by Donna Volpitta, Ed.D., Cofounder and Chief Learning Officer, The Mental Health Literacy Collaborative and Julian Nuñez, Teacher, Greenwich Country Day School and Young Adult Advocacy Council Leadership, The Mental Health Literacy Collaborative
As more students face mental health issues, it’s crucial to address these social challenges and make it part of the curriculum. The concept of mental health literacy (MHL) is vital not only for mental health professionals, but also for educators, parents and young people. It offers a clear, proactive way to help students understand and manage their mental well-being. By offering teachers specialized training, schools can implement MHL and provide the support students need before reaching a point of crisis.
What Is Mental Health Literacy?
Mental Health Literacy is an education framework that covers four core concepts:
1) How to foster and maintain positive mental health
2) Understanding common mental health disorders and treatments
3) Knowing when and how to seek help effectively
4) Understanding how to reduce stigma
At its heart, MHL is about teaching individuals how to care for their mental health—just as health education teaches them to care for their bodies. Teaching MHL doesn’t require clinical training, but rather a shared language and a commitment to fostering understanding.
Annie Slease, Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of the MHLC, often cites the words of Desmond Tutu:
“There comes a point where we need to stop just pulling people out of the river. We need to go upstream and find out why they’re falling in. Mental health literacy is about moving upstream.”
Why Focus on Schools?
What do schools do best? Teach. Education is a scalable, proactive solution for addressing and preventing social problems. Schools represent one of the most consistent and universal environments in a young person’s life.
With appropriate training and students’ mental health—without needing clinical credentials. There are evidence-based MHL programs designed for every grade level, and there are creative ways to integrate the concepts into any community. Mental Health Literacy is an education framework, not a particular program.
Research shows that integrating MHL in schools can lead to numerous benefits, including stronger teacher-student relationships, more targeted referrals, earlier interventions, and reduced strain on the mental health service system.
While many states have policies requiring mental health education in schools, few have provided the necessary support for meaningful implementation. The disconnect between policy and practice is one of the primary challenges facing educators today.
Jason Schofield of the MHLC frames the issue clearly:
“We know we can’t simply treat our way out of this crisis. States recognize that education is part of the solution, but they need support to confidently implement it.”
The MHLC was founded in 2023 to help close that gap. By creating resources, offering professional development, and fostering collaboration across sectors, the organization aims to make MHL both accessible and sustainable for schools across the country.
Spreading the Word
In 2025, Nuñez and Dr. Volpitta presented a session at the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS) conference in Nashville titled Going Upstream: Mental Health Literacy as an Upstream Solution to the Youth Mental Health Crisis.The session was recognized as one of the conference’s Innovative Sessions, a reflection of its relevance and timeliness. Nuñez and Dr. Volpitta found significant interest from educators eager to learn how MHL could help address growing mental health challenges.
At the conference, Nuñez shared the strategies he uses to integrate MHL into his teaching and coaching at school. He explains, “As a teacher and coach, mental health literacy has been a game-changer, enabling me to support my students and athletes more effectively. I’m excited to help other educators, coaches, and young people understand its value and empower them to spread it within their communities. Teachers, in particular, should feel confident in their ability to teach mental health literacy. They are trusted community to bring this important knowledge to their students and families.”
During the presentation, they dispelled three common misconceptions about MHL:
• Mental health literacy and social-emotional learning (SEL) are not the same. While they complement each other, they serve different goals, much like math and science.
• Teaching MHL does not require clinical expertise—there are curricula for all grade levels designed to be implemented by teachers.
• Mental health literacy is not one more thing on educators’ plates; it’s already on their plates—it’s just “hidden under the mashed potatoes.” MHL gives teachers the tools and confidence to teach about mental health and support their students more effectively.
The presentation’s message was clear: MHL tools already exist. What’s needed now is the knowledge and confidence to implement them.
A Practitioner’s Perspective
In addition to his roles at the school, Nuñez works as a Therapeutic Mentor at Causeway Collaborative, where he supports young adults navigating academic and emotional challenges. His dual roles—as educator and mentor—have given him a firsthand view of how transformative MHL can be.
Nuñez has also taken on a leadership role through the MHLC, serving as a founding advisor and co-leader of the Young Adult Advocacy Council. This youth-led initiative is working to expand mental health literacy in schools and communities across the country. In summer 2025, the Council will launch a Mental Health Advocacy Toolkit designed to help students advocate for MHL in their own schools.
Nuñez has found that when young people are given the tools and vocabulary to talk about mental health, they step up—not just for themselves, but for each other.
Call to Action
The urgency of the youth mental health crisis continues to grow. According to the American Medical Association, health literacy is a more powerful predictor of a person’s health status than income, education level, or ethnicity. Yet mental health literacy has long been overlooked in education.
That’s starting to change—but more work is needed.
MHL can be a foundational part of the school experience—not as a standalone program, but as part o f the broader educational mission. When schools prioritize mental wellness, students learnbetter, teachers teach better, and communities thrive.
The tools are here. The researchis strong. The moment is now. The solution is upstream—and it begins in the classroom.
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