PQ Educator

If you're an educator or you read the news, you know that for teachers, as well as for our youth, times are tough.  A recent USA Today article states "Overworked, underpaid?  The toll of burnout is contributing to teacher shortages nationwide".  Another states that "The Sunday Scaries are at an all-time high".  Their students, aren't faring any better.  From NPR : " Rates of depression, anxiety, self-harm and suicide have risen in recent years.  NY Times  reporter Matt Richtel says we lack the therapists and treatment centers to care for teens who are suffering."  When therapists are lacking, many students look to their teachers for support.  As a teacher, I experienced this countless times, and I made serveral reports to social services over the years.  But for all the publicity that both issues are generating, there seems to be little or no discussion of the relationship between the two. While the debate continues about whether teachi...

 It's taken me a week to feel ready to write this post.  In the previous weeks, our nation's out of control violence was hitting a little too close to home.  On Saturday, November 19, a University of New Mexico Student was killed outside the dorms where my two children reside.  The following day, news broke of the Club Q shooting  in Colorado Springs, near my childrens' birthplace in Southern Colorado.  Sickeningly, the Walmart shooting in Chesapeake, VA took place the following day.  According to Gun Violence Archive , there were 10 mass shootings in the US that week.  Aside from continuing calls for common-sense gun legislation, as educators, we often wonder what we can do to prevent this kind of tragedy.   It's well documented that schools lack the resources to adequately address youth mental health in school.  First, students are struggling more than ever.  In fact, the Surgeon General has declared a youth mental health ...