A new study published in SAGE Open offers insights into how U.S. schools, even amid systemic inequities and post-COVID stressors, can serve as “pockets of humanity” that support student mental health.
The qualitative study conducted by Kate Somerville of the University of Virginia draws on interviews with 12 students involved in mental health activism. It reveals how school environments shaped by justice, identity, and meaningful connection can promote well-being, particularly for students with marginalized identities.
Drawing from a “well-being and justice” framework grounded in psychological and sociological theory, Somerville examines how schools are affected by broader social inequities and reproduce or resist those injustices through their policies, curricula, and relationships.
Students describe how institutional betrayal, including racialized harm, disciplinary overreach, policing tactics, and teacher abuse, undermines their sense of belonging and emotional safety. Yet the same institutional setting can, under certain conditions, foster connection, affirmation, and healing.
“This article contributes to the literature by exploring the connection between conditions of justice and youth well-being by speaking to youth themselves about how their in-school experiences affect their perceptions of their own well-being,” Somerville writes.
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