ABSTRACT
Creating a school environment that supports student mental health and wellbeing largely to the school leadership team. Teachers and advisors were often expected to be all things to all students. Schools didn’t necessarily have counselors or psychologists available day-to-day. Perhaps one of the most critical pieces to having an emotionally healthy school is defining and maintaining professional boundaries between students and teachers. Because teachers are stable adults in their students’ lives, many students cultivate strong, even emotionally charged, relationships with teachers. The boundary crossing that causes the most fear is a sexual or emotionally inappropriate relationship between a teacher and a student. Each adult in a school brings academic and professional preferences and strengths—which is why some of us teach math, some coach tennis, and others counsel students.
