An Appraisal of Mental Health Support System in Preventing and Ending School Violence

ABSTRACT : School violence remains a serious issue around the globe with implications on the physical andmental development of students. In response to this pressing issues, schools have recognised the importance ofutiliizing adequate mental health support systems to prevent school violence. This paper focuses on the role ofmental health support systems in preventing and ending school violence. The study highlights the various causesof school violence, relationship between mental health and school violence, overview of mental health supportsystem and the role of mental health support system in preventing school violence. Comprehensive mentalhealth programming in schools may find the children who are at risk and offer interventions on time. This paperemphasizes that in corporating education on mental health in to the curriculum, training staff to identify possiblemental health issues, and access to counselling are of great importance. While there are various successes withthe usage of this support system in schools, a number of challenges have been encountered such as resource constraints, lack of qualified staff among other factors. Therefore, there is need to ensure effective collaborationwith key stake holders, parents, professionals and teachers to ensure effective usage of mental support system inschools.

KEYWORDS :Mental health, school violence,intervention, support system, school