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ERIKA'S LIGHTHOUSE IN-DEPTH TRAINING PROGRAM
Addressing Adolescent Depression by Using the Red Flags Program in Your School
We provide the in-service training needed to implement Red Flags in your school free of charge.* In a five-hour workshop we will work with a team from your middle school to implement this simple but powerful program. You will learn the history of Erika's Lighthouse and Red Flags, general information on adolescent depression, the nuts and bolts of implementing this program, how to educate and include staff and parents, and how to help students at risk. Time will be allotted for viewing the video material, identifying any roadblocks and the steps your building needs to take to put the program into action.
(*We are happy to provide you with this training if physically possible for the staff of Erika's Lighthouse)
Please contact us at info@erikaslightouse.org to register for the next In-Depth teacher Training
Feed Back from our Schools
1. What was your experience like teaching the material?
Teaching the curriculum had very positive results in the school. There was good information on depression for the students and the teachers and we gained a common language for mental health issues. The material helps kids relate to "real world" situations and prepared them to ask for help for themselves or a friend. The program seemed to impress upon the students how to treat each other well. The teachers felt it was important to use two people in the classroom when teaching the program.
2. Were there any surprises from the students or staff?
One of the biggest surprises felt by the Washburne teachers was the outpouring of community support for this type of education. This program created better connections with parents. Using the advisors for follow-up discussions was very helpful as the students wanted to continue discussing what they had learned in class and the advisors allowed that discussion to happen. Co-teaching with a mental health person was very positive.
3. Were there areas of the curriculum found to be hard or challenging to explain? Were there areas of the curriculum that the students struggled with to understand?
The challenges were not with the material but with the nuts and bolts of implementing the program. One concern is the timing of when to teach this material. It is important to have this taught by someone who has a good relationship with the students and could keep the focus on the message that maintaining positive mental health is important. If taught at the start of the school year the teachers did not have a chance to understand the "culture of the group." Washburne felt it was helpful to have some understanding of how this material might be received based on the issues of a particular group at any particular year. For schools where this was the first time students had been in a "mental health" class, a discussion on "feelings" at first was very different and a little uncomfortable. Another challenge which must be explored is what to do with the "red flag kids" that were either identified before the sessions began or it became clear through the class discussions that there were students who had some symptoms. The challenge of how to best respond to these kids which will differ at each school.
4. What issues, topic, thoughts, or areas, do you need to know more about to be more effective in teaching this material?
Full support by the school administration is crucial to having a program like Red Flags flourish in the building and allowing it to become part of the school culture. A regular refresher course for teachers was thought to be needed and helpful, perhaps in the form of a lunch meeting or a one hour seminar to keep staff informed and involved. Finding ways to work with parents and creatively educate them is a challenge facing many of the schools. Stigma around mental health in students is relatively low and relatively high for adults, contributing to one of the reasons it is so hard to get parents to come to a program on this material. Getting this type of information to parents at an early grade level is important in order to prepare them for some of the challenges the students deal with.
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