The Norwalk Board of Education is proud to recognize May as Mental Health Awareness Month and restate our commitment to raising awareness and providing support around mental health. We celebrate the great strides Norwalk Public Schools has made to provide services in school and promote social-emotional learning with our scholars. 

Norwalk Public Schools continue to grapple with the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the district’s counseling team entered the 2022-23 school year focused on fostering well-being and resilience among our scholars by providing schools with SEL programs that fostered an equitable approach to social and emotional learning.

Schools helped to institute several CASEL-approved (Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning) SEL programs including Second Step (SEL Lessons), Wingman Initiative, Triangle Community Center, the Devereux Student Strengths Assessment (DESSA) - SEL Screeners, and Edusolve. These programs are effective tools for supporting the well-being of our students, teachers, schools and the Norwalk community.

During the 2022-23 school year, NPS added school counselors to each of the elementary schools as well as the Future Ready site. Throughout the year, they taught social-emotional learning (SEL) lessons, ran small SEL groups, and supported the whole school community. The addition of these counselors has strengthened the ability to regulate students to be able to access their education more successfully and in some cases re-engage them in having them access their education.

All these efforts have helped to increase school capacity to address the myriad of complex social and emotional challenges our students are undergoing. 

In 1949, the U.S. Congress designated Mental Health Month to increase awareness of the importance of mental health and wellness in Americans’ lives and to celebrate recovery from mental illness. Mental Health Awareness Month helps to raise awareness of trauma and the impact it can have on the physical, emotional, and mental well-being of children, teenagers, adults, families and communities.

By declaring May as Mental Health Awareness Month, the Board of Education offers the message that you are not alone, you are more than enough, and resources are available to help you face your mental health challenges.