School districts across the nation are facing an uphill battle when it comes to providing adequate mental health and safety support to their students. The Great Resignation has left safety teams short staffed and overwhelmed—a dangerous combination as school violence is on the right and student mental health is on the decline. 19% of public schools have vacancies for mental health professionals and 84% of those report that it will be difficult to fill them. These staff shortages can have damaging effect on student well-being and achievement as learning suffers when students fear for their safety, worry about bullying, or lack mental health support.
To help safety and student support staff provide the best protection to students regardless of staffing limitations districts can leverage technology to focus limited resources effectively. This guide provides the following seven strategies in which technology can help safety and mental health teams improve student safety.
- Use online data to identify imminent threats.
- Leverage trained safety specialists for around-the-clock monitoring.
- Automatically notify on-campus administrators, counselors, or safety resources of threats.
- Include crisis centers and/or local law officials in imminent threat notifications.
- Focus resources with threat categories and levels, and schedule settings.
- Augment threat intelligence with context from other web searches.
- Integrate technologies for a more comprehensive, connected view.
By implementing these strategies, district counselors and safety leaders can prioritize mental health resources, drive earlier, more effective intervention and support, and create a more responsive school environment. Download the guide today.