In conclusion, the transformative potential of peer support groups in schools is undeniable. The success stories from these schools serve as a vital resource for educators seeking to bolster their peer support initiatives. To combat these issues, schools have adopted strategic measures such as providing facilitator training to equip students with essential conflict resolution and leadership skills.

Top 17 Exercises for Positive Education

Subsequently, a systematic surveying of the literature on all existing support systems that provide the necessary social support for LGBTQ youth is necessary. Such concerns can be attributed to a lack of connection with their teachers and school staff , a lack of acceptance from their family members 57, 74 and peers , a lack of school curricula and policies that value LGBTQ diversity , https://www.thenationalcouncil.org/event/southeast-ccbhc-learning-community/ and the existence of overall hostile and exclusionary school climates . Other research similarly suggests the importance of LGBTQ-affirming school climate as a support system to help minimize victimization rates and increase sense of safety for LGBTQ youth . Briefly, the guide implicated the importance of educators to help create a safe school climate for LGBTQ youth, the need to create and enforce anti-harassment policies, the creation of gay-straight alliances, and the development of LGBTQ-inclusive curriculum. American Psychological Association published an informational guide summarizing the various school-based protective systems present for LGBTQ youth. Other studies focusing more on the community surrounding LGBTQ youth revealed similar navigations across systemic barriers (or facilitators) in their identity exploration.

Youth pathways through MH services

• The study of engagement as multidimensional and as arising from an interaction between the student and her/his sources of social support is likely to help us better understand the complexity of students’ experiences in school and identify which social support to target more specifically in interventions.
• A primary goal of these processes would be to derive organic, nuts-and-bolts data in real time about what works and what may be burdensome, extraneous, and subject to simplification or removal (Forman et al., 2017).
• School and college teachers and leaders can access support for their own wellbeing and to address challenges around workload.
• Studies were identified with a wide range of synonymous search terms for ‘mental health’, ‘peer support’, ‘adolescent’, ‘school’, and ‘intervention’.
• For racialized LGBTQ youth, peer support did not moderate perceived discrimination in schools and had no association with school performance.

Their involvement in GSA-related activities and events increased their self-efficacy , academic success, school engagement, school belongingness 43, 111, 112, sense of hope, and advocacy and awareness-raising efforts 88, 91. GSAs provide accountability, support, community, increased academic success, and decreased feelings of isolation by connecting youth with other LGBTQ community members, events, and resources. Entering GSA classrooms offered visibility, positive symbols of acceptance, respect, and affirmation, providing LGBTQ youth with a sense of safety 6, 87. Teachers mentioned difficulty fostering an inclusive curriculum due to rigid curriculum, high stakes testing, and parental resistance , requiring the administration to provide the support needed for teachers to change the curriculum . Gay-straight alliances (GSAs), a supportive network outside of the classroom, is one space that can supplement LGBTQ-inclusive curriculum outside formal education. Therefore, developing a curriculum that centers LGBTQ issues can disrupt homophobia, injustice, and other forms of oppression, which can provide safety and acceptance, and validate LGBTQ youths’ experiences at school 102, 118.

Students, parents, and school staff mentioned the importance of having a safe space as a deciding factor to attend school for students to be recognized, accepted, and to participate in their school . A positive and safe school climate (e.g., GSA activities; LGBTQ-affirming school-wide campaigns) can promote tolerance, respect and inclusion for LGBTQ youth 69, 72, 121. Introducing inclusive policies require collaboration across professionals to support legislation that acknowledges LGBTQ issues in schools . Snapp and others found that school policies were inequitably enforced as LGBTQ youth were punished for public displays of affection and violation of dress code compared to heterosexual peers, indicative of a lack of inclusive school policies.

Despite peer-led mental health interventions being often developed to help peer recipients, the data shows that the peer leaders can also benefit. One study found a significant reduction in test anxiety in an adolescent group exposed to ‘peer coaching’; however, none of the remaining studies reported any significant mental health or wellbeing outcomes. Studies of broader types of peer support might have been missed if they included mental health outcomes amongst a number of other reported areas. Each school designed and implemented their own peer support programme based on guidelines provided by a national delivery partner, who also ran trainer-training sessions. A large UK report of an initiative to encourage schools to promote and run peer-led interventions in 89 primary, secondary, and special education schools, as well as in community groups, complement these findings .

Finally, results point to the need to improve MH literacy, reducestigma, and build sustained and supportive relationships with adults as part ofa comprehensive, integrated school wellness strategy. Despite the link between truancy andunmet MH needs, many schools do not routinely incorporate referrals to MHservices in truancy reduction interventions, perhaps contributing to the limitedimpact of these efforts.41–43 Schooldistricts and policymakers should prioritize adequate staffing of MHprofessionals at school sites, beginning with districts that have highconcentrations of youth at risk for MH problems (e.g., those with high rates oftruancy and exposure to violence, trauma, and poverty). One cornerstone of this comprehensive approach, supported by the presentanalysis, involves identifying youth in need. The WSCCmodel emphasizes the importance of efforts to promote health among the schoolcommunity holistically, in addition to providing integrated health services forthose in need of care.39 Comprehensive schoolhealth approaches, such as those recommended by the Whole School, WholeCommunity, Whole Child (WSCC) model, may offer a pragmatic framework.

This appeared to jeopardize these students’ opportunities to further develop their self-understandings as readers in a constructive way. Therefore, as some of the students reported, they would rather not get actively involved in class so they could hide their reading difficulties. However, students shared in their questionnaires and interviews that they felt it was not really possible to engage in class as someone who is becoming a good reader. Fields and Enyedy (2013) analysis suggests that this made it difficult for the student to enact the identity position that he was offered by his teacher and that he tried to pursue. The prevalent norm among the adolescent’s peers seemed to be that they could not start their relationship with this student from a clean slate, just because they found themselves in a new class.