Using Technology with Strategies to Support Mental Health

Schools. Who would work in them? I have been on quite a rollercoaster of late and only now am able to prepare for any sense of normality-having removed some of the more stressful elements of my professional life. The concept of mental health and wellbeing is not new to schools, but some may still struggle with the idea of this being a constant throughout the school year, rather than something we only talk about during INSET training and then forget about until next year.

But that leads nicely into the topic of today’s post – mental health and wellbeing. But as this is an EdTech site, we’re going to be talking about how we can make use of technology to maintain, improve, reduce (depending on your perspective) mental health and wellbeing. Links are provided were necessary and I really do hope this is a helpful post – feel free to share it on all your social platforms!

There are ways to start your day with technology with a daily check-in. These can be filled out using Google Forms with one or two academic review questions, plus a prompt: “How are you feeling today?” I know a lot of schools (including mine) will have a no phones policy in place, but I have started using this with my registration class – they are Year 8 and new to the school, so I believe it’s important to manage any worries or anxieties before they become any bigger. To that end, I am prepared to temporarily forego the no-phones policy and have an ‘amnesty’ in place for pupils to help them complete this in a non-IT class. The information I can gain to help a pupil in my class far outweighs any ‘knuckle rapping’ I might receive for flouting a school policy. I also ‘remove the amnesty’ when registration ends so that no one can claim to have permission from me.

This check in can help to identify kids who are struggling with their mental health on any particular day. But more importantly, it can help to identify students who are struggling for a longer period of time. For example, we would pay closer attention to a student who normally indicates they are happy every day but suddenly starts marking that they are sad multiple days in a row.

For schools that don’t use Google Workspace for Education, there are other options available. Microsoft have released a tool called Microsoft Reflect that has a built-in daily check-in function and can be embedded into Microsoft Teams. When students needs a moment away from the classroom to regulate themselves, the Reflect website also has meditation, movement and play activities.

BREATHING EXERCISES

I talk about different apps that teach various breathing exercises to my students at the beginning of each academic year to help them in the moments when they are frustrated, anxious or need to regulate themselves before accomplishing a task. Even some of my most reluctant participants will agree to try the exercises when they can do it in the privacy of their own home – and they are typically the ones who will benefit from it the most. Apps like Balance have personally really helped me in the last year and doing something that is self-guided and private can reduce any anxiety compared to the thought of having to do it in front of classmates. I have found this really helpful in the last year and while I don’t always remember to use them, when I do, using them has a real positive impact on my own wellbeing.

One of the most effective exercises that is available is called box breathing. The student will breathe in until the count of four, hold their breath until the count of four, then breathe out as they count to four and then hold their breath again for four counts. To help students visualise this method, I usually put a GIF of box breathing on the board.

There are plenty of websites with GIFs to help visualise different breathing strategies that you can use in your school setting.

MUSIC

Music can have a real calming effect on students and give them something external to focus on as they settle their thoughts. I like to give my students a variety of calming options, and there are lots of great material on YouTube. The choices here should absolutely not to be what you or your students listen to on a daily basis (so no Taylor Swift or Metallica)! The main focus is to bring about an environment of calm. Some of my favorites include:

• Lofi Girl
• 2Cellos
• The Piano Guys
• Alien Cake Music (opens to Spotify)

Relaxing and soothing music is what we are aiming from here. Lofi Girl and Alien Cake Music would be two of my favourites, even when working I may put it on in the background as I have found it has a focusing quality as well. I need to say that it isn’t always the case – as we all know, there will be times when focus on work requires silent focus. It doesn’t work for everyone, but when you try it and be open to the experience, you may find something works for you in a way that you didn’t quite expect.

APPS

The Calm app, which is also available online, offers guided meditation videos as well as soothing stories and music. Another app that I’ve already mentioned, Balance is a really well thought-out and structured app that will help for a variety of purposes.

Another app, which is a favourite of many for reflection and self-care, is called Finch. I’ve used this app for familiarity and research, as it’s more student-focused, than for adults, but some might enjoy it – it’s just not for me. In this app, users get their own cartoon bird and, to care for the bird, they must complete daily tasks and challenges. For teachers of a certain age, this might remind you of the Tamagotchi game that was around in the 90’s (yes I’m that old). The app starts with a number of questions that are designed to help – asking about your general state of mind, areas of your life you would like to improve. These are all to design a personal self-care plan. The app sets these goals as part of how to look after your bird. They connect the virtual space with real life activity, ranging from taking a calming walk to reading. Completed tasks translate to rewards for the bird. This gamified approach to mental health can be very helpful when it comes to helping students create positive habits through building a streak and focusing their attentions on something that is external to their own internal voice, which could be quite negative at times.

KINETIC AND SENSORY ACTIVITIES

Some students need tactile motion to release nervous energy and give them something to do when they are feeling anxious.

One effective strategy is to teach students how to sign the numbers 1-10 in Sign Language. It is a small gesture they can do without drawing attention, but it gives them something to focus on and involves movement to get the anxious thoughts out.

I also highlight the 5-4-3-2-1 grounding strategy. Students are to identify five things they can see, four things they can touch, three things they can hear, two things they can smell and one thing they can taste around them. This process help them to focus on the moment and allows them to then focus on the next step instead of all of the big thoughts and feelings within them.

Every student faces different challenges, and one strategy will not be a best fit for everyone. The goal is to give students a range of approaches to try when life gets difficult, in the hope that they will have found one approach that really works for them.

There are many things that will take impact our mental health and cause stress in schools. Fortunately, there are many tools that can help maintain a balance and contribute to improvements to help. It is not enough for schools to pay lip service to helping students in this way. Unfortunately there is no magic bullet that will solve every issue (and many of us will wish there was) but by trying different approaches, we raise the possibility of finding what works best for us.

The Balance app is one of my favourites, along with other non-tech solutions to working at maintaining mental health and well being like going to the gym and cycling. Sometimes all I will need is 15-20 minutes to play a quick game of PUBG to help me unwind from the day – then I can go and deal with what else is on the list. It’s not always possible though, so having alternative methods to deal with that stress (like box breathing) can be really helpful and important. It takes time to work out what works for us and giving that space to experiment and to test different approaches is crucial to our success.