Positive Mental Health Environments In Primary Classrooms for LBGTQIA+ Youth
Creating Safe Spaces In Primary Classrooms For LBGTQIA+ Youth Mental Health
By: Mikayla Becker, April 28 2021
Primary classrooms should be safe spaces for LBGTQIA+ youth mental health with the use of different strategies.
Although we have made major progress in civil rights and societal acceptance for the LBGTQIA+ community, the youth of the LBGTQIA+ community are still being ignored.
Children can identify themselves as members of this community as young as 9. For children this young, this process is difficult and takes a toll on their mental health state.
I officially identified as bisexual in June of 2018 but that was not the beginning. I vividly remember having the feeling of butterflies in my stomach when I looked at both boys and girls in third grade.
Society was not accepting of this kind of feeling at that time. In response I packed up the butterflies and stored them away forever. I realize now what kind of toll that took on my mental health and how it could have been prevented.
Even if young children may or may not know if they identify as part of this community, classrooms need to be a safe space for LBGTQIA+ youth's mental health.
To create these safe spaces, we can establish advocacy for the LBGTQIA+ community with teachers and staff, and teach our students how to maintain positive mental health.
To establish advocacy for the this community within primary classrooms, lBGTQIA+ friendly materials can be used in classrooms such as pronoun buttons and posters.
Pronoun buttons are like normal buttons, ones you can pin to clothing, that display that person's preferred pronouns. The use of proper nouns has grown significantly within past years because of the amount of respect it shows. If teachers and staff wore these buttons, it would show major support the use of a person's preferred pronouns.
For young students who are not sure where they fit in the LBGTQIA+ community, this can show them that it is perfectly okay to have your pronouns respected. As a result, a safe space is created and support of having a positive mental health has begun.
Displaying posters in the classroom and hallways of the school can be another method to building advocacy of the LBGTQIA+ community in teachers and staff. These posters can display many things. It can be as simple as having the colors of the pride flags to displaying resources for young LBGTQIA+ students.
When these primary students look around and see support throughout the halls of their school for a community they may be a part of, it will make them feel accepted and loved. This will further the creation of a safe space and development of a positive mental health.
Having pronoun buttons and rainbow posters can only go so far in creating safe spaces. It is up to the educators now to show their own support to their young students. Showing your support can be as simple as talking to your young students about mental health.
Some young children are trying to figure out who they are and where they possibly fit in the LBGTQIA+ community. Initiating simple conversation can spark the foundation of a trustful relationship between a teacher and a students. It is very important for students to know they can depend on at least one adult to talk to openly.
The next step in creating safe spaces for LBGTQIA+ youth mental health, is teaching students about maintaining a positive mental health.
The students in primary schools are young which means they will most likely not be able to process the concept of mental health as an adult would. Luckily, research has been conducted to find successful ways of simplifying the concept of maintaining positive mental health.
Haycock, Jones, and Smith found that turning this concept into games or activity sheets is a way to teach children about positive mental health. In this study, the game of Jenga was used to give students opportunities to pull out green or red blocks. These different colored blocks prompted students to discuss what positive mental health habits are, and how to cope with situations that stress our mental health.
From their research Haycock, Jones, and Smith found positive reactions to these activities. The children were asked the reflect on what they did. The collective response was that having a good friend to trust that they can talk to can be a great strategy to use in order to have a good mental health.
Young children who are having trouble with their identity and sexual orientation are in great need of activities like Haycock, Jones and Smith conducted. The journey of finding who are you are can be a heavy burden on the mental health of young children.
Sometimes, young students want to handle their situation on their own terms. This is acceptable as long as they know what resources are available to them besides trustful teachers and staff.
There is a large variety of resources that teachers and staff can provide. One resource can be having a licensed therapist specialized in LBGTQIA+ readily available for the students. Another resource can be pamphlets that include outside resources for parents who are concerned for their child's mental health or if their child is having trouble figuring out who they are.
There are many people who will say that the topic of LBGTQIA+ or mental health is too 'touchy' or 'controversial'. Although these topics can be heavy for these young children, it is our duty as educators and staff to make a safe and loving space for young children.
In order to create these loving and safe spaces for LBGTQIA+ youth that also support positive mental health, we need to establish advocacy in the teachers and staff through the use of LBGTQIA+ friendly materials, and showing personal support. We also need to teach young children how to maintain a positive mental health by bringing it down to their level of understanding and providing them with the proper resources.
Now what? Now we can go into our local schools and push for safe spaces for our children. These small steps turn into large strides.
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