Classroom Solutions for Mental Health: Evidence-Based Strategies Every Educator Can Use

Presenters

• Gregory J. Benner, University of Alabama - TuscaloosaFollow

First Presenter's Highest Degree Earned

PhD

Year First Presenter's Degree Was Awarded

2003

First Presenter's Field of Study

Special Education--Emotional and Behavioral Disorders

Institution Where First Presenter Received Highest Degree

University of Nebraska

First Presenter's Institution

University of Alabama

First Presenter's Brief Bio and Description of Credentials for This Presentation

Dr. Gregory J. Benner is the Helen and Pat O’Sullivan Professor in the College of Education at the University of Alabama. From 2012 to 2018, Dr. Benner served as Professor and Executive Director of the Center for Strong Schools at the University of Washington Tacoma before assuming his current role. Dr. Benner has served as Principal Investigator or other leadership role on 45 sponsored research projects, to date. The total amount of external grant funds awarded for these projects is over $32M. He has a knack for grassroots collective impact — getting whole communities including youth, families, service providers, and educators on the same page to realize the full potential of all youth. He is co-founder of the Whole Child approach, a blueprint for comprehensive and sustainable school transformation. Tacoma Whole Child was highlighted in a recent cover story in Newsweek in addition to the How Learning Happens video series published by Edutopia, including how to create a seamless whole community system of support in and outside of school. He now leads Tuscaloosa Whole Child, bringing transformational school improvement to all schools in Tuscaloosa County. Visit bamawholechild.com to explore the Whole Child approach, get updates, and to learn how to build strong schools in your community. Dr. Benner loves educators and they love him back. He builds the capacity of those who serve youth who are struggling most. He has a reputation for giving educators what they need — practical strategies for real-world challenges they face every day. Dr. Benner conducts 40-50 invited presentations on practical behavioral and instructional strategies each year. He is passionate about transforming lives through transforming systems. In 2012, he co-founded the Whole Child approach, a systematic blueprint for sustainable change in children, citizens, and communities. The Whole Child approach has been endorsed by the National Commission on Social, Emotional, and Academic Development, Science of Learning and Development Alliance, Learning Policy Institute, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, ASCD, and the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. Tacoma Whole Child was highlighted in a recent cover story in Newsweek and by Edutopia. Three years into implementation, Tuscaloosa Whole Child is transforming the lives of youth and adults in all schools in Tuscaloosa County.

Location

Percival

Document Type

Individual Presentation

Primary Strand

Mental Health

Relevance to Primary Strand

This session aligns squarely with the Mental Health strand by demonstrating how trauma-informed, evidence-based strategies can be embedded within a tiered PBIS framework using the Interconnected Systems Framework (ISF). Drawing on Dr. Benner’s extensive research and leadership in multi-tiered systems of support and the Whole Child Initiative, the presentation equips educators to identify students with behavioral and mental health needs and respond with practical, classroom-ready interventions. Participants will learn how to strengthen social-emotional competencies, reduce power struggles, and create inclusive environments that promote engagement and wellness. The session emphasizes the teacher’s pivotal role in integrating mental health supports into daily instruction while leveraging clinician expertise and fostering collaboration with families and community partners to sustain interventions. These strategies reflect best practices for blending PBIS and mental health supports into one coherent system, ensuring improved outcomes for all students.

Alignment with School Improvement Plan Topics

Student Learning and Development

Brief Program Description

This classroom-focused session delivers trauma-informed, evidence-based strategies that fit within a tiered PBIS framework to support students with behavioral and mental health needs. Educators will learn practical techniques to reduce stress and burnout, resolve power struggles, and differentiate behavioral supports for diverse learners. By the end, participants will be able to: (1) build youth emotional and behavioral strengths; (2) enhance educator wellness and self-efficacy; (3) increase student engagement, voice, and leadership; and (4) create a positive, inclusive classroom environment that fosters resilience and academic success.

Summary

Classrooms today are filled with students experiencing behavioral and mental health challenges, often intensified by post-pandemic stressors. This session, Classroom Solutions for Mental Health: Evidence-Based Strategies Every Educator Can Use, provides practical, trauma-informed strategies that educators can implement immediately to create safe, engaging, and inclusive learning environments. Participants will learn evidence-based methods for reducing stress and burnout, preventing and resolving power struggles, and differentiating behavioral supports to meet diverse student needs.

The session emphasizes actionable practices such as emotional co-regulation techniques, relationship-building strategies like “Two by Ten,” and classroom routines that foster predictability and belonging. Attendees will explore how to integrate these approaches within a tiered PBIS framework and the Interconnected Systems Framework (ISF), ensuring alignment with schoolwide mental health initiatives. Strategies for strengthening social-emotional competencies, promoting youth voice and leadership, and sustaining positive classroom culture will be modeled through real-world examples.

By the end of the session, participants will be able to:

1. Build emotional and behavioral strengths in students with mental health needs.
2. Enhance educator wellness and self-efficacy through practical classroom tools.
3. Increase student engagement and reduce disruptive behaviors using inclusive, trauma-sensitive practices.
4. Collaborate effectively with families and community partners to support continuity of care.

Educators will leave with a toolkit of proven strategies—such as warm welcomes, optimistic closures, and restorative resets—that can be applied immediately to improve classroom climate and student outcomes. This session offers hands-on, “take-home” solutions designed to empower teachers and leaders to meet the behavioral health needs of today’s learners while maintaining their own well-being.

Evidence

Classrooms today face unprecedented behavioral and mental health challenges, intensified by post-pandemic stressors. This session, Classroom Solutions for Mental Health: Evidence-Based Strategies Every Educator Can Use, equips teachers with practical, research-based strategies rooted in Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) and effective classroom management practices. These approaches are designed to create predictable, positive learning environments that reduce disruptive behavior, enhance student engagement, and improve teacher well-being.

Decades of research confirm that proactive classroom PBIS strategies—such as explicitly teaching expectations, providing high rates of opportunities to respond, and using positive reinforcement—significantly decrease problem behaviors and exclusionary discipline while improving academic achievement and social-emotional outcomes (Bradshaw et al., 2010; Horner & Sugai, 2020). Meta-analyses show that well-managed classrooms foster higher student engagement and achievement, while reducing emotional distress and conduct problems (Durlak et al., 2011). For educators, these strategies are equally transformative: studies link proactive classroom management to lower stress and burnout compared to reactive approaches (Clunies-Ross et al., 2008), and PBIS implementation has been shown to improve teacher self-efficacy and job satisfaction (Simonsen et al., 2015).

This session will model practical techniques—such as warm welcomes, emotion checks, and restorative resets—that teachers can implement immediately. Participants will learn how to prevent and resolve power struggles, differentiate behavioral supports for diverse learners, and integrate trauma-informed practices within a tiered PBIS framework. By the end, attendees will be able to:

1. Build students’ emotional and behavioral strengths through evidence-based strategies.
2. Reduce educator stress and enhance confidence in classroom management.
3. Increase student engagement, voice, and leadership while maintaining instructional time.
4. Create inclusive, positive classroom environments that promote resilience and academic success.

Educators will leave with actionable tools and a clear understanding of how classroom PBIS practices improve outcomes for both students and teachers—providing sustainable solutions for today’s behavioral health challenges.

Learning Objective 1

Build students’ emotional and behavioral strengths through evidence-based strategies.

Learning Objective 2

Reduce educator stress and enhance confidence in classroom management.

Learning Objective 3

Increase student engagement, voice, and leadership while maintaining instructional time.

Start Date

6-2-2026 10:15 AM

End Date

6-2-2026 11:30 AM

Recommended Citation

Benner, Gregory J., "Classroom Solutions for Mental Health: Evidence-Based Strategies Every Educator Can Use" (2026). Southeast Conference on School Climate. 41.
https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/secsc/2026/2026/41

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.