Behavioral activation is a useful tool to help your students who are experiencing depressive symptoms. Behavioral activation involves helping your student re-engage in pleasurable activities, so they experience positive reinforcement and improvement in mood. When individuals are depressed, it is common for them to withdraw from their environment and change their habits. This removes them from the positive reinforcement of activities that they once enjoyed. By re-engaging in such activities, many experience enjoyment and feelings of competency, and this positive reinforcement increases the likelihood they will continue to engage in such activities. Following principles from cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), over time, the cycle of engagement and positive reinforcement will help improve their mood and reduce symptoms of depression (e.g., feelings of loneliness, fatigue, worthlessness). That is, by changing our behaviors, we can also change our thoughts and feelings. When using this intervention, you will help the student choose specific activities that they enjoy and help them develop a plan to engage in these activities regularly.
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Behavioral Problem-Solving Consultation is a multi-step process that can be facilitated by a school mental health professional to help teachers identify, define and understand student behaviors, select and implement interventions with high quality and consistency, and evaluate outcomes. Although the teacher is the one implementing the intervention, a consultant can offer support, encouragement, guidance, and accountability, all of which can increase the likelihood that interventions and strategies are being implemented and evaluated in a high-quality manner.
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Behavioral Parent Training (BPT) is an intervention that involves working directly with caregivers with the goal of helping them implement strategies to improve their child’s behavior. BPT gives parents strategies for (a) enhancing positivity in their relationship with their children and (b) building a predictable, consistent environment to help their child thrive. BPT can help children’s behavior improve at home, school, and other settings by developing clear behavioral expectations to set their child up for success, reinforcing behaviors that align with those expectations, and providing feedback and guidance for behaviors that do not align with expectations.
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Emotion regulation strategies are tools that students can use to effectively communicate about and manage their emotions even when they feel overwhelmed. Teachers describe the skill of interest, demonstrate the skill for students, give students the opportunity to practice the skills when calm, and give positive and constructive feedback about skill application. Teachers also prompt or encourage students to apply the skills at the first signs of emotion dysregulation.
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Mindfulness is the action of bringing awareness to your thoughts, emotions, body sensations, and actions in the present moment. It involves non-judgmental acceptance of these feelings and experiences. Mindfulness and relaxation skills can be used to help students cope with various emotional and behavioral problems and general life stressors. These tools can help students gain awareness of their mind-body connection by helping them notice feelings and emotions and how they affect their body. When faced with situations that evoke strong emotions, mindfulness strategies can be used to bring awareness to emotions and body sensations. When implementing a mindfulness intervention, it is important to model the intervention, practice it with the student, and then allow the student to practice it in their everyday life. Once they practice it on their own, you can give them feedback and try the same strategy again or try a different relaxation strategy. Mindfulness and relaxation strategies can also be used in combination with many more specific, targeted interventions.
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Organization training is designed to teach students systems and strategies for managing their time, materials, and assignments effectively. When using this intervention, you and student collaboratively design an organization checklist with goals relevant to the student's needs, and this checklist is reviewed regularly (e.g., at least twice per week) over several months until the skills are mastered. When goals are not met, students are asked to address the unmet goal immediately, as this provides the opportunity to practice and further develop the specific organization skill. Reinforcement plans can be used to promote the use of the skills but are not a necessary component of the intervention for many students.
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Problem-solving skills training is an intervention that teaches students to apply decision-making skills to analyze and solve a variety of problems. Many students with emotional and behavioral problems often respond to challenging situations with an impulsive approach. Their responses to problems can be ineffective and sometimes counterproductive because the responses have not been carefully considered. Problem-solving skills can help students effectively navigate a variety of challenges including interpersonal conflict with peers and teachers, academic-related challenges, and intra-personal challenges (e.g., coping with disappointment, frustration, anger). Problem-solving skills training can be conducted in an individual or group setting and involves presenting the 5-step problem-solving process, practicing it in a controlled setting, and then practice in real-life settings. It is important to provide feedback and coaching outside of the group or individual sessions to facilitate skill development. Repeated practice with frequent feedback over an extended period of time is the key to success with this intervention.
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