Mental Health Screening in Schools

Providing mental health screenings in schools is one of the best ways to catch mental health problems when and where they are likeliest to arise. Fifty percent of individuals who struggle with a mental health condition will show symptoms during their adolescent years. Childhood brain development research indicates that puberty is especially an important time for monitoring the onset of mental illnesses including depression, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia. This period is when individuals are most vulnerable to poor outcomes—but also where intervention has the best chance for building resiliency and change.

Mental health screenings can be implemented in schools through sharing resources with students on school posters or handouts at the nurse’s office, by providing screenings and education in health or physical education class, or as part of a ubiquitous mental health screening and education protocol. MHA Screening is designed to support schools across various levels of investment. MHA Screening is a free program available to any school district to share. On this page, we have provided guidance about how schools can implement and access additional resources, including using school-specific data to implement increased supports and interventions based on your students’ needs.

In this article:

• Mental Health Screening in Schools
  • What is MHA Screening
  • What happens after screening?
  • The science and validation of MHA Screening
• Implementing MHA Screening in Schools
  • Gathering Insights from your MHA Screening Data
• Teaching Mental Health in Schools
  • Curriculum Guidelines for Each Age Group
  • Resources for School Staff

Mental Health Screening in Schools

What is MHA Screening?

The same way you go to providers to check on your physical health, checking up on your mental health is essential in ensuring you stay mentally healthy. One of the quickest and easiest ways to determine whether you are experiencing symptoms of a mental health condition is to take an anonymous screen.

MHA Screening is a collection of online, free, confidential, anonymous, and scientifically validated screening tools. We have screens for depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, eating disorders, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), postpartum depression, alcohol and substance use, and early psychosis. We also have more comprehensive screens for youth and parents.

A screening is not a diagnosis, but a way of catching mental health conditions early. Screening can help students understand if their symptoms are having enough of an impact that they should start a conversation with their doctor or a loved one about their mental health.

What happens after screening?

After taking a mental health screen, students are given their results, are able to print or email their results, and are provided with tailored resources based on their results in the following four domains: information and psychoeducation (“Learn”); information about treatment options and referrals to care (“Treatment”); do-it-yourself tools (“DIY”); and online engagement with peers (“Connect”).

MHA’s resources are written with young learners in mind. We curate the content based on what students have told us are their most pressing needs. Our resources are also designed to support someone who feels unsure about what next steps to approach as well as support for those students ready to take action through talking to their parents or exploring treatment options.

• Learn: This work is developed by analyzing gaps in knowledge among users. We use our screening demographic data and analysis of natural language data from user responses to identify which topics to prioritize. We have also experimented with engagement methods for presenting this information to users who are searching for information both online and post-screening. Our efforts have resulted in doubling our reach annually.
• Treatment: People have questions about treatment, but finding the right tone and gap in knowledge can be a challenge. Our work is in its earliest stages in trying to understand what kinds of treatment information most users are interested in finding and how best to present this information.
• Do-It-Yourself (DIY): Just like one would read self-help books at a bookstore, people are looking for tools and tricks to apply at home, before they engage in treatment. This area of development is one of the most interesting but least understood spaces. MHA is actively working to develop and research tools that can increase motivation and engagement towards self-care, building skills and abilities, and transitions to traditional mental health care.
• Connect: People who are struggling might want to find ways to connect with people or peers who are struggling with similar issues. In this space we’re trying to find resources and supports that can help people connect.

The science and validation of MHA Screening tools

MHA Screening tools are based on the most commonly used screening tools that are found in primary care. If a student prints or emails their results and wants to share that with a trusted adult, including a mental health provider, most providers should recognize the questions and answers to these questions.

Click here to see the studies and disclosures associated with each tool.

Implementing MHA Screening in Schools

You can promote screening to your students for free using the following methods:

• Cards that are passed out at the nurse’s office or by teachers
• Posters in the hallways
• Sharing the link in an email
• Linking the resource on your school’s website

In general, the best link to use for this is: mhascreening.org

Gathering Insights from your MHA Screening Data

For schools interested in collecting and learning from data through MHA Screening, MHA is exploring the opportunity to provide aggregated, de-identified results or detailed results and rostering options for schools. If your school campus or school district is interested in receiving this kind of service, please use this online inquiry form. This information will allow us to plan for expansion of the program and we will follow up with you if and when we kick off this service for schools. Thank you!

Teaching Mental Health in Schools

Another important way to help children think about their mental health at a young age is to include mental health in school curriculum. Mental Health America has created many materials over the years that can be helpful in teaching children about mental health. We’ve gathered some of our favorite handouts and worksheets into one place to help you develop a curriculum for your classroom. These materials are free for anyone to use!

The ZIP files below contain all the materials for grades K-12. Guidelines on which materials to use for different age groups can be found further down the page.

Download “Body & Brain”

Download “Managing Emotions”

Download “Stress & Loneliness”

Download “Trauma”

Download “Understanding Mental Illness”

Download “Addiction and Substance Use”

Download “How to Help a Friend”

Download “Living a Mentally Healthy Life”

Curriculum Guidelines for Each Age Group

Click the buttons below to expand or contract the list of materials for each age group.

Resources for School Staff

Download Resources

1. Is Your Child Lonely (Handout)
2. Is Your Child Stressed Out
3. Preventing Suicide (Handout)
4. Recognizing Anxiety (Handout)
5. Recognizing Depression (Handout)
6. Recognizing Psychosis (Handout)
7. Understanding Trauma (Handout)
8. Tips for Teachers: Ways to Help Kids and Teens Who Struggle