Chapter 14
School Mental Health Practices—Social
Work Perspective
J. O. Jeryda Gnanajane Eljo, Ilango Ponnuswami, and Preji P. Daniel
Abstract Every child is unique and comes from different home environment with
their own make up of potentials, skills and abilities to school. School is considered
as a second home for a child. It is a place or social institution that a child spends
most of their formative years. In schools, they have to socialize with their class
mates, keep up to the expectations of the teachers and perform well in their studies.
The new environment with more demands for the children can create mental health
problems in them. In schools, the mental health problems are unmet and are given
least importance to it. Children who have good mental wellbeing are more successful
in school life (Eljo and Vijayalakshmi in Shanlax Int J Arts Sci Humanit 5(4), 2017).
The researcher tries to focus and share some of the mental health practices found in
schools in India and Australia in a Social Work Perspective. The paper showcases
the activities carried out through the Child Guidance and Counselling Centre in the
Department of Social Work, Bharathidasan University, Tiruchirappalli, which cater
the mental wellbeing of the children, parents and also the teachers by School Mental
Health programmes as small initiative of School Mental Health, and Social Work
Intervention is also done to promote School Mental Health. In Australia, there exist
a holistic practice of mental health promotions from birth to adolescence in schools
through Kids Matter initiative which is also discussed.
Keywords Mental health problems · School mental health · Social work
perspective
Introduction
This research paper is drafted on the basis of the some of the practices of School
Mental Health in India and Australia in a Social Work perspective. Further, the paper
also showcases the activities carried out through the Child Guidance and Counselling
Centre in the Department of Social Work, Bharathidasan University, Tiruchirappalli,
J. O. Jeryda Gnanajane Eljo (B ) · I. Ponnuswami · P. P. Daniel
Department of Social Work, Bharathidasan University, Tiruchirappalli, India
e-mail: jerydaanand@gmail.com
© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license
to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2020
I. Ponnuswami and A. Francis (eds.), Social Work Education, Research and Practice,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-9797-8_14
191