|
Are you an ELA Educator or a Mental Health Professional focused on enriching youth's social and emotional needs and dismantling stigma through adolescent literature? We’re delighted to announce that MHLC Advisors Dr. Brooke Eisenbach and Dr. Jason Frydman, are seeking chapter proposals for their second edition of Fostering Mental Health Literacy Through Adolescent Literature, which focuses on advancing the integration of MHL into ELA instruction through novel study. Excerpts from the Chapter Call: Today’s adolescent learners are living with a variety of emotional, behavioral and mental health needs. As adolescents struggle with mental health challenges, they are at a greater risk for difficulty in establishing connections and friendships with peers, putting them at an increased risk for negative social and academic outcomes (Kaltiala-Heino, Rimpela, Rantanen, & Rimpela, 2000; Merikangas et al., 2010). Mental health literacy (MHL), speaks to developing one’s understanding of mental health and mental illness through four essential pillars of knowledge and action: 1) understanding how one can obtain and maintain positive mental health; 2) understanding assorted mental health disorders and their treatments; 3) decreasing the stigma associated with mental disorders; and, 4) enhancing knowledge of help-seeking behaviors and supports (Kutcher et al., 2016). As we search for ways to effectively enrich the social and emotional development of adolescent learners and dismantle stigma surrounding mental illness, we can begin by looking to young adult (YA) literature as a means of encouraging greater MHL among adolescent readers. Research has shown that mental health stigma can be changed with education that challenges harmful mental illness stereotypes (Maumbauer & Kelchner, 2018). Young adult literature is a terrific tool to combat stigma.
To learn about this opportunity, read the full chapter call here. All proposals and questions should be submitted to the editors at FosteringMHLandELA@gmail.com.
|
