The start of an academic year can bring a lot of changes into a student’s life: New teachers, different classes and assignments, and updated school day routines.

It’s important for parents, teachers and school personnel to keep their K-12 students’ mental health top of mind as students adjust to the new school year.

“Mental health is connected to everything else that students do in school—their academic performance, their attendance at school, their post-secondary options,” said College of Education & Human Development Associate Professor Erin Mason. “As a student, you can’t do the work you need to do at school unless you are and feel mentally healthy.”

Mason and Clinical Assistant Professors Bobby Gueh and Natalie Grubbs, who teach in the college’s M.Ed. in School Counseling program, offer their recommendations for how schools and families can support students’ mental health this academic year.

Tip 1: Establishing healthy routines

It’s key for parents and caregivers to encourage healthy habits, such as eating well and getting enough rest.

“Sleep hygiene tips like establishing a set bedtime and wake-up time, ensuring students get 8–9 hours of sleep (adolescents need closer to nine hours) and enforcing a shutdown of devices and screens 30 minutes to an hour before bedtime all help contribute to a good night’s rest and better mental stability to power through the day,” Grubbs said.

This year, the Georgia Legislature passed the Distraction-Free Education Act, which prohibits K-8 students from using personal electronic devices during the school day and requires schools to develop policies and procedures for appropriate use of technology during school hours.

This gives families an opportunity to think about their students’ screen time at home, how that contributes to their overall mental health and what rules they want to establish when it comes to screen use.

“When we see problems with phone usage, the addictive qualities of a phone and cyberbullying, this is an area that parents can think about and decide what’s best from a mental health perspective,” Mason said. “It’s important to explore students’ relationships with phones and screen time.”

Tip 2: Paying attention to students’ behavior

K-12 students don’t always have the language to explain how they’re feeling—especially when they’re facing difficulties.

“The way kids express their concerns is often through their behavior. Developmentally, that looks like a range of things depending on their age,” Mason said. “You want to look for things that are out of character for your child. And that doesn’t necessarily mean there’s a mental health problem—it might be a sign that they need more time with you as a parent.”

Parents and teachers can use posters with emojis depicting different emotions or a feelings wheel to help give children and teens some images and language for expressing their feelings.

It’s also important for educators and families to understand different developmental stages in a child’s life and how they might act at those stages.

“We see students’ identity development start to increase around fourth grade and can peak around eighth or ninth grade. Their identity development can plateau or it can continue to develop in high school, which is why high schools have so many clubs and activities,” Gueh said. “We really want parents to know about those crucial years and understand how they develop from 4th–9th grade.”

Tip 3: Checking in regularly

It’s important for families to have conversations with their K-12 students at the beginning of the academic year to see if there are certain topics their students may be concerned about.

“While many kids are excited about seeing their friends after the summer break, others are anxious about changing relationships, bullying or social exclusion,” Grubbs said. “The beginning of school is a great time to have age-appropriate conversations about what makes a healthy friendship or relationship.”

From there, parents and caregivers should regularly check in with their children to keep an eye on their children’s mental health and what areas may need further conversations. And it doesn’t always have to be a formal, sit-down conversation; instead, asking children and teens to discuss something they’re passionate about can be a good opening to deeper conversations.

“Instead of asking ‘How was your day,’ reframe it to ‘Tell me about your day.’ That curiosity is our greatest tool,” Gueh said. “I wasn’t big on video games as a kid, but my kids play video games. I had to start being curious—asking about their video games, asking questions about how the game works, letting them teach me how to play. This gives them a sense of independence, and they feel like their parents are interested in them. And parents get a chance to check in.”

Teachers can also add check-ins to their daily classroom routines to ensure students have a designated time to express how they feel.

“I would encourage teachers to start with a healing circle or a morning meeting to check in on their students’ mental health,” Gueh said. “Most kids don’t feel like they have any power at home or at school, and this gives kids a sense of autonomy and that they’re being listened to.”