A district wades through a deluge of social-emotional learning curricula

The Boys' Club of New York addresses the mental health crisis among at-risk boys by providing structured programming, peer mentorship from alumni staff, and a culture of belonging across three clubhouses and roughly 2,500 members.

Multiple hospital systems and health organizations across North Carolina have implemented school-based telehealth programs so students can receive medical and behavioral health care during the school day, making care more accessible. Evidence shows students who participate in the telehealth program see better attendance and academic performance, as well as improvements in their mental health.

Doctors Without Borders (MSF) works with asylum seekers in Matamoros to address mental health issues while they wait for decisions in their U.S. immigration cases. MSF provides one-on-one and group counseling with a therapist trained to address the issues asylum seekers face. To build trust and decrease the stigma surrounding mental health and seeking treatment, MSF holds daily talks in the camp. Since kids show symptoms of trauma differently, MSF created mental health treatment in the form of interactive games and activities. MSF reports positive outcomes for the 3,100 mental health sessions held in 2020.

In Milwaukee Public schools, when a student or teacher passes away, a crisis response team, made up of school psychologists, social workers, and counselors, steps in to offer grief counseling and mental health care support. In operation for over 20 years, the team aims to make students feel secure in their environment once again, provide individual support to students for which this event might be triggering, and train teachers to recognize signs of trauma in their students.

In Ireland, schools across the country have installed "Buddy Benches," a space where children can go to let others know they want to play. The benches, which are built by volunteers from the Men's Shed, are part of a wider movement to practice inclusion and mental health awareness in schools.

In past months, students in Delhi, India have found a new addition their incredibly rigorous academic curriculums: happiness classes. In an attempt to combat high rates of stress and depression linked to student suicides, the classes focus on emotional well-being and meditation, but critics contend that a 35 minutes a day is not enough to reverse the mental health consequences of India's competitive academic culture.

A new initiative in West Virginia is training elementary school teachers to identify signs of intergenerational trauma in their students and adjust their teaching methods accordingly.

Turnaround for Children, an organization founded to address mental health issues and their repercussions in the classroom, focuses on preparing teachers and schools to structure classroom environments in a constructive way. They create opportunities for learning in rigorous ways with high expectations so that children thrive and are well cared for, helping them to thrive both academically and emotionally.

StrongMinds Zambia began offering teletherapy, in part due to COVID-19 related restrictions, but also to address the many new stressors that came with the pandemic. Counselors hold group calls with five people twice a week for five weeks. Clients are not charged for treatment or the calling costs. Some of the 1,500 women and about 100 men treated via teletherapy express the benefit of anonymity that speaking over the phone brings in a therapy setting. Without fear of being identified, clients feel more comfortable talking freely, especially given existing stigmas surrounding mental health issues.

By fostering dialog between the military and rebel soldiers in a region long afflicted with violence, a physician whose clinic exposed her to children’s severe PTSD has helped heal the effects of trauma and the scars of war. Save the Children of War in Basilan has gone beyond its focus on child health and welfare to broker reconciliation talks between rebel groups and the military, in large part by getting both sides to see their opponents’ motives through a new lens. Kidnappings, once rampant, have been nonexistent since 2016.