The present study investigated the influence of a school-based mental health counseling intervention (SBMHCI) on elementary school students’ (N = 49) behavioral and emotional problems and school attendance at two Title I elementary schools. The study used a single-group, pretest–posttest design to examine change in the participants’ scores after participating in the five-week SBMHCI. The results identified that participants’ internalizing and total problem scores exhibited significant improvement over time, per parent report. In addition, participants’ school attendance significantly improved over time, from the previous academic year, following the SBMHCI.
Mindful self-compassion can address the emotional exhaustion teachers of color experience due to racial injustice and social marginalization compounded by the pandemic. The authors propose a humanistic intervention in which mental health counselors create safe spaces for teaching self-regulation skills and processing emotional stressors related to racial tensions in schools.
K E Y W O R D Shumanistic intervention, mindfulness, racial tensions, self-compassion, teachers of color Now, more than ever, Americans are witness to the ongoing racial tensions and discrimination that is plaguing our country. Teachers of color are not exempt from facing racial tensions and discrimination in their personal or professional lives. However, there is a paucity of research addressing mental health interventions in schools that specifically attends to the emotional toll associated with racial discrimination that teachers of color are facing across the nation in general. Thus, in an occupation already at high risk of burnout, it is important to ask: How is the current state of social marginalization and discrimination present as a result of the pandemic and nationwide social and political events affecting the mental health of teachers of color? What active role can mental health counselors play in school settings to attend to the specific emotional needs of teachers of color? In an attempt to address these questions, this article proposes a humanistic intervention of mindful self-compassion to address the emotional exhaustion experienced by teachers of color brought about by racial tensions.The proposed intervention, referred to as Safe Healing Circles, is designed from a humanistic perspective with a lens of mindful self-compassion for teachers of color in a school setting. The intervention includes mental health counselors as facilitators to create a safe space to teach self-regulation skills and process emotional stressors related to racial tensions. Central to humanistic counseling, SafeThis is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
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