Jared Scott, an award-winning motivational speaker and mental health expert, joins us to unpack the state of mental health in our schools. Rather than dwelling on the problem, Jared is focused on solutions, and he offers actionable strategies for supporting the students in our schools and for changing school cultures to foster positive mental health.
I believe that if you have the courage and the confidence to stand up and tell the truth to the people around you, that even the darkest moment of your life could one day become the light at the end of the tunnel for somebody else.
Jared Scott, from The Culture Shift Tour Explained video
Resources
The following resources are available from AVID and on AVID Open Access to explore related topics in more depth:
- Benefits of the AVID Program: Results of a UCLA Study, with Dr. Rebecca Dudovitz (podcast episode)
- Supporting a Healthy Digital Lifestyle, with Eisha Buch (podcast episode)
- “R” You Ready to Recharge? Tips for Teacher Self-Care (article)
- Executive Function and the Support of Students’ Thinking Brains, with Allison Morgan (podcast episode)
- The Power of Being Grateful, with Cherie Spencer (podcast episode)
A Quest for Freedom and Well-Being
Jared says, “I started speaking at 15 years old, not by choice. I had a tragedy in my hometown. We had 12 students in one school year attempt to take their life.” One of those students was a close friend of Jared. He says, “If she could feel this way and nobody noticed, [if] I feel this way and I feel unnoticed, how many other people are going through their day-to-day lives feeling unnoticed, and how long until it’s too late for them too?”
Rather than staying quiet, Jared decided that he needed to face his own fears and speak out to bring hope to his school. He and his friend recorded a song and presented it to the student body to tell them, “Actual hope is you. It’s me. It’s we. We are hope. It’s our story. It’s the truth. Through the things in life we go through that make us who we are, and when we have the courage and the confidence to stand up and tell people the full truth . . . all it takes is one person to have the courage and confidence to stand up and face fear first, and then other people will feel safe enough to follow.”
Since that impactful experience, Jared has dedicated his life to empowering students to start movements in their communities to turn the trajectory of mental health in a positive direction. The following are a few highlights from our conversation:
- About Our Guest: Jared Scott is a husband, father, speaker, counselor, and motivational speaker with a degree in behavioral sciences. He has been speaking to audiences all over the U.S. since he was 15 years old. In 2023, he was chosen as the Next Level Speaker of the Year.
- Hope: Jared recalls giving up on his goal of writing an inspirational song for his fellow students. In fact, he quit. He says, “When I quit, it was like I just shut off all the lights, and I saw him [my friend] lose hope. I lost hope. . . . We needed hope.” Fortunately, a woman walking by the recording studio heard the song and told him how much it had impacted her. She told him, “Your song right there just gave me hope. I believe that’s all we need. All we need is hope.” That pushed Jared and his friend to follow through with their goal of recording and presenting the song to the student body.
- The Culture Shift Tour: As part of The Culture Shift Tour, Jared says that they’re “professional problem-solvers.” There are no cookie-cutter speeches. Rather, each connection with a school is personalized to meet the needs and challenges of the people in that setting. The program works with trauma-focused therapy, developing ideas into movements, connecting with parents and community, and supporting these movements so that culture can change over time.
- School Culture: “The culture is like the personality of the school. It’s the pattern of behavior of the school,” says Jared. “When you try to change the personality, the personality pushes back.” Because of that, it’s hard to make change in schools, and it takes a “consistent, persistent, relentless effort over time” to make that change.
- A Focus on the Positive: Jared says, “If we focus on the negative, then we’re damaging neuro pathways that allow us to be creative and allow us to have problem-solving abilities. . . . When we focus on the positive, we create new neuro structures and pathways that help us think clearer through the problems.”
- Kids Are Open: Jared says, “The kids are open to mental health and mindfulness more than ever before.” That openness, as well as the caring, empathetic, and positive mindset of today’s students, gives him hope for the future.
- Dispelling the Lie: “The lie is that you believe you’re the problem and you’re not enough,” says Jared. “I’m trying to get them first to understand, you’re the solution to your problem.”
- Collective Perspectives: Jared explains, “What you’re consuming will eventually consume you.” If you believe collective definitions—ideas like real men don’t cry or men that cry are weak—long enough, they become true. “Me being vulnerable doesn’t make me weak,” he says. “Me being vulnerable actually makes me strong because vulnerability is the key to freedom.”
- Action Steps: The first necessary step in prompting change is to build trust. Then, people can open up and talk about things. Jared says, “We gotta be vulnerable” so that students see us as human beings.
- Mutual Feelings: Jared says that although we are all different and have varied life experiences, we can relate to each other through mutual feelings. He says, “The circumstances will never be the same, but the feelings and the emotions are.”
- Detaching Negative Emotions: Jared says that the key to emotional freedom is forgiveness. We need to remember what happened, feel and understand it, and then forgive the people that caused the hurt. He adds that this forgiveness must also include forgiving yourself. Jared says that if you don’t forgive, “It just means that you’re probably not going to be fully healed, and that’s unfortunate because I believe as a human being, you deserve freedom.”
- Jared’s One Thing: Don’t forgive and forget. “Forgive and remember peacefully.”
Guiding Questions
If you are listening to the podcast with your instructional team or would like to explore this topic more deeply, here are guiding questions to prompt your reflection:
- How would you describe the state of mental health in your school community?
- What role does hope play in our lives?
- How can we bring hope to others in our school community?
- What is the culture of your school?
- What culture shift may be needed in your school?
- Which of Jared’s suggestions resonate with you?
- Why is it so important to forgive?
Extend Your Learning
- Jared Scott Speaks (official website)
- The Culture Shift Tour Explained (Jared Scott via Vimeo)