The skills and knowledge of wellness are needed for both 21st century learning and to prevent depression.

 

Children’s Hospital Boston,  South Shore Hospital, McLean Hospital and the Massachusetts School of Professional Psychology collaborate with Adolescent Wellness to develop practical resources that can be practiced by everyone to promote well being.

Would you like better test scores? 
Emotional health is strongly correlated to academic health.  On average, SEL (the Social Emotional Learning skills of relationships, social awareness, self-awareness, self-management and decision making) improves performance of the entire group on standard achievement tests 11 percentile points, moving the average from the 50th percentile to the 61st percentile (Weissberg R. & Durlak J., 2011). Skills and knowledge related to wellness are critical for social emotional health and academic success.   These domains are not separate, but interrelated and critical to the intellectual and emotional development of children and adolescents.

Would you like to keep healthy kids healthy?
Over two centuries ago, Goethe wrote, “Must it be, that what makes for man’s happiness becomes the source of his misery”? (The Sorrows of Young Werther, 1774.) Indeed, both our worry and joy have common sources – family, friends, work, etc. We have mental health when we can manage the worries; when we cannot manage the worries we have mental illness in the form of mood disorders such as depression or anxiety. We can improve our resilience – balancing the weight of life’s worries with the relief of skills and knowledge may be taught using resources from the Wellness Curricula page. 

Symptoms of mental illness can affect youth and continue throughout life; adolescence is the peak onset period, with a median onset age of 15 years. Leading schools, such as the Roxbury Latin School, directly address mental health and wellness in the curriculum; Grade 7-12 Roxbury Latin consistently ranks among the highest achieving schools in the country.

 

Would you like to improve problem solving skills?
One example of a practical resource is a creative model for problem solving called PIP (Problem/Ideas/Plan). PIP helps one frame problems and create more options to become a better problem solver. This model encourages one to approach worries with:
 - flexibility by reframing the problem,
 - creativity by deferring  judgement while generating potential solutions, and
 - communication by discussing the problem and potential solutions with others.

Research indicates that  risk factors associated with emotional distress and mental illness include poor problem solving skills, inability to generate alternative solutions, elevated levels of stress and poor coping skills.  A safe and easy model to problem solving can therefore help with specific problems, as well as promote healthier coping strategies for emotional management.