Urban schools often face intertwined challenges related to education and mental health, leaving many new teachers asking how they can support student mental health while also sustaining their own. This study examines Miami University’s Urban Teaching Cohort (UTC) as a model that prepares preservice teachers for the realities of urban teaching by centering relationships, reflective practice, and an asset-based view of communities. The article highlights how strong teacher–student relationships are foundational to school mental health, particularly in high-poverty contexts where students often experience stressors linked to trauma, instability, and institutional inequities.

The UTC’s community-centered design immerses preservice teachers in extended experiences alongside youth, families, and neighborhood partners. Through urban plunges, multi-week summer immersions, and residency-based student teaching, participants see firsthand how community stressors shape student mental health and why supportive adult relationships matter. Coursework helps them analyze these experiences, practice self-reflection, and discuss structural issues that influence teachers’ own well-being. Stakeholders—including cooperating teachers, community mentors, and students—reported that this preparation fostered empathy, cultural awareness, and a commitment to equitable classroom practice.

Findings also show that learning about community assets and culturally responsive approaches helped preservice teachers feel more prepared to engage students and manage challenges that often contribute to teacher mental health strain and burnout. While graduates still needed deeper content preparation and continued practice with classroom management, the program strengthened their readiness to build trusting relationships and create supportive learning environments—central components of effective school mental health promotion.

Faculty authors: Tammy Schwartz, Hannah Dinnen, Marissa K. Smith-Millman, Maressa Dixon, and Paul D. Flaspohler, Miami University
SEO keywords: urban teaching, education, school mental health, teacher mental health, student mental health
Publication details: Advances in School Mental Health Promotion, 2016. “The Urban Teaching Cohort: Pre-service Training to Support Mental Health in Urban Schools.” https://doi.org/10.1080/1754730X.2016.1246195