Adopted January 1968 – Reviewed and deemed relevant February 2015 – Health Commission
California State PTA believes greater awareness is needed in understanding issues related to behavioral health and social emotional development. California State PTA further believes such concerns and other external and internal barriers to learning and teaching must include collaboration within the school-community. Collaboration is essential in planning and implementing a full range of interventions to promote behavioral health and social emotional development and provide a systemic approach to prevention, early intervention, and treatment of manifesting problems.
California State PTA supports efforts to:
- Promote and encourage support for the rights, dignity, and individuality of all human beings;
- Ensure children and youth have access to and receive timely mental health diagnosis;
- Provide information and education to understand and sustain children, youth, and family behavioral health and social emotional development, and to counter stigma related to problems;
- Unite school and community resources to develop and implement a comprehensive and cohesive range of interventions promoting behavioral health and social emotional development and providing a systemic approach to prevention, early intervention, and treatment of manifesting problems;
- Support research to enhance development and implementation of a comprehensive and cohesive range of interventions, promoting behavioral health and social emotional development and providing a systemic approach to prevention, early intervention, and treatment of those manifesting problems.
- Ensure interventions address external and internal factors contributing to behavioral health and social emotional development concerns;
- Address problems equitably and ensure necessary interventions are provided and implemented in the least disruptive and least restrictive manner feasible, with a commitment to inclussionary practices;
- Ensure protection of children, youth, and family rights related to decision making and access to information about intervention options and likely outcomes; and
- Support legislation that fully integrates school improvement policy and practice concerns related to (a) promoting behavioral health and social emotional development and (b) addressing behavioral health and social emotional development and other external and internal barriers to learning and teaching.
By supporting such efforts, PTA can help assure that schools and communities work together in a comprehensive and cohesive manner to improve the well being of children and youth, and their families, and enhance equity of opportunity for all children and youth to succeed at school and in life.
