Ashley Terpstra stands with her children Madilyn, 9, a third-grader, and Emerson, 6, a first-grader. Both children attend St. Dominic School in Northfield. COURTESY ASHLEY TERPSTRA

Ashley Terpstra recently took part in a one-hour online seminar focused on helping parents deal with children’s anxiety, stress and perfectionism. Her children’s elementary school, St. Dominic School in Northfield, offered it to parents as the first in a series.

“I was excited because I have a child with anxiety,” Terpstra said of taking the webinar. “Like everybody, the ability to help children who struggle with these things … is just fantastic.

The speaker delved into how to help children deal with stress, she said, especially given challenges wrought by the COVID-19 pandemic. She was looking forward to the next topic, which addresses raising resilient children.

“As a parent, I’m so happy that our school is putting focus on our kids’ mental health,” Terpstra said. “And I’m so grateful they’re taking the steps to make this available.”

Edina-based Catholic Schools Center of Excellence (CSCOE) is offering all 79 elementary schools in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis mental health resources through its new initiative, Peace of Mind, to help the mental wellness of students, families, teachers and principals — all of whom face extra stressors during the pandemic. While planning the initiative was underway when the pandemic began, COVID-19 heightened its urgency.

Launched this summer, the first sessions for parents started in September. Even if a Catholic school isn’t fully participating in the initiative, individuals such as school parents can access its resources.

“Parents are dealing with things with their children they’ve never had to … before,” including distance learning and being home in that kind of challenging time, said Brian Ragatz, CSCOE president. Parents need to be in a good spot so they can be at their best for their kids, he said.

CSCOE’s mission is to enhance excellence and increase enrollment for the schools it serves. Excellence is not just academic, however, Ragatz said. “Catholic schools educate the whole child, and we want schools to be excellent in all that they do for all those they serve,” he said. “Peace of Mind provides schools with an excellent approach to address the mind, body and spirit of all members of our school communities.”

CSCOE is working with Twin Cities-based Phoenix School Counseling to offer live webinars, recorded videos, slide presentations and in-person meetings to support mental wellness.

CSCOE cited statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that one in five students in U.S. classrooms have mental and behavioral health symptoms significant enough to warrant diagnosis and treatment. But only about 40% receive help. Of those, 80% get only what is available at school.

Ragatz said Peace of Mind is a way to support school children by supporting their caregivers — parents, teachers and principals. Principals receive support via small group or individual consultation, he said, to give them the resources they need to recharge their batteries to be at their best.

Teachers also can connect with a clinical psychologist via Zoom on specific topics. Physical education teacher Melissa Rogers recently participated in one on issues related to teaching during the pandemic. Rogers teaches at Presentation and St. Jerome Catholic elementary schools in Maplewood. The session was led by licensed psychologist Jules Nolan, an expert in mental health, parenting, and child and adolescent development.

Rogers valued the reassurance it provided, that her schools were doing valuable things, such as setting up structured breaks for students and movement breaks. But she also appreciated learning new information.

Because it was live, participants could ask questions during the webinar or submit them ahead of time. Another benefit, Rogers said, was that schools shared ideas with one another.

One topic addressed students’ difficulties not seeing teachers’ faces because of mask requirements, Rogers said, “So people chimed in and talked about what they are doing.” One person described a Bingo game related to masks, and shared a link with everyone on the call. Rogers shared how, at St. Jerome, staff took photos of everyone’s face. “So we all have a button on our person so everyone can see our face even when we have the mask on.”

Ragatz said another important component is educating and training up to four teachers or other staff members at each school so they can best address behavioral health situations that may come up. That could be a student being disrespectful, for example, or refusing to leave the family car in the morning.

“It’s not a disciplinary issue; it’s a mental health issue,” Ragatz said.

CSCOE offered to cover the expenses for up to four staff members per school to complete an online certification course in understanding and addressing the needs of children with anxiety or ADHD.

“Having trained teachers who have built relationships with the children provides a better opportunity for a calm and productive outcome,” Ragatz said.

When Terpstra was asked for feedback after the session, she replied, “All any parent wants is for their child to be happy and healthy, and to have the tools to process things in the future because we’re setting them up for their future life. So the more resources we have, the more tools we can give them.”