Giving Compass' Take:

• Brian LeTendre discusses the connections he has seen between mental health and academic success and how support can make all the difference for struggling students. 

• How can funders increase access to mental health services, particularly in disadvantaged areas? 

• Learn how acknowledging trauma can help communities. 

Academic success doesn’t happen in a vacuum, and skills like perseverance and resilience affect much more than learning in school.

I spent the last 20+ years in human services, working in and then overseeing programs that served children and adolescents. In the early part of my career, I worked with teenagers at a stage in their lives where they needed residential treatment in order to deal with issues that stemmed from early childhood.

Resilience, perseverance and a growth mindset are not just critical for students’ academic success, they are important for kids’ mental health.

These kids lacked appropriate support during their youngest years, and many of them had not developed self-regulation and coping skills, or a sense of resiliency. In most cases, they struggled with academics and behavioral issues at school, which went hand-in-hand with their struggles at home and in the community.

While overseeing family child care programs, I saw first hand the impact positive adult interactions, as well as a strong educational foundation, can have on the lives of young children.

Read the full article on mental health and education by Brian LeTendre at Getting Smart.