by Ketrin Maxwell, PhD, LPC

I am Ketrin Maxwell and I am running along with Lucy Li and Deanna Nye for the Bridgewater-Raritan School Board. I have my PhD in Counseling Psychology and have worked as a primary and secondary school teacher, college professor, private practice clinician, and served on the NJ State Licensing Board of Marriage and Family Therapy and Professional Counseling for 14 years. My decades-long experience as an educator and mental health professional working with children, adolescents, adults and families has shown me that schools have a responsibility to attend not only to the academic success of students, but also to promote student social, emotional and behavioral well-being. Positive social and mental health promote success in life. Schools are a natural setting to promote the social, emotional and behavioral well-being of students. Therefore, we need to prioritize five critical and inter-related components of mental health, sometimes called the “5 C’s” of mental health, in schools: Competence, Confidence, Connection, Character, and Caring. These five elements enable students to feel capable and effective in various aspects of life, such as academic and social, and focus on how students relate to others, how they feel and how they act, all which promote overall well-being.

The pandemic lock-down exacerbated the mental health crisis for children and youth. Returning to the status quo will not effectively address the full impact of this lockdown on our children who were deprived of both social and cognitive stimulation beyond their homes during a time when their brain architecture was rapidly developing and highly sensitive to environmental adversity. As a candidate for the Bridgewater-Raritan school board, I seek to foster excellence, not only in academics, but to also prioritize social skills, interpersonal connections, and well- being, especially in the aftermath of the detrimental and lasting effects of the pandemic lockdown.

I suggest that this time is a unique opportunity to re-think the role of schools in creating nurturing environments for students and educators to address the mental health needs and overall well-being of all students. I invite you to focus on primary prevention which emphasizes support and wellness for all students (Tier 1 approach), while not neglecting appropriate targeted (Tier 2) or intensive (Tier 3) support, as needed, which are tailored to student needs.

One system-wide, primary prevention approach for all students which I would like to see implemented is a virtue focus throughout the school district. Why? Because virtues and mental health are closely linked. Virtues are powers that exist in the present moment and make you stronger when you practice them. Focusing on virtues allows all students to get psychologically stronger. Virtues are also universal. Parents of students of all cultures and faith traditions can agree upon virtues such as honesty, gratitude, perseverance, courage, justice, kindness, and temperance, which are distinct from specific or contested values that not all parents agree upon. Virtue-based concepts can be infused into all formal instruction and extra-curricular and school activities. This will not only create a positive school climate, but it can also promote student well-being and healthy behaviors and prevent mental health problems before they occur. Cultivating virtues can act as a buffer against mental illness, substance abuse, and suicidality. It can promote positive emotions linked to greater life satisfaction, build resilience to cope with school and life challenges, lead to better social interactions and empathetic reciprocity, and cultivate community, and positive connections and relationships. Ultimately the payoff for building a stronger mental health foundation will result in enhanced academic performance. This will not only improve our schools but will have a life-long benefit for every one of our students. So, in conjunction and in alignment with an academic focus, let us work towards intentionally cultivating the social and emotional growth of students, help them develop into responsible, compassionate and ethical individuals, while simultaneously improving overall well-being and mental health.

This virtue-based initiative, which is just starting to be adopted by school districts throughout the nation, is a frontier showing promising results—one I would like to envision for many school districts, including ours. Positive mental health environment is a vision shared by my running mates, Dr. Lucy Li and Deanna Nye. Please vote for all three of us on Column D for Bridgewater-Raritan School Board of Education and make this positive vision a reality for our school community. Thank you for your consideration.

Ketrin Maxwell, PhD, LPC