ABSTRACT
This chapter describes what is meant by mental health and appreciate the importance of identifying mental illness. It examines mental illness experiences that occur in the middle years, including stress, anxiety and depression. The chapter explores the growing area of positive psychology and identifies the positive impact it is having on schools and students. It discusses ways in which schools can support the social and emotional development of students. The chapter identifies ways that individual teachers can support the social and emotional development of students. The developmental changes occurring in middle-years learners, and the changing nature of their relationships with parents/carers and friends, make this period particularly stressful. Stress has been defined as a transaction between an event in the environment and a person, where the event is viewed as harmful, threatening or challenging and where the person feels he or she is unable to adequately respond.
