Pathways to Resilience III: Beyond Nature vs. Nurture

Abstract #287
Unstuffed! A School-Wide Strength-Based Teacher-Led Mental Health Conference. A Fresh Approach to a Resilience-Focused Mental Health Conference in Secondary School Setting. 
Presenter: Kingsley Hurlington Co - Presenters: Ruth Marinelli, Eileen Dahl  
Abstract:
An Ecological Framework of resilience posits the importance of environment in the development of resilience characteristics in individuals.
For teens, school can be one of the most important environments for bolstering resilience (Benard, 2006; Masten and Coatsworth, 1998). School needs to provide students with an environment that assists them with learning and also facilitates the development of personal resilience characteristics through positive mentorship (Ungar 2004). This program review explores the impact of a single mental health conference intervention on the strengthening of resilience characteristics in secondary school students. In response to growing concerns about mental health issues in the adolescent population (Lam, 2014), a mental health conference was created that offered students sessions led by teacher-mentors at their school. The results of student surveys indicated the significant effect of the intervention on their awareness of their own mental health challenges and that of their peers, increased confidence in negotiating their way to appropriate psychosocial supports, and deepened empathetic response to others in order to create a more positive and inclusive educational environment. Teacher-mentors also indicated their increased capacity to assist students in navigating mental health supports in their school and community.