Innovative Leaders in Partnerships Media Coordinators & Guidance Counselors: Promoting Library

Resources & Student Mental Health with Online Resources

Laura Mangum

School Librarian, North Pitt High School

Kylie P. Dotson-Blake

Counselor Educator, ECU

Kaye B. Dotson

Library Science Educator, ECU

Issues impacting the mental health of our teens and adolescents…

• Bullying (Bond, Carlin, Thomas, Rubin & Patton, 2001)

• Depression and anxiety, nutrition and physical health, peer relationships (Jaycox, et al., 2009)

• Substance abuse (Cuellar, Markowitz & Libby, 2004)

• Teen pregnancy (Harden, et al., 2007)

• Sexual health (Kalmuss, Davidson, Cohall, Laraque, & Cassell, 2003)

• Eating disorders and relational aggression (Crenshaw & Lee, 2010)

Finding a balance can be tough for students!!

Supports

Stressors

Eating Disorders

Mental Health

Peer Pressure

Bullying

School Professionals

Resources

Family

Shifting the Balance

Supports

Stressors

Eating

Disorders

Mental Health

Peer

Pressure

Bullying

School Professionals

Resources

Family

Where do contemporary teens and adolescents get information?

Counselors and Technology…

• Not always the most natural fit – but we are getting better!!

• Creating resources using effective – and COOL – technology tools takes time

• Time for identifying resources that are interesting and appropriate for students

• Time for locating technology tools to share the resources

• Time for preparing the resources in a way that will capture teens’ interest!

Image borrowed from: http://bearvsoctopus.tumblr.com/post/4333406123/much-like-this-computer-girls-is-confusing

School counselors – mental health professionals

School librarians – information and technology wizards!

Interdisciplinary Collaboration

Improved student access to resources and supports

Enhanced student academic outcomes!

Critical for interdisciplinary collaboration

• Open communication

• Flexibility

• Shared vision

• Common goals

• Respect

• Trust

• Ongoing Evaluation

Case Example

Click icon to add picture

Now, we would like to share one example of a successful

collaborative endeavor by an innovative school librarian and school counselors at one high

school.

Purpose of Collaboration

• For the librarian -To branch out with my collaboration to include with colleagues other than teachers.

• Opportunity for students to create and contribute to the greater good (21st C skills & Common Core)

• For the Counselor – Students needed access to mental health/social/emotional/health resources and the counselors were really struggling with trying to find time to identify resources that were available and would appeal to the teens

Product/Outcome

The Building Blocks

Needs assessme

nt

Library Media

Standard Course of

Study

Meeting students “Where

they are”

School counselin

g standard course of

study

Initial Student Needs Assessment

Relationship concerns

66%

Depression 44%

Dropping Out 25%

Anxiety 26%

Survey of Student Mental Health Concerns

186 Responses

School Librarian’s Role

• Initiating the collaboration

• Help with web site set up

• Teaching students Info Skills for creating Annotated Bibs.

• Evaluating library resources and collections for gaps

• Help with promotion of resources

Alignment with professional Library standards

• 1.1 Assesses learning & information needs of students

• 1.4 – Instructs student in the effective use of media center & its resources

• 2.3 – Organizes facilities & resources that supports mission, goals, & objectives of school & maximizes intellectual & physical access to resources

• 2.4 – Encourages widest possible use of resources & services.

• 3.1 – Works with staff of design & implement short & long range plans

• 3.2 – Develops & implements ongoing collection development & evaluation

• 3.3 –Evaluate & select resources that build a collection addressing curricular needs & learning goals.

• 3.8. – Interacts effectively with students, staff…

Alignment with curriculum standards

• Student Library Assistant Curriculum-

• 1.1 The student media assistant will demonstrate proficiency in the EXPLORATION of reading, listening, viewing sources, and formats.

• 1.2 The student media assistant will EVALUATE information in a variety of resources and formats to demonstrate information literacy.

• 1.3 The student media assistant will RELATE and communicate ideas and information to life experiences.

Alignment with common core English standards

Alignment with essential standards

• HS.SI.1.1 Evaluate resources for reliability. (Reliability can be determined by currency, credibility, authority, etc. depending on the curriculum topic).

• HS.SI.1.2 Evaluate resources for point of view, bias, values, or intent of information

• HS.TT.1.1 Use appropriate technology tools and other resources to access information (multi-database search engines, online primary resources, virtual interviews with content experts).

• HS.TT.1.3 Use appropriate technology tools and other resources to design products to share information with others (e.g. multimedia presentations, Web 2.0 tools, graphics, podcasts, and audio files).

School Counselor’s Role

• Collaborate with School Librarian to plan on how to build mental health resources in the media center and mental health resources on-line.

• Collaborate with ECU professor, Dr. Dotson-Blake on how to build mental health resources in the media center and on-line..

• Research mental health online resources to link to website.

• Advertise mental health resources in media center and on-line at website to NPHS during classroom guidance.

• Recommend books and on-line resources to students during individual counseling.

• Plan and implement a table at the book festival advertising mental health books in the spring.

• Created flyers with personal help website and placed around school for students.

Alignment with professional standards

NC Professional School Counseling Standards

• Standard 1: School Counselors Demonstrate Leadership, Advocacy, and Collaboration

• Standard 4: School Counselors Promote Learning for All Students

NC Standard Course of Study: Guidance

• COMPETENCY GOAL 7: The learner will acquire the attitudes, knowledge and interpersonal skills to help understand and respect self and others. (National Standard 7)

• COMPETENCY GOAL 9: The learner will understand safety and survival skills. (National Standard 9)• 9.06 Assess resource people in the school and

community, and know how to seek their help.• 9.07 Apply effective problem-solving and decision-

making skills to make safe and healthy choices.• 9.08 Forecast the emotional and physical dangers

of substance use and abuse.• 9.09 Compare ways to cope with peer pressure.• 9.10 Create techniques for managing stress and

conflict.• 9.11 Select coping skills for managing life events.

Student Responses

• “I enjoyed when the counselors met with my class to tell us about the Student Services Personal Help Website. They showed us how to check out books on topics such as depression and relationships.”• Student

• “I will recommend my friends to check out books if they have problems and go to the website if they don’t feel comfortable talking to the counselor.”• Student

Next Steps

• Expanding topics to meet students passions, interests, personal experiences, and career goals ex. religious discrimination

• Including Primary Documents

• PTSA• Working to market the resources and website to

parents and families of students

Steps to implementation

• Step 1 – Read Chapter

• Step 2 – Meet with guidance counselors and decide on a shared goal

• Step 3 – Conduct a needs assessment through surveys

• Step 4 – Collect data on current circ stats (pre)

• Step 5 – Librarian helps counselors create web site

• Step 6- Students create annotated bibs and upload to web site

• Step 7 – Counselors meets with classes to promote web site and resources. Librarian assists students finding and checking out sources

• Step 8 – Collect data on circ stats (post)

References• American Association of School Librarians. (2007). Standards for the 21st-Century Learner. Chicago, IL:

Author. Retrieved from http://www.ala.org/aasl/standards

• American School Counselor Association. (2005). The ASCA national model: A framework for school counseling programs, Second Edition. Alexandria, VA: Author.

• Bond, L., Carlin, J. B., Thomas, L., Rubin, K., & Patton, G. (2001). Does bullying cause emotional problems: A prospective study of young teenagers. British Medical Journal, 323(1), 480-484. doi:10.1136/bmj.323.7311.480

• Crenshaw, D. A. & Lee, J. (2010). At-risk adolescents: Self-esteem, youth violence and teen pregnancy. In M. H. Guindon Self-Esteem Across the Life-Span: Issues and Interventions (pp. 143-158). New York, NY: Routledge.

• Cuellar, A. E., Markowitz, S., & Libby, A. M. (2004). Mental health and substance abuse treatment and juvenile crime. Journal of Mental Health Policy and Economics, 7(2), 59-68.

• Harden, K.P., Lynch, S.K., Turkheimer, E., Emery, R.E., D'Onofrio, B.M., Slutske, W.S., Heath, A.C., Waldron, M., Madden, P., & Martin, N.G. (2007). A behavior genetic investigation of adolescent motherhood and offspring mental health problems. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 116, 667-683. doi:10.1037/0021-843X.116.4.667

• Jaycox, L. H., Stein, B. D., Paddock, S., Miles, J. N. V., Chandra, A., Meredith, L. S., Tanielian, T., Hickey, S., & Burnam, M. A. (2009). Impact of teen depression on academic, social and physical functioning. PEDIATRICS, 124(4), e596-e605. doi:10.1542/peds.2008-3348

• Kalmuss, D., Davidson, A., Cohall, A., Laraque, D. & Cassell, C. (2003) Preventing sexual risk behaviors and pregnancy among teenagers: linking research and programs. Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health, 35, 87–93. doi:10.1363/3508703

Thank you for attending our presentation!

For more information or to share feedback, please feel free to contact any of us.

Laura Mangum ~ manguml.npitt@pitt.k12.nc.us

Kylie Dotson-Blake ~ blakek@ecu.edu

Kaye Dotson ~ dotsonl@ecu.edu