UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — A new book titled "Mental Health for All Toolkit" — by Henry G. Brzycki, alumnus in Penn State's College of Education, and his wife Elaine J. Brzycki, educational strategy planning manager in Penn State Outreach — provides frontline educators, students and parents with new research-based guidelines for better psychological well-being for school-aged children and adolescents.
This book — based on the latest research in positive psychology, the psychology of well-being and student-centered learning — draws on the couples' more than 30 years of counseling, teaching and research, and their findings that school-aged children with psychological well-being have lower risk of mental health disorders as well as physical health diagnoses and behaviors such as violence, anxiety, depression, obesity, cutting, substance abuse and bullying, among others.
"Mental Health for All Toolkit" addresses some of the specific stressors and resulting behaviors including: children being bullied in schools because of ethic or social status; increased heroin abuse because of post-traumatic stress disorder; increased levels of adolescent depression and suicide; increased incidence of sexual assault and cutting in school districts; record levels of overweight and obese children; and mass school shootings.
The Brzyckis offer research-based, evidence-based methods to take aim at these issues and empower educators, students and parents by giving them the tools to try and turn the tide on some of today's societal problems in the nation's youth.
The couple have appeared on the Penn State-produced shows "Conversation Live!" and "Take Note," discussing their techniques to create pathways to happy, healthy and flourishing lives. They also have been published in numerous publications and have written one other book titled, "Student Success in Higher Education: Developing the Whole Person Through High Impact Practices."
The Brzyckis, founders of The Brzycki Group and The Center for the Self in Schools, continue to research and advise for better mental-health outcomes from schooling.
Henry Brzycki earned his bachelor of arts from Babson College, Wellesley, Massachusetts; master of arts from Tufts University, Medford, Massachusetts; and a doctorate from Penn State.
Elaine Brzycki earned her bachelor of arts from Wellesley College, and her master of education from the Harvard University Graduate School of Education.