ACSA’s “Your Mind First” broadcast series centered around engaging conversations with educators, policy leaders and industry experts on how to cope with challenges and find solutions to the school mental health crisis.

Featured guests included California First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom and ACSA President Erin Simon. Episodes centered on destigmatizing mental health, educator burnout, suicide prevention and legislation. All five episodes can be found here, along with resources related to the topic.


Restoring Teacher and Principal Well-Being Is an Essential Step for Rebuilding Schools

Principal and teacher well-being is a matter of immediate concern for principals and teachers themselves and for the students they … Read More

Walking a Fine Line — Educators’ Views on Politicized Topics in Schooling

In a time when simply carrying out the essential functions of their jobs is a herculean task, educators have been … Read More

State of the Superintendent — High Job Satisfaction and a Projected Normal Turnover Rate

To examine superintendents’ job satisfaction and short-term career plans, RAND researchers fielded a survey to a randomly sampled set of … Read More

Your Mind First: Episode 4

  This week, we’re doing a deeper dive on educator burnout with policy researcher Elizabeth Steiner from the RAND Corporation. … Read More

Your Mind First: Episode 3

  This episode focuses on educator burnout, work-life balance and how to create healthier and happier school environments. With guests … Read More

Your Mind First: Episode 2

  Episode 2 of “Your Mind First” features California First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom. The hourlong discussion covers how to … Read More

Maintaining Balance as a School Administrator

The following tips from ACSA’s Member Assistance and Legal Support Team originally appeared in the Aug. 8, 2022 edition of … Read More

Your Mind First: Episode 1

  Watch the debut episode of Your Mind First: An ACSA Mental Health Series. The series will focus on engaging … Read More

Addressing the Youth Mental Health Crisis

This resource is provided by ACSA Partner4Purpose Navigate360.  The COVID-19 pandemic has reshaped society as we know it. Besides the … Read More

U.S. Surgeon General Issues Advisory on Youth Mental Health Crisis

U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy issued a new Surgeon General’s Advisory to highlight the urgent need to address the … Read More

Mental Health vs. Physical Health

This resource is provided by ACSA Partner4Purpose California Casualty.   What do you think of when you hear the word “health”? … Read More

Tips from Administrators on Finding Work-life Balance

Educational leadership is a demanding career, often blurring the lines between different parts of our lives. We asked our 2020 … Read More

Practical Guide for Financing Mental Health in Schools

California Children’s Trust and its partner, Breaking Barriers, have released a “Practical Guide for Financing Social, Emotional and Mental Health in Schools,” … Read More

8 Positive Psychology Tips for Administrators

Principals and superintendents are leaders and role models for their community, for other administrators, for staff, and for parents. Often, … Read More

Managing Life’s Treadmill: Is ‘Stressed’ the New Normal?

Managing stress can be learned the easy way or the hard way. Tomorrow is not a given, so it’s important … Read More

What is Mindfulness? Why Practice It in Schools?

Without a clear singular origin but with roots in Hinduism, Buddhism – even Judaism, Christianity, and Islam – the practice … Read More