Offering Tools to Promote Mental Health
Mental health is a critical issue for our CPS community, especially in the wake of the pandemic. We recognize that COVID-19 has created and exacerbated mental health challenges for our students, staff, and families, and we are addressing that reality head on.
To begin, CPS is growing the number of counselors and social workers in our schools and implementing a universal Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) curriculum that is rooted in trauma-informed practices and a restorative approach to student discipline. We are also investing in mentorship and mental health supports from highly qualified providers, and have now adopted a Comprehensive Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Policy. CPS is also moving closer to our goal of establishing Behavioral Health Teams (BHTs) in every school, and has partnered with the Born This Way Foundation and Find Your Anchor on Please Stay — a mental health initiative created to address increased rates of depression, suicide, and anxiety disorders among young people.
In addition to these resources, we want to share some free apps that may be helpful to our students and families in promoting good mental health. CPS is partnering with an organization called Big Health to provide two personalized digital programs that use cognitive and behavioral techniques to address poor sleep, worry, and anxiety.
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Sleepio is a sleep improvement program that teaches you to establish healthy sleep patterns to get a better night’s sleep and wake up energized.
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Daylight is an app that helps you gain control over your worry and anxiety by addressing the underlying causes of worry and teaching techniques that can be practiced in as little as a few minutes a day.
Sleepio and Daylight are available at no cost to CPS students and families. Try Sleepio today at sleepio.com/cpsfamily, and Daylight at trydaylight.com/cpsfamily, access code CPS.
For more information on the mental health services being provided by CPS, please visit cps.edu/MentalHealth.