As the new school year begins, teachers at many schools across the country are adding a new component to their routines: a mental health check-in with their students. The idea is to open up conversations around how kids are feeling emotionally, and to connect them to help before issues escalate to a crisis.
“I’ve been really impressed with the proactive position that school systems have taken,” says聽, psychiatrist-in-chief at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, and the president-elect of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.



