A Look at the Current State of Teen Mental Health

A recent study conducted by Navigate360 reveals the growing challenges students face regarding both mental health and physical safety. Students across diverse demographics are expressing heightened concerns about their well-being, which can hinder relationship development and negatively impact the learning process.

Notably, a substantial portion of students report feeling psychologically unsafe at school, facing intimidation, and lacking a sense of security during their commute. This overarching narrative highlights a pressing need for schools to prioritize and enhance support systems to address the collective struggle with student mental health and instill confidence in their physical safety. It is evident that more comprehensive measures and proactive initiatives are needed within our educational institutions to better support students in navigating these challenges and the growing youth mental health crisis.

How Students Report Feeling

In December 2023, Navigate360 and John Zogby Strategies conducted a nationwide survey of high school students aged 16-17 and found that the vast majority—41% of those polled—reported thinking more about their own physical and emotional safety and wellness than they had six months prior. Additionally, few have the highest confidence in their schools’ efforts to create an atmosphere of physical (17.2%) and emotional (12.5%) safety.

The survey also uncovered many other issues concerning teens today, including:

• 40% reported thinking more about their psychological safety more now than they did 6 months ago
• 50% do not feel confident in the emergency response training they’ve received at school
• Nearly 50% reported missing a day of school because of safety concerns
• Almost 40% believe that their school does not handle bullying and harassment effectively
• More than half (52.8%) of students do not think that asking for help would do any good

Solutions to Meet Teens’ Mental & Emotional Health Needs

The sooner schools can prevent students in crisis from harming themselves and others—and the earlier schools can detect concerning behaviors, address them and properly intervene —the better positioned they will be to prevent escalation of troubling behaviors into violence. Students whose mental health needs go unmanaged, whether by the stigmas associated with seeking help or a lack of resources (as well as a lack of awareness about available resources), are more likely to commit acts of self-harm or violence.

Of course, taking the time to acquire additional tools, learning how to use them, training staff on new procedures, and getting teachers to integrate evidence-based social-emotional learning and intervention into their existing curricula seems like a daunting task. This may be especially true for schools facing the challenges of limited time and staff. But with Navigate360’s layered, holistic solutions, any school can work toward creating a holistic culture of safety easily and seamlessly.

All-Encompassing Mental Health & Well-Being in Your District

At Navigate360, we believe in a layered, holistic approach to school safety and have identified solutions that every school and district must consider to effectively prevent harm to self and others. The following complement one another and integrate seamlessly into your existing safety procedures:

Social-Emotional Learning

The need for mental health intervention and management is perhaps greater than ever before. Navigate360 offers proactive and ongoing social-emotional learning (SEL) aimed at improving and developing students’ mental wellbeing, as well as their behavior management skills. Our Compass Curriculum for Students curriculum consists of three tiers:

1. High-quality SEL and mental health awareness curricula
2. Small groups, individualized lessons and progress monitoring capabilities
3. Individualized SEL, mental health and intervention lessons

This dynamic digital curriculum is designed to suit the preferences of Gen Z and Alpha students while being suited for all development levels. It’s rooted in at least one of the five Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) competencies.

Expert Threat Assessment Training for School Staff

Identifying signs of concerning behavior isn’t always easy to do. Choosing the best course of action after identifying a potential threat can also be quite complicated. That’s why Navigate360 offers specialized behavioral threat assessment and suicide prevention training that includes opportunities for hands-on practice. We offer in-person and virtual training courses that follow the Comprehensive School Threat Assessment Guidelines (CSTAG) and National Threat Assessment Center (NTAC) models. This training can help position staff members to offer much-needed support to students exhibiting concerning behavior.

Comprehensive Behavioral Threat & Suicide Case Management

A threat assessment program is one of the best ways to reduce the risk of violence at a school, but managing these cases as a team can be tricky without intuitive software. Navigate360 Behavioral Case Manager allows teams to gather, store, and access information with a customizable, user-friendly interface to keep their members in the know at all times. This technology makes it simple to follow processes and focus on students.

Anonymous Tip Reporting

Staff alone can’t pick up on everything that happens on school grounds, and students who may have important information about their classmates are often hesitant to report any concerning behaviors. Navigate360 Anonymous Reporting System provides 24/7 accessibility and:

• Creates a line of two-way dialogue with the tipster
• Provides school administrators and law enforcement with an intuitive interface to manage and share tips in real time
• Allows for coordination between multidisciplinary threat assessment teams
• Integrates directly with Navigate360’s Behavioral Case Manager software to quickly process and document tips

Detect Digital Warning Signs

What do nearly all cases of self-harm or violence to others have in common? It’s leakage—the communication to a third party of an intent to harm. This can include the ideation, planning or preparation to commit such an act, and it’s not always spoken in the hallways or physically written on a note. Navigate360 Digital Threat Detection digital scanning technology uses artificial intelligence to sift through billions of digital conversations across social media and district-owned email domains to help schools get ahead of potential problems before they escalate. This routinely audited AI engine adheres to HIPAA, FERPA and social media platform agreements while protecting users’ privacy.

School Safety & Well-Being Solutions that Work Better Together

Whether you need one or need them all, Navigate360 can meet you where you are. Our integrated and complementary school safety suite makes it easy to design, manage and support solutions customized to meet your specific needs and budget. Learn more about how our solutions work together to foster a safe and positive school culture here.