Promoting School Safety, School Climate, and Student Mental Health: Interdependent Constructs Built Upon Comprehensive Multidisciplinary Planning

This chapter unpacks the complex topics of school violence, school safety, and school climate as they apply to modern schools. Relevant models will be discussed that have been used by schools and communities to fashion safe and supportive learning environments, specifically in an effort to foster welcoming school campuses and thriving student development. The following sections provide an overview of the interaction of school safety and school climate and how these constructs are directly linked to student mental and emotional well-being. We then discuss a multidisciplinary approach to addressing these constructs and share an existing model that can be used as a foundation to address school safety and mental health issues. We provide a process for moving toward action, which includes selecting an appropriate model for organizing intervention efforts, building a multidisciplinary team, developing a plan for assessment, and creating a systematic process for intervention implementation. Finally, we include a case study to illustrate how a school district might interpret and implement some of these key components in the real world.https://digitalcommons.chapman.edu/education_books/1143/thumbnail.jp