Teachers Are Sounding the Alarm on Student Mental Health

Authored by: National Teacher Council Members Eli Levine (New York), Susan Providence (Minnesota), and E4E Policy Fellow Dr. Shanita Rapatalo

America’s schools are still grappling with the lasting effects of the COVID-19 pandemic—not only academically, but emotionally. In classrooms across the country, teachers are witnessing a deepening youth mental health crisis that has fundamentally changed the way students learn, socialize, and engage with school.

What Mental Health Struggles Look Like in the Classroom

Susan 
“Every day in my classroom and school, I see clear signs of student mental health struggles. I work at a gifted magnet school, where students qualify through tests or portfolios. As a special education teacher, I mostly help twice-exceptional students who are both gifted and have disabilities. Almost three-fourths of the students I support face social-emotional challenges.

Every day, I see students struggle emotionally. Some cry in class, while others get overwhelmed and stop working, even on simple tasks. A few try to leave the building to escape their feelings. Many choose to be alone because they cannot handle what they feel inside. This is especially hard because these students are bright and capable. They know what is expected and want to do well, but their nervous systems are overloaded.

Mental health struggles are not just ideas; they show up as tears on worksheets, unfinished work, pacing in the halls, visits to the counselor, and quiet students sitting alone, trying to get through the day. For my students, mental health challenges mean needing constant reassurance, frequent breaks, safe spaces, and trusted adults. They are kids carrying invisible burdens while trying to meet high expectations.”

Eli
“Unfortunately, my students’ day-to-day struggles take on many forms, and very few of my students are handling those struggles in healthy ways. The most serious of these are students who have expressed suicidal thoughts. That number has increased in the last five years.

In addition, the number of students who ask to go to the nurse for extremely minor issues has soared in recent years. Navigating these struggles makes teaching seem like navigating a minefield and makes teaching subject matter extremely difficult.”

How Student Mental Health Has Changed Since the Pandemic

National data reflects what educators are seeing firsthand. According to the CDC’s 2024 Youth Risk Behavior Survey, 40% of high school students reported persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness, while increasing numbers of students reported bullying, safety concerns, and missing school because they did not feel safe. Even as some indicators have modestly improved since the height of the pandemic, experts and educators agree that schools remain at the center of an ongoing mental health emergency. 

Eli
“My experience matches the findings in the Teacher Survey. I believe that, in general, students’ mental health has deteriorated since the pandemic. I also believe this is largely due to students not feeling as safe at home and at school, as the pandemic showed these places were dangerous for them and the people they cared about. The many school shootings they have heard about have done a lot of damage as well.

The rules about fire drills and shelter drills have changed in NYC public schools because these drills have become so frightening for many of our students that we are now required to give students advance notice. It is well established that students cannot learn or function well in a place where they don’t feel safe. We have to do a much better job of making them feel safe when at school.”

How the Crisis Is Affecting Teachers

Eli
“This question is difficult for me to answer because it forces me to acknowledge that the mental health crisis in our schools has made teaching much more difficult and much less fulfilling for me.

The crisis has made me question my efficacy as a teacher, made me feel more jaded, and, at times, stretched my patience to its limits. The biggest challenge for me as a teacher is that I leave school every day emotionally and physically drained, which wasn’t true a few years ago.

This shift in my perception of teaching has led me to spend much less time teaching physical education and more time ‘putting out fires.’ I have had to condense what were once 40-minute lessons into 10-minute lessons to help students cope with emotional distress.

I have had to spend a lot more time teaching coping mechanisms, which I very much enjoy and think we need to spend far more time on.”

What Supports Are Making a Difference

Susan 
“As a Saint Paul teacher, I have access to dedicated wellness rooms equipped with yoga mats and massage chairs. These spaces are vital because we are often so focused on the child we couldn’t reach earlier that we forget to breathe. I also believe it’s important to grant ourselves ‘grace.’ We aren’t always going to get it right, but we must realize we are doing the best we can; taking care of ourselves is what allows us to move forward as educators.

The district now offers formal frameworks, such as ‘Pause – Reset – Nourish’, to help us recalibrate. I remember the six-week mindfulness class I took; it was part of the Present Teacher Restoration Project, which used outside consultants to teach us yoga and affirmations.

Even now, the Office of School Support continues this through Collective Care and Wellness Sessions that help us build bonds with our peers.

For deeper support, the district provides an Employee Assistance Program through ComPsych GuidanceResources. It is more than just a hotline; it offers five free counseling sessions a year and was a critical resource during community crises like the ICE raids. It provides a confidential space for teachers—especially those from different cultural backgrounds—to talk to someone who understands the unique trauma of our community.”

Susan
“Currently, our district provides classes for teachers, such as Yoga and Circles, where we can learn breathing techniques. Several schools have even gone further by creating relaxing rooms within their buildings. Here, teachers can go on their breaks to get a massage or simply find a space away from students to be still.

During the ICE ordeal, the district provided counseling, allowing teachers to meet and discuss their feelings and the challenges they were encountering.”

Eli
“The structures in my school that have made the biggest positive difference for students are a little blurry. However, I do think there is a willingness to give students much more time and space to express themselves and their physical and psychological needs.

It is a lot more common for students to ask to speak to a guidance counselor or a teacher when they feel anger, grief, anxiety, etc., than it used to be. This speaks to our doing a better job of helping students to identify and express emotions.

Teachers are starting the day with mood meters and circles, and students are given the opportunity to express themselves. This helps teachers as well, as we can then support students more empathetically and help them before they become overwhelmed by their emotional needs.

However, I believe some of the structures we have in place do not work well for students or teachers. Support structures that codify behaviors and responses tie teachers’ hands and do not serve students when they exhibit signs of emotional difficulty.

We must also maintain the structures we do put in place for students’ mental health. My school began a yoga and mindfulness program that both teachers and students loved. Teachers found that students were practicing tools that they learned during tests and in stressful situations.”

Bottom Line

The stories shared by Susan and Eli make one thing clear: America’s student mental health crisis is not abstract. It is unfolding in classrooms every single day.

E4E’s work on student and educator mental health has centered teacher voices in policy conversations and produced actionable recommendations rooted in classroom realities. Through initiatives such as the Mental Health Teacher Action Team in Chicago, E4E has worked with educators to develop policy solutions to expand school-based mental health supports, improve educator wellness, and create sustainable systems of care for school communities. 

The message from teachers is urgent but hopeful: when schools invest in mental health supports, students and educators both benefit. Schools cannot solve this crisis alone, but they also cannot afford to ignore it.