I hope you are winding from the school year and enjoying Summer with your child.
Well before COVID struck I began asking myself and my peers across the field of education a number of questions that have become increasingly perplexing to me during my last three decades as an educator:
Is there really a mental health crisis with American children?
If there is a crisis, how can that be? As a society we have poured more resources than ever before to assist with the "crisis" from child specialists, the medical industry, private counseling and the number of “mental health” specialists staffing public schools across the country.
Is our role, even with good intentions, alleviating or exacerbating the problem?
The answers are provided by Abigail Shrier in her latest book, Bad Therapy: Why the Kids Aren't Growing Up
The author’s thesis, which also happens to be mine is that we (schools in general) are not helping as a broad institution. A few years ago Twin Peaks Classical Academy moved away from the traditional school model of maintaining counselors and interventionists on staff. We actually hired more adults to support our students and your children, but with clear roles regarding “mental health” supports and interventions. Our main role in supporting your children is an academic first approach, and ensuring you the parent are a partner and at the forefront of your child's education and health decisions.
Bad Therapy is a compelling read if not a wake-up call. It is well researched and documented. The author challenges many pervasive beliefs about raising and teaching children in the 21st century. Reviews, articles and YouTube clips are available if you want to do some more research before reading the entire book. I highly recommend it, as does the rest of the school's Leadership Team.
It is a core belief and one of Twin Peaks Classical Academy’s founding principles that parents are the student’s first teacher. We provide mental health triage. Beyond that, it is the parent’s role to seek appropriate care for their children from a professional of their choice if they deem it necessary.
Joe