How to Support Students with Health & Wellness Apps
Many school districts wrestle with how to support students’ health and wellness effectively. With more students seeking mental health services, a school district’s role in supporting students and providing adequate resources and care is critical.
In the 2021-2022 school year, 96% of public schools reported providing mental health services to their students. Of those, 88% of schools agreed they could not effectively provide mental health services to students in need.
Schools identified an insufficient number of mental health professionals to manage their school’s caseload, inadequate access to mental health professionals, and inadequate funding as three limitations to effectively addressing their students’ mental health needs.
How can districts effectively support their student’s mental health needs? One consideration is through health and wellness apps.
Before we explore the apps available, let’s learn more about student wellness.
What is Student Wellness?
Student wellness is defined as the recognition by schools, districts, and educational professionals that there are many factors that impact a student’s academic attainment. It is an approach that focuses on supporting the whole child and is composed of seven factors—emotional, intellectual, social, personal, occupational, physical, and environmental wellness.
- Emotional wellness is the ability to successfully handle life’s stresses and adapt to change. Emotionally well students have a positive attitude, high self-esteem, a strong sense of health, and the ability to recognize and share their feelings with others in a constructive way.
- Intellectual wellness is a person’s ability to recognize their creative abilities and find ways to expand knowledge and skills. Intellectually well students have good study habits, critical thinking skills, are creative problem solvers, and can communicate clearly.
- Personal wellness is a person’s ability to create a sense of meaning and purpose in life. Personally well people are empathetic, have a clear sense of right and wrong, and can explain their beliefs.
- Social wellness is a person’s ability to develop a sense of connection, belonging, and a well-developed support system. A socially well student is assertive, self-confident, and able to work in a team effectively.
- Occupational wellness is a person’s ability to gain personal satisfaction and enrichment from one’s work. Occupationally well students experience satisfaction from completed work and understand their personal learning style.
- Physical wellness is a person’s ability to learn and model healthy practices and routines. When a person is physically well, they are attentive and alert.
- Environmental wellness is a school’s ability to promote safe and supportive environments that encourage wellbeing in the home, at school, and in the community. When a school is environmentally well, it creates of culture of respect within its shared norms and values.
Health and Wellness Apps
Health and wellness apps can help districts address their students’ health and wellness needs. Some of these apps could be used supplementally, while others could form the foundation of a robust health and wellness program. Here are four health and wellness apps that could better equip schools to address their students’ mental health needs.
Oasis Mental Health Applications
Oasis’ mission is to create technology that increases human connection and provides quality, holistic mental health care. Their comprehensive program is designed to get students back to learning and teachers back to teaching.
For the K-12 environment, Oasis offers the Oasis Education app featuring:
- Assessment and roadmap: Oasis’ clinical team works with you to assess your individual needs and creates a unique support roadmap.
- Student Support: the app provides students with on-demand support from mental health professionals and evidenced-based content to improve mental health and learning.
- Faculty & Staff Support: the Oasis Connect App provides educators with 1:1 classroom management coaching, as well as resources that support their mental and emotional health.
- Platform Implementation: Oasis’ clinical team guides you with evidence-based strategies to determine how to best support your students and teachers.
Sanvello
Sanvello’s aim is to meet people where they are in moments of need and surround them with tools and strategies that provide relief. Their app offers four types of support—self-care, peer support, coaching, and therapy.
- Self-care includes a daily mood tracker, guided journeys, and coping tools. Through weekly check-ins, Sanvello creates a roadmap for improvement.
- Peer support allows users to view posts from other members about a diverse range of topics in a judgement-free, label-free space.
- Coaching is like a fitness trainer for your mind. When users need help achieving their mental health goals, they can find the support and encouragement they need.
- Therapy can help users get unstuck, out of a spiral, and back to their lives. With a Sanvello therapist, users can identify unhealthy thoughts and patterns, and create a plan to feel better.
Daylio
Daylio is a self-care bullet journal with goals, a mood diary, and a happiness tracker. Without writing a word, users can easily track their moods and habits to compile a mood journal. Daylio then crunches the data and displays them in stats, charts, and correlations.
Teen Talk App
Teen Talk App provides a free, anonymous, safe space for teens to request support from trained peers and learn from others with similar experiences. With over 200 teens trained nationwide and teens supported in 100+ countries, the app has a 89% satisfaction rating.
Supporting your students’ health and wellness is paramount for any school district. Health and wellness apps can equip schools to provide students with the foundation for healthy lifestyles.
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