Mental Health & Student Success

COVID-19 put education under the microscope in more ways than one. The technological divide, the role parents play in the education of their children, and the long-term effects of distance learning remain hot topics in education. One of the biggest changes to the educational landscape as a result of COVID-19, though, is the growing role of the extended student support team – the professionals dedicated to mental health and broader academic support outside the classroom.?

The role of mental health and extended student support had been gradually increasing in the last few decades, but COVID-19’s abrupt changes to the educational paradigm were an inflection point. Mental health is now a primary concern for parents and school officials. We now place much more emphasis on a student’s mental well being and providing the proper tools to cope with the plethora of stressors that modern students face on a daily basis.?

With that goal in mind, I write today about how parents, teachers, and support professionals can better assist students with their ongoing mental health. Please note that I am not a mental health professional in any way, shape, or form, and I encourage parents and students alike to seek the counsel of mental health professionals for serious concerns.?

My goal as the Founder & CEO of Staying Ahead of the Game is to equip students with the tools they need to get ahead and stay ahead in a rapidly changing educational environment. Many of the skills we discuss as part of our flagship academic coaching program are designed to help students perform better in a practical sense, but also to feel more confident as they matriculate through school.?

Tips for Facilitating and Supporting Mental Health for Students

Remind Students of the Power of Taking a Break?

I have to convince a lot of students that taking breaks is perfectly normal. In fact, it boosts performance in the long-run for three reasons: taming decision-fatigue, restoring motivation, and enhancing creativity.?

Breaks Prevent Decision Fatigue

Decision fatigue refers to the deteriorating quality of decisions made by an individual after a long session of making decisions. For instance, students trying to make the right decisions to avoid distractions or the right decision on which direction to go with their paper might suffer decision fatigue after an hour or two of work.?

As this famous study on the decision-making capabilities of Israeli judges suggests, it can lead to simplistic decision-making and procrastination. The study found that the judges were more likely to grant paroles to prisoners after coming back from food-breaks, as compared to when they had been working for hours at a stretch. As decision fatigue set in after long hours of work, the rate of granting paroles gradually dropped to near 0%. This was explained as the judges resorting to the option that required them to put in the least amount of thought— just say no.

When you’re tired from a day of working hard and upholding constant self-motivation, your brain might feel exhausted. This can lead to students procrastinating on major projects they might have planned for the end of their study session. Instead, encourage students to take a break.?

Breaks Restore Motivation for Long-term Goals

Breaks help restore motivation by injecting context into the picture. Too often, when we work on a project without stopping, we lose interest and/or burn out. A 2011 study suggests that prolonged attention to a single task can hinder performance. “Deactivating and reactivating your goals allows you to stay focused,” University of Illinois psychology professor Alejandro Lleras says. “From a practical standpoint, our research suggests that, when faced with long tasks (such as studying before a final exam or doing your taxes), it is best to impose brief breaks on yourself. Brief mental breaks will actually help you stay focused on your task.”

One major antecedent to procrastination is prolonged work blocks. Students who harness the power of breaks fan the fire of internal motivation, allowing them to achieve more in less time compared to their non-break-taking counterparts.?

Breaks Improve Creativity

Time away often leads to our best ideas because the mind works on problems in the background. Taking breaks refreshes the mind and eases the stress and exhaustion arising from working for long stretches. According to research, the “aha moments” come more often to those who take regular breaks. Taking walking breaks in between work tasks has proven to improve creativity. A study from Stanford University showed that when people tackled mental tasks that required imagination, walking led to more creative thinking than sitting.

Become a Parent Cheerleader

I think we can all agree that all parents want their children to do well. Whether academically, athletically, or socially, seeing their children succeed is what motivates most parents. How parents show this desire for child success, however, differs from household to household.

Chances are, most people reading this blog either have children or are involved in educating them in some way. Today, we’re going to talk about a few simple things to keep in mind in order to be a cheerleader for your children/students in a helpful, positive way without being overbearing.

A good place to start when it comes to encouraging kids is to identify where their strengths lie. Each student has his/her own unique set of strengths and weaknesses, and recognizing them is essential to fostering growth in a positive way. Understanding which subjects and activities are suitable for each child will not only help solidify strengths, it will also help avoid some of the frustration of misdirecting energy.

Similarly, it’s important to recognize that, in addition to talents, each student also has different interests. Pushing children in a direction they aren’t interested in can create conflict, no matter how well-intentioned the pushing may be. Whether it’s piano lessons, football practice, or drama club, allowing students to have a say in the activities they are a part of can go a long way in terms of both happiness and success.

Notice Changes in Your Child’s Behavior

The burnout phenomenon is often reserved for middle-aged career types, but I think that belief is misguided. Burnout affects all age types, and it is becoming much more common in high school and college students. The danger of always-on, the increasing demands of the fiercely competitive college admission process, and the ironically under-equipped adolescent mind make burnout a common issue.?

So, what does burnout look like? Although most movies portray sad music, aimless wandering, and lots of heavy sighing, burnout in real life is slightly more subtle. The latest research on burnout points to two main signs. First, students with burnout show declining adaptive energy, meaning they become less and less capable of navigating problems of any magnitude. In other words, they seem to lose the ability to bounce back. Like a soccer ball with a microscopic hole, they just don’t rebound the same when confronted with a hard surface. The second tell-tale sign of burnout is a graying out of moments of joy. You really have to listen for this one. Students fighting burnout might not be as excited about the Astros playoff win as they were a few weeks ago. They might not fist pump voraciously when they get a good test grade back, or they might seem disinterested in small social gatherings and other subtle joys of high school.?

You can also spot burnout by its effects. Burnout is more than a lack of motivation. It has trackable consequences. Burnout often yields a higher rate of errors. Is your child making simple calculation errors in chemistry class or leaving typos in his/her English essay? Burnout might be to blame. When burnout strikes, we become less vigilant about our work, and we’re also less likely to double-check. The only goal is to get the project finished as we search for a brief moment of respite.?

Students facing burnout also lack the ability to distinguish between real threats and potential ones. For instance, your child might become a tad bit vitriolic around the house, picking fights with older siblings over perceived slights. These filial tête-à-têtes seemed infrequent before, but now they occur rhythmically because the burned-out student perceives every stray comment as a threat to the ego. This dangerous by-product of burnout quickly becomes a negative feedback loop, as supportive relationships become strained and the student becomes isolated, increasing the impact of burnout.?

Conclusion: Mental health is a component of student success.

All of the principles above center on one key fact: student success is multi-dimensional. When we work with students one-on-one, we know that not all challenges are academic. Sometimes a student’s struggles in the classroom have nothing to do with the subject matter.?

We work with students on their organization, time management, ability to learn, and ability to manage their impressions. Underpinning those four pillars of our flagship executive function (EF) curriculum is the idea that we teach students how to manage themselves. Mental health is one crucial factor in the student success equation.?