ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a rationale for promoting children’s mental health in schools. Due to external pressures, some schools neglect to implement mental health initiatives and instead concentrate time, resources and teacher efforts on enhancing academic learning and success. According to the American Psychiatric Association, mental illnesses are defined as “health conditions involving changes in thinking, emotion or behaviour associated with distress and/or problems functioning in social, work or family activities”. Mental health is more than the absence of mental illness. Mental health and illness are both broad concepts and, accordingly, may include other related concepts, such as emotional and social competence, especially when referring to children’s mental health. Mental health promotion consists of those efforts that seek to improve social and physical environments and enhance an individual’s ability to achieve and maintain mental health. Students with mental health problems are present in every school, regardless of their socio-economic background.
