Summer’s End to School’s Start: Your Mental Wellness Guide
In the greater Richmond area, families know that the month of August signals a transition into the new school year. During this time, families might experience substantial shifts in their schedules, work loads, routines, and emotions. Both students and their guardians may feel overwhelmed with these changes, noticing a mix of excitement, anticipation, anxiety, or impending seasonal depression as they are required to shift from likely more relaxed summer days to the day-to-day responsibilities of the school year. We hope this mental wellness guide can help support students and families as they make the yearly shift with intentionality, confidence, and care. Whether you’re a parent supporting your child through this shift or a student preparing for a new chapter, these tailored tips and strategies will empower you to manage stress, foster resilience, and prioritize emotional health as you step into the school year ahead. Let’s explore ways to ease your navigation of this experience for everyone involved.
For Parents — Supporting Your Child’s Mental Wellness
Recognize Emotional Changes
Understand that your child may feel anxious, stressed, or excited. Validating their feelings and checking in with them regularly about how their feelings might be shifting helps them feel supported. Changing emotions may also cause changes in behavior. Knowing that a meltdown comes from a place of anxiety or overwhelm about changes in schedule can help know how to address your child’s behavior with empathy.
Establish Healthy Routines
Reinforce consistent sleep schedules, balanced meals, and regular physical activity. Regularly practicing these routines can help promote emotional stability. Making an after school adventure to Hugeunot Park, Midlothian Village Park, or Belle Isle to move your bodies together as a family can help give children something to look forward to at the end of their school day, allow them to get out some extra physical energy as they adapt to the new routines of sitting more during the school day, and makes for a great time for connection between family members.
Open Communication
Create a safe space for your child to express worries or challenges. Listen actively without judgment, validate their feelings, and use age-appropriate amounts of guidance on helping them solve any problems that may arise. If verbal communication is challenging, especially during teenage years, using a journal where the child writes their concerns down to be responded to by the parent can be a good way to connect with the child and meet them where they are in terms of their openness to sharing.
Encourage Social Connections
Support opportunities for your child to connect with peers, fostering a sense of belonging and emotional support. Participation in after school activities, playing with other children in the neighborhood after school, or scheduling play dates or hangouts to build connections with friends from school on the weekends can all be ways to help children develop social skills and feelings of connectedness.
Monitor Screen Time and Stressors
Help balance technology use with offline activities and watch for signs of overwhelm or burnout. School can often be stressful, and students’ attention is demanded in long stretches of time where they are required to sit still. Thinking of ways to get your student moving and offline can be ways to both help reduce burnout and to help mitigate stressors of the school day. Getting outside, exercising, socializing, helping with dinner preparations, or a family game night are all ways to engage students in recharging from school and screen time stress.
Know When to Seek Help
Be aware of warning signs of mental health issues and consider professional support if needed. If your student is experiencing high levels of anxiety, avoiding school, social situations, or schoolwork, if your student is withdrawing or exhibiting signs of depression, or if your child’s behavior regresses, these are all cues that professional support may be beneficial.
For Students — Taking Care of Your Mental Health
Set Realistic Goals
Break down academic and personal goals into manageable steps to reduce overwhelm. Making lists for each class or personal topic and keeping track of assignments in a calendar to spread tasks out across the week can help you to stay on track.
Practice Mindfulness and Relaxation
Engage in mindfulness exercises, deep breathing, or hobbies that bring joy and calm. Take small moments throughout the day to check in with yourself. Notice if there are any muscles you can unclench, do a body scan to notice where you are holding any tension, and check in with your breathing to make sure you aren’t subconsciously holding your breath.
Maintain Social Connections
Stay connected with friends and don’t hesitate to reach out when you’re feeling down or stressed. Social connection and support is crucial to helping mitigate stress, burnout, and to help you recharge.
Prioritize Sleep and Nutrition
A balanced diet and adequate rest are crucial for concentration and mood. Even when you’re busy, ensuring you eat healthy, sustaining meals, and getting enough sleep provide a baseline for self-care that has ripple effects on your life.
Ask for Help When Needed
It’s okay to ask teachers, counselors, or family members for support. Everyone needs help from time to time. Knowing your warning signs and being able to ask for help when you need it can help you manage stress and your mental health.
Balance Work and Play
Make time for activities that recharge you, whether sports, arts, or other interests. Balance is key. Richmond has a lot to offer when it comes to sports and activities for youth and adults.
Create a Wind-Down Routine for Yourself
At the end of each day, create a ritual that helps you disconnect. This might be when you get home from school, or at night before bed if you’re finishing up an assignment. Take time during these transition periods to create rituals that signal to your brain that it’s time to rest, recharge, and shift gears from work to home life, self-care, and sleep. This might be eating a healthy snack when you get home from school, taking 5 minutes for a mindfulness meditation, writing in a journal, gently stretching, or using aromatherapy. All of these can signal to your brain that it’s time to switch to rest mode.
FAQ
How many mental health days can you take from school?
This varies depending on what state you reside in. In the state of Virginia, mental health is an excusable absence with parental permission. Check with your district or school for a specific number of allowable days and how to submit an excused absence note documented from a guardian.
How do phones affect mental health in school?
Phones can affect student concentration and engagement in school. Phones can also decrease real-time interactions with peers, teachers, and mentors that are beneficial for social wellness.
How many high school students struggle with mental health?
In 2023, the CDC noted that 40% of U.S. high school students experienced “persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness”. That is to say, you are not alone if you are struggling with mental health concerns. Please reach out to a professional and your support system to get the help you need.
Why is summer break good for students’ mental health?
Summer break, and breaks in general, are good for students’ mental health because they allow for time to rest, recharge, and disconnect from the responsibilities of being a student. They also allow students additional time to engage in hobbies, social activities, and other things that bring them joy so they can feel ready to reengage in school when they return.
How can schools help with mental health?
Schools can help with mental health by providing mental health days, training teachers and staff on how to recognize signs and symptoms of students needing mental health support, keeping workloads balanced across classes, and having school counselors available to meet with students who might not have access to services outside of school.
Is school bad for mental health?
School can be bad for mental health if a student has an unreasonable workload across their classes, if they are having isolating social experiences, or if they feel unsupported in their mental, physical, emotional, academic, or social domains. Teachers and staff can be on the lookout for signs students are having these experiences and students can be open to asking for help from trusted adults when they need it.