Parents learn about Mental Health and Social-Emotional Learning for children.

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Meridian, MS - Parents want to be there for their kids, both physically and mentally. Meridian public school district hosted the latest “Parent University” to focus on the topic of mental health and social-emotional learning.

Founder of "Respectful ways" Pam McNall tells us why social-emotional learning is important. “Social and emotional learning is something that you have to use like a muscle, and it's not always instantaneous. For us to have empathy, the compassion, the responsibility, the respect this helps the parents, not just the educators, but the parents to be able to relate to their kids, and experience this with their children.”

Meridian Public School District Behavioral Specialist Dr. James Murphy shares what he hopes to accomplish with this event. “Our school district is trying to not only set the bar, but really raise the bar higher than any other school district in the state. With our initiatives to increase our children's social emotional intelligence. And that's why we brought the parents out here today to talk about.”

He also explains how the parents can get involved. “We're doing everything from comprehensive screeners where the parents can know their children's actual school scores all the way up to a digital SEL module where they can learn lessons on SEL that are interactive and fun and that they can even take them home and learn with the parents together.”