Greensburg Salem considers accepting grant to train teachers in mental health program

Greensburg Salem teacher Taylor Guido has seen firsthand how taking care of her mental health benefits her students.

But it wasn’t until she attended a mental health-focused camp in Somerset County that she learned this valuable lesson.

That’s why the district has proposed a program to train its teachers in mental fitness and resiliency.

The school board will vote next week on accepting a $170,000 grant from Pittsburgh-based Richard King Mellon Foundation to train six of its teachers in a mental fitness and resiliency program run by 3Most LLC.

The company, Bissell said, has done work with the Outoor Odyssey — a Somerset County camp where Guido and about 40 other Greensburg Salem teachers have participated in weeklong sessions to learn skills to support their mental health.

“Before going there, I understood yoga, I understood to color if you’re stressed sometimes,” Guido said. “I knew the toolbox and I used it for myself, but I compartmentalized it. I spent three days a week doing yoga or would take walks with the dogs or hike, but I never translated that to school.”

Attending the camp has changed the way Guido interacts with her students and fellow teachers, she said.

“I think, truly, the interactions with my students have changed,” she said, “because I’m thinking about what they’re bringing with them — not that they’re just in front of me and, like, there’s a goal to meet or a bell schedule to follow. Those are things that we get stuck doing.”

High school English and freshman seminar teacher Jeremy Lenzi has noticed his students using the skills he has passed along to them from his experience at Outdoor Odyssey.

“What I’m seeing as more of us have been getting there is I’m seeing that our kids are benefiting from this,” Lenzi said, “because they’re starting to hear this language.”

Training the six teachers would take about a year- and-a-half, Bissell said. The educators would then focus on teaching their newfound skills to students in grades 6 to 8, but Bissell hopes to spread the program across the district over time.

“It’s the analogy of being on the airplane. When the bags drop, you have to take care of (yourself) first before you help others,” Bissell said. “Our educators are faced with helping hundreds of kids every single day, but a lot of times, they’re in their own state of dysregulation. It’s hard to regulate a child if you’re dysregulated.”

The school board will vote on the mental fitness and resiliency program grant at its next meeting, scheduled for 7 p.m. Jan. 15 at Greensburg Salem Middle School, located at 301 N. Main St. in Greensburg.