Mental health promotion and students with disabilities: The need for targeted interventions (original) (raw)

2016, Mental Health & Wellbeing through Schools: The Way Forward

The Challenge Schools are uniquely placed to lay the foundations for positive mental health and to respond to early signs of mental health difficulties in children and young people, particularly through sustained, whole-school approaches that combine universal and targeted interventions (Weare & Nind, 2011). In Australia, whole-school mental health promotion typically represents a preventive, ecological approach, which is consistent with the World Health Organization's (WHO) definition of mental health as more than simply the absence of disease or difficulty, but " a state of well-being in which the individual realises his or her own abilities, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to his or her community " (2004, p. 1). Universal interventions aim to enhance the capacity of all children and young people to effectively navigate challenges through a focus on social-emotional learning and wellbeing, developing personal psychological resources such as resilience, and fostering safe and supportive school communities (Slee, Dix & Askell-Williams, 2011). Within whole-school approaches, supporting positive mental health outcomes for students with disabilities and special educational needs is emerging as a significant challenge for Australian schools and educators. There is growing evidence that individuals with disabilities are at heightened risk of developing mental health difficulties (e.g., McMillan & Jarvis, 2013), but until recently they have been overlooked as an at-risk population. There is a need for increased attention to the specific mental health needs of students with disabilities in school mental health promotion, and for the development of an Australian evidence base of effective practices. To what extent are Australian schools and education systems equipped to understand and support the mental health needs of students with disabilities and special educational needs? The challenge is complex and multifaceted. Addressing the challenge entails recognising the inextricable links between teaching and learning, behaviour support, and student wellbeing (Jarvis, 2011); efforts to promote student wellbeing and positive mental health must articulate with efforts to build excellence in teaching and learning and positive behaviour support in a context of school-wide inclusive practices. Traditionally, these areas tend to be treated in isolation using different intervention models by professionals from different fields of expertise (Eber, Weist & Barrett, 2013). Achieving an effective, coherent approach will involve careful consideration of issues including staffing, professional learning, teaching practices, models of special education service delivery, models of mental health intervention, and integration between multiple services and supports. In this chapter, we discuss key issues and challenges related to supporting mental health promotion for students with disabilities and special educational needs in Australian schools. We present a multi-tiered framework connecting school-wide approaches to mental health promotion, positive behaviour support, and academic learning that has shown considerable promise internationally, and consider how such a framework might be applied to support positive mental health outcomes for students in Australian schools, with a focus on students with disabilities.