Distinguished emeritus professor Michael Furlong of UC Santa Barbara’s Gevirtz School is one of the presenters for the webinar “Addressing mental health: The role of mental health and wellness data in shaping student supports,” presented by WestEd on Thursday, April 28, 2 pm – 3:30 pm. The other presenters are Scott Lindstrom, co-coordinator of trauma response and recovery for Butte County Office of Education (BCOE) and an advanced trainer of the Nurtured Heart Approach (NHA), and Carrie Dawes, a 17-year Paradise Unified School District employee in Northern California. The event is free and open to the public; register online.
Stress, anxiety, and chronic sadness increased among students in California during the COVID-19 pandemic. What can schools do with mental health data available to them to provide greater supports for students? This session will highlight the newly available California Department of Education’s Mental Health Indicator Report for districts who administer the California Healthy Kids Survey. A description of different mental health and wellness indicators will be provided to help participants provide appropriate mental health supports for their students. In addition, Paradise Unified School District will describe how it has integrated the use of data to continue to educate students through trauma, secondary trauma, PTSD, and psychological scars associated with the Camp Fire, which destroyed four schools and severely damaged another four schools in the district.
Dr. Michael Furlong is a research professor and a distinguished professor emeritus of school psychology at UC Santa Barbara. He coedited the Handbook of Positive Psychology in Schools: Supporting Process and Practice (2009, 2014, 2022) and collaborates with colleagues on Project Covitality, supporting schools’ efforts to foster all students’ social-emotional development.
The event is presented by the California Center for School Climate (CCSC), a center developed by WestEd and the California Department of Education, to provide high-quality, data-driven research, tools, and guidance to inform decisions about school climate and safety.