Ross Szabo guides instructors on navigating mental health in the classroom
A lively group of instructors and staff gathered last Friday morning to learn about the power of storytelling at the kickoff event for the Teaching and Learning Center’s (TLC) new Instructor Wellbeing Initiative. The attendees’ enthusiasm spoke to an interest in learning how to cultivate personal wellbeing amid increasing uncertainty in the world and developing engaging course content that connects with students.
“The burnout rate and mental health concerns of educators often get overlooked,” notes Ross Szabo, Wellness Director for Geffen Academy at UCLA, who facilitated the Initiative’s first training event, Navigating Mental Health in the Classroom. “Educators are doing the best they can to take care of themselves and all of their responsibilities.”
The TLC’s Instructor Wellbeing Initiative launched this spring to provide resources and programs to support UCLA’s instructional community as both people and professionals. It is guided by a conceptual framework that approaches wellbeing holistically to consider the relationship between the needs of hope, agency, and relatedness. This evidence-based framework is derived from research on instructor wellbeing and acknowledges that external factors may uplift or prevent wellbeing. Additionally, when instructors fulfill these needs to practice wellbeing for themselves, they are better able to create compassionate learning communities that welcome all students. By actively collaborating with educators, the initiative hopes to advance a university culture that champions wellbeing in both personal and pedagogical contexts.
Szabo’s training session offered participants a better understanding of mental health terminology to normalize class conversations about the topic. He began by first offering a definition of mental health that, rather than being categorized by distress, encompasses one’s social, emotional, and psychological wellbeing and ability to meet challenges. To Szabo, reviewing these areas offers instructors an empowering place to start when addressing these topics with students.
“Having these frameworks for mental health and guidelines for what to do in a classroom can often be a huge help for how people take care of themselves,” he notes.
Sibyll Carnochan Catalan, Head of School for Geffen Academy at UCLA, introduced Szabo at the event and affirmed the need to equip instructors with evidence-based tools around mental health and wellbeing.
“We’ve observed firsthand the challenges students face before college, and our data demonstrates how a robust mental health curriculum significantly improves student outcomes in higher education settings,” she notes. “By embedding wellness into our curriculum from our founding and continuously incorporating student feedback, we’ve developed the Mental Health Education Institute—a resource now supporting educators across elementary, secondary, and higher education.”
During the session, participants were walked through guidelines to help them use personal storytelling to build student trust and frame learning across disciplines. In small groups, they discussed the potential learning outcomes that sharing stories could have in their classes before crafting ones they might share on the first day or as part of a specific lesson plan.
Szabo finds that personal stories can enhance lessons by offering instructors a more authentic manner through which students can engage with course material.
“When personal stories are used correctly, they can make a huge difference,” he said.
The next Instructor Wellbeing Initiative event will be held on May 1 and led by TLC team members Derisa Grant, director of educational development programs, and Sammy Solis, teaching development program analyst. The workshop, Intro to Trauma-Informed Pedagogy, will examine the cognitive impact of trauma, explore principles of trauma-informed pedagogy, and identify practices instructors can use in their courses to cultivate compassionate and effective learning environments. All UCLA instructors are invited to register for the upcoming workshop.
Visit the Instructor Wellbeing Initiative page to access additional wellbeing resources and learn more about upcoming events. Additionally, learn more about Geffen Academy’s upcoming Mental Health Education Institute for teachers this summer.