It's not just "kids these days." Student anxiety has doubled in a decade. Here's what actually helps.
If you work in a school, you've seen it: the kid who was fine last year and can't sit through a class now. The straight-A student having panic attacks before tests. The quiet one who stopped coming. Anxiety isn't a phase — it's the most common mental health challenge students face, and most schools are under-equipped to address it.
Most school responses to anxiety are reactive: a student melts down, gets referred, waits weeks for support. By then the anxiety has a head start. What works better is daily — a 30-second check-in where students name what they're feeling before it compounds. Anxiety thrives in silence. Naming it is the first intervention.
Treating anxiety as an individual problem to refer out. Most anxious students never see a therapist — there aren't enough, and the waitlists are months long. Schools need in-building practices that reach every student daily, not just the ones who raise their hand.
Catch it before the crisis.
Daily student check-ins with counselor alerts. See how it works.
Cornelius Mosby is the founder and CEO of Super-Self Institute, building daily practices that develop human capacity in schools.