Mental Health and Well-Being for Educators Certificate

The 12-credit Mental Health and Well-Being for Educators Certificate offers graduate-level coursework in this discipline designed for teachers, school-based personnel, administrators and youth workers.

New students enroll in the summer, and all courses are held in-person.

These innovative and interdisciplinary courses have been co-designed by educators, mental health experts, and youth workers and promote collaborative learning while honoring both lived and professional experiences.

Responding to An Urgent Need

The American Academy of Pediatrics, American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP) and Children’s Hospital Association have declared a national emergency in children’s mental health, citing the serious toll of the COVID-19 pandemic on top of existing challenges. In addition, in the recent Minnesota Principal Survey, principals identified student mental health as their single greatest challenge, citing that student mental health challenges represent a major barrier to student learning at their schools. Principals believed that the student mental health challenges they witnessed at school were primarily caused by student trauma, social media engagement, and the mental health challenges of caregivers.

The School of Education has responded to these challenges by developing the Mental Health and Well-Being for Educators Certificate. Funding is made possible by the generous support of the Minnesota Institute for Trauma-Informed Education (MITIE).