental Health Commission of Canada, 2013). However, it is not only those diagnosed with mental illnesses who face these challenges; many school-aged children encounter stressors and life circumstances that also negatively affect their mental health, exacerbated by the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic (Vaillancourt et al., 2021). 

This means that a significant number of young people in the nation’s schools need to have their mental health considered with the same priority as their academic success. In this way, leaders need to understand that cognitive, social, and emotional health work together. It is well-known in the fields of sociology, epidemiology, and social psychiatry that there is a positive relationship between mental health and academic success (Agnafors et al., 2020). This means that students facing mental health challenges often show lower academic success, while those with higher academic success tend to experience fewer mental health issues. It seems inconceivable that students attending school would not be provided with the supports needed to learn the academic core subjects. Yet, despite this logic being widely accepted for academics, the same level of support is too often lacking when it comes to students’ mental health, as evidenced by the sources we reviewed. 

The Role of Leadership 

Leaders in school districts and schools are uniquely positioned to address youth mental health through modern governance practices, cultivating a positive organizational climate, and implementing multi-tiered systems of support (Turner, 2022). These systems have been shown to positively impact student performance and school environments. Fullan and Quinn (2023) emphasize the evolving role of leadership in understanding and supporting students’ cognitive, emotional, and social development. Educational leaders can foster a more inclusive and interconnected system of mental health supports by facilitating multi-stakeholder collaborations involving students, caregivers, community members, and external professionals. 

Universal mental health supports (i.e., Tier 1 universal supports incorporated into the learning environment for all learners) contribute to higher engagement in class, stronger connections to the school community, and even improved academic performance. These supports help transcend socio-economic and cultural divides, instilling a deeper understanding of mental health concepts across diverse student groups. Moreover, when these structures are integrated into the school environment, there is an observable improvement in collaboration and communication among staff and students. Teachers equipped with new knowledge are found to integrate mental health topics more effectively into the curriculum, promoting open discussions and reducing the stigma around mental health issues. 

A Call to Action:

The stress and ill-being experienced by one in four students highlight the urgent need for changes to the myopic focus on academic achievement still defended by some education leaders. In the simplest terms, academic achievement cannot be divorced from mental health (Agnafors et al., 2020; Woolf & Digby, 2023). In simplest terms, academic achievement is deeply intertwined with mental health. When we consider the significant impact of mental health on young people, the inequalities faced by many disadvantaged students, and the stress, boredom, and alienation experienced by over a third of students in Grades 5-12 (Willms et al., 2009), it becomes evident that these issues collectively exert immense pressure for substantial changes to the K-12 education system.  

It is evident that the current academic obsession of many leaders cannot be attained without considering the overall health of students. Mental health linked to learning serves as a powerful stimulus for a call to action by school and district leaders across Canada. This is a call to action for leaders to steward mental health initiatives in their schools and districts.  

Practical Suggestions: 

1. Prioritize the mental health of school staff and leaders as a foundational step in supporting student mental health. School leaders must ensure that their own mental health and that of their staff are not discounted, as a healthy work environment for staff is essential to fostering a supportive environment for students. In addition to implementing programs, adopting a universal approach to creating a healthy workplace—one that promotes work-life balance, open communication, professional learning and development, and access to mental and physical health resources—is crucial. Such efforts will help cultivate a more resilient and flourishing school community. 
2. Invest in professional development programs that equip leaders with the knowledge and skills to address mental health challenges. At a minimum, this includes understanding how to implement supportive practices and foster a school culture that prioritizes mental health. Cross-ministerial collaborations, such as inter-departmental training programs, can pool expertise and resources from various ministries to offer specialized training initiatives for educators. This approach can address concerns about insufficient training and resource inadequacies. 
3. Develop clear policies that outline the role of schools in supporting student mental health. These policies should include protocols for identifying and supporting students in need, as well as guidance on promoting mental health through multi-tiered systems of support. Policies must also be adaptable and considerate of local context, as a one-size-fits-all approach often leads to unintended consequences, such as diminished mental health outcomes for specific groups.  
4. Collaborate with local mental health organizations and professionals to provide comprehensive support to students. Where bureaucratic structures may obscure these collaborations, advocate for cross-system collaboration to bridge the gap between school-based support and external services. Such collaboration can also signify an integrated approach to problem-solving, addressing the multi-dimensional nature of mental health in educational settings and promoting greater organizational and leadership engagement in implementing mental health initiatives. 
5. Align mental health frameworks with existing curriculum and pedagogy by emphasizing teaching practices that foster connectedness, student engagement, and inclusive practices. These practices, which fall within the scope of classroom teachers, serve as universal supports and are foundational for both academic learning and social-emotional competencies. This alignment can help reduce resistance to mental health promotion and elevate its prioritization within schools. 
6. Implement data systems to monitor the effectiveness of mental health initiatives and make informed decisions. By tracking student outcomes and gathering feedback, schools can continuously improve their approaches to supporting student mental health. Develop processes and structures for evaluation to ensure accurate and consistent measurements, which are crucial for capturing the real impact of interventions and informing practice. Evaluation should be an explicit step in a continuous cycle of schoolwide improvement. 
7. Leverage unexpected benefits of implementing school-based mental health supports, such as fostering community partnerships and expanding the scope of mental health promotion. Policymakers should explore mechanisms for identifying and integrating these serendipitous outcomes into existing policy frameworks. For example, existing data collection and monitoring systems can be revised to capture not only predefined program outcomes but also unanticipated impacts. This approach can provide valuable data to justify further investment in school-based mental health supports. 

Education leaders must take an active role in planning and integrating mental health initiatives into school priorities, ensuring a balanced approach that supports students’ cognitive, emotional, and social development. By embracing this responsibility, leaders can make a profound difference in students’ lives and help create more supportive and inclusive education systems. 

Photo: Microsoft Stock

IF YOU HAVE A STORY TO SHARE ABOUT HOW YOUR SCHOOL OR SCHOOL DISTRICT IS FOSTERING WELLBEING, PLEASE CONTACT KATHLEEN AT  KLANE@EDCAN.CA.

References 

Agnafors, S., Barmark, M., Sydsjö, G. (2020). Mental health and academic performance: A study on selection and causation effects from childhood to early adulthood. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatry Epidemiology, 56, 857-866. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-020-01934-5  

Doran, C. M., & Kinchin, I. (2019). A review of the economic impact of mental illness. Australian Health Review, 43(1), 43–48. https://doi.org/10.1071/AH16115 

Fullan, M., & Quinn, J. (2023). The drivers: Transforming learning for students, schools, and systems. Corwin. 

Larson, S., Chapman, S., Spetz, J., & Brindis, C., D. (2017). Chronic childhood trauma, mental health, academic achievement, and school‐based health center mental health services. Journal of School Health, 87(9), 675–686. https://doi.org/10.1111/josh.12541 

MacGregor, S., Friesen, S., Turner, J., Domene, J. F., McMorris, C., Allan, S., Mesner, B., & Sumara, D. (in press). The side effects of universal school-based mental health supports: An integrative review. Review of Research in Education. 

Mental Health Commission of Canada. (2013). Making the case for investing in mental health in Canada. https://mentalhealthcommission.ca/resource/making-the-case-for-investing-in-mental-health-in-canada/ 

Turner, J. (2022). Finding the strength: A case study of school district leadership of mental health promotion in one district in British Columbia [Doctoral dissertation, University of Calgary]. PRISM Institutional Repository. http://hdl.handle.net/1880/115125 

Vaillancourt, T., Szatmari, P., Georgiades, K., & Krygsman, A. (2021). The impact of COVID-19 on the mental health of Canadian children and youth. Facets, 6, 1628–1648. https://doi.org/10.1139/facets-2021-0078 

Woolf, P., & Digby, J. (2023). Student wellbeing: An analysis of the evidence. Oxford Impact. https://oxfordimpact.oup.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Student-wellbeing-An-analysis-of-the-evidence.pdf  

Meet the Expert(s)

Dr. Sharon Friesen

Professor, Werklund School of Education, University of Calgary

Sharon Friesen is a professor and President of the Galileo Educational Network at the Werklund School of Education, University of Calgary. Her research interests include the ways in which K-12 educational structures, curriculum, and pedagogies need to be reinvented for our contemporary society.

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Dr. Stephen MacGregor

Assistant Professor, Werklund School of Education, University of Calgary

Stephen MacGregor is an assistant professor in the Werklund School of Education at the University of Calgary. His research centers on knowledge mobilization as a mechanism for educational change, with an emphasis on leadership practices within increasingly complex education systems.

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