Life today takes a toll on our emotional, psychological, and physical well-being. People do not have the mental framework to adequately meet the overwhelming demands of modern life. This inadequacy leaves most people with growing levels of anxiety and depression; a disconnection to their experiences of joy, love, happiness, and inner peace; and as a lack of a sense of purpose in life with related personal and professional meaning.
How can we help children prepare for this daily negative bombardment? Social and emotional learning (SEL) frameworks and best practices hold the key to teaching self-awareness and producing the resilience factor in youth.
Related content: 10 signs you’re doing SEL right
From children being bullied in schools because of ethnic or social status, to increased heroin abuse because of post-traumatic stress syndrome, to increased levels of adolescent depression and suicide due to increased stressors, to increased incidences of sexual assault and cutting on college campuses, to record levels of being overweight and obesity, just to name a few, we can agree that we need to do more to prevent mental illness in youth and to help them develop resilience.
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