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EDUC 897: Anxiety & Depression in Schools – Recognizing & Responding to Indicators

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Educators in school settings may encounter students who have emotional and behavioral difficulties that disrupt their learning and functioning in the classroom and other aspects of school life. Given this possibility, it may be useful for educators to possess mental health information and school-based tools to promote emotional wellness in all students and to advocate for comprehensive schoolwide efforts that involve school, family, and community stakeholders. This course would be an attractive elective for all educators who are interested in learning more about fostering students’ social, emotional, and academic development, and understanding, from a developmental perspective, the nature of students’ emotional and behavioral dysregulation and factors that influence them. Whether you’re a current student in the Education Department preparing to become a classroom teacher, school administrator, M.Ed. student in educational studies, or if you’re currently working in a school or educational setting as a paraprofessional, resource office, school nurse, teacher, principal, superintendent, or other school-based professionals, enrolling in this course will offer you an opportunity to apply your knowledge of self-regulation and anxiety and depressive disorders to promote emotional wellness in young students. Students will also analyze tools in educational environments to learn ways to promote self-regulation and learning in young students, examine how schools engage parents/guardians/caretakers around student mental health issues, recognize and respond to depression and suicide in high school students, and analyze schoolwide programming and advocacy efforts that promote student emotional health and wellness. This is a fully online course condensed into 8 weeks.

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EDUC 897: Navigating Difficult Dialogue

If you decide to take the course described above, you may want to consider this course as well. Educators who broach sensitive topics, like the ones mentioned above, might find themselves in conversations that are difficult to navigate. But no matter what field you are in, effective communication is essential. Being able to actively listen and communicate effectively with others when confronted with situations that require sensitivity contributes to a conducive learning and working environment. This course emphasizes the practice of basic counseling skills and deeper listening skills to facilitate effective dialogue and outcomes in a variety of settings. Teachers and administrators in schools, managers in the workplace, business leaders in organizations, leaders in communities, and other educators in various fields will find this course useful in their professional work with individuals and groups. Students will have an opportunity to identify and analyze their own interpersonal communication style as well as practice some basic helping and counseling skills to assess their ability to deliver effective responses and facilitate effective communication. A deeper understanding of these topics would not be complete without an evaluation of how cultural factors influence intercultural communication. Enrolling in this course will put you in a learning environment that allows you to apply the main concepts of the course to your own professional setting or field and appreciate the relevance of how this information applies to other areas of our lives. This is a fully online course condensed into 8 weeks.

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