Mental Health and Why it Matters for Learning
Most of us have known and experienced how mental and emotional health struggles can affect our everyday lives. The shared experience of a global pandemic has been traumatic in big and small ways, and honestly? We're not completely okay, nor will we ever be the same.
A global study has shown that adolescents around the world are experiencing higher levels of stress, anxiety, and depression due to the Covid-19 pandemic [1]. We've all gone through something extremely difficult. Further, it can be so hard for students to learn how to manage and feel their emotions while navigating the stressors they experience at school.
Caring for our mental health is vital for several reasons. A recent study of over 57,000 high school students in Canada found that lower levels of depression and higher levels of social-emotional well-being were associated with better grades in language and math classes. Additionally, study results showed these levels correlated with fewer school absences and homework assignments being completed more frequently [2].
And although grades and academic performance are important, we also embrace the priceless, individual growth that happens when our mental health is nurtured and cared for. When there are safe spaces for us to be honest about what we're feeling and experiencing, our thoughts and feelings can exist just as they are. We can start to become aware of them and respond to what they're telling us because that's what thoughts and feelings do: they communicate our needs to us. Rather than ignoring them, we can recognize that the difficult emotions and thoughts we experience are part of being human, and those parts of ourselves deserve love and care, too.
It's important to recognize, too, that this kind of mental and emotional vulnerability is a privilege that not everyone has. It's easy for me to say these things as a straight, white, able-bodied, middle-class, neurotypical woman because in most environments, most of my identities aren't subject to discrimination. In most environments, it's pretty safe for me to be completely honest about what I'm thinking or feeling. That's not the same experience for people who experience discrimination based on their race, sexuality, gender, and/or cognitive or physical abilities, to name a few. Vulnerability can result in risking losing their job, housing, or any sense of physical or emotional safety they had before.
In the anthology, You Are Your Best Thing: Vulnerability, Shame Resilience, and the Black Experience, editors Tarana Burke and Brené Brown open with a conversation in which Brown says the following: "...it's not like if you're Black, you don't need vulnerability to experience joy, belonging, intimacy, and love. It's that we've created a culture that makes it unsafe for you to be vulnerable" [3].
We all need safe places where we can be honest with ourselves and others about the hard thoughts and feelings we have, and unfortunately, sometimes that's not completely possible. With the many factors that affect if and how we care for our mental health, a great place to start is with what we can control: ourselves.
Becoming aware of our deepest thoughts and emotions is vital to caring for our own mental and emotional health. Once we can identify them in ourselves we can remember, first of all, that they're a normal part of the human experience. Feelings aren't wrong or abnormal! They exist to communicate our needs to us. When we recognize our emotions for what they are, we can approach them with curiosity and compassion. This can look like saying to ourselves, "I'm feeling really anxious right now. Why might that be?" or, "I'm feeling so overwhelmed with everything going on. This is really hard for me, and it's okay to feel this way."
This self-awareness can significantly affect how we relate to others, too. It opens doors for us to show compassion and empathy to others experiencing hard thoughts and emotions, even when their experiences don't align with our own. When we've learned the importance of caring for our own thoughts and feelings, we can be safe places for the thoughts and feelings of others. Such community with each other helps normalize our mental and emotional struggles and combats the shame and isolation that inhibit our growth and healing.
When it comes to academic performance and lifelong learning, effort and brainpower can (and will) take you far. But they will only take you so far. Prioritizing and caring for your mental health can help give depth and longevity to your academic journey and eventual career path. Mental and emotional support from yourself and others can empower the pursuit of your goals and the exploration of things that ignite a passion in you.
What is one thing you can start doing to care for your mental and emotional health, even if it's something small? How can you better care for this part of yourself so that you might be more empowered to achieve your goals and support the mental health journeys of people around you?
[1] Jones, E., Mitra, A. K., & Bhuiyan, A. R. (2021). Impact of COVID-19 on mental health in adolescents: A systematic review. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(5), 2470. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18052470
[2] Duncan, M. J., Patte, K. A., & Leatherdale, S. T. (2021). Mental health associations with academic performance and education behaviors in Canadian secondary school students. Canadian Journal of School Psychology, 36(4), 335–357. https://doi.org/10.1177/0829573521997311
[3] Burke, T. & Brown, B. (Eds.). (2021). You are your best thing: Vulnerability, shame resilience, and the black experience. Random House.