This article discusses educators’ role in supporting students and promoting school safety, noting best practices of strength-based approaches, and reviews specific examples of positive approaches for promoting student mental health which are funded by the National Institute of Justice’s Comprehensive School Safety Initiative.
It is imperative that educators take a positive and preventive approach to support students and promote school safety. This article addresses the importance of identifying students who need additional mental health support and providing the highest quality support. These include best practices of emphasizing strength-based approaches, working with students and families as collaborators, integrating strategies into schools’ multi-tiered systems of support, using data for decision making, implementing and refining evidence-based practices, and conducting ongoing evaluation. The article reviews specific examples of positive approaches to promoting student mental health funded by the National Institute of Justice Comprehensive School Safety Initiative. These real-world research initiatives provide examples of how multi-tiered systems of support for student mental health can serve as a mechanism to promote school safety. (Published Abstract Provided)