Upcoming Workshop
Crafting a Curriculum:
Teaching Mental Health Literacy through Middle Grades Literature
Thursday, May 14, 2026
Registration Deadline: April 30, 2026
New England Association of Schools and Colleges
1115 Westford St, Third Floor
Lowell, MA 01851
Facilitators: Brooke Eisenbach, PhD and Jason Frydman, PhD from Lesley University
Join this interactive workshop and explore how middle grade literature can spark powerful conversations about mental health, reduce stigma, and foster inclusive, supportive classroom communities. Designed for teachers, counselors, social workers, and instructional leaders, this session offers creative, research-based strategies to integrate mental health literacy (MHL) into English Language Arts (ELA) instruction without adding stress or unrealistic demands to your workload.
Discover how co-planning with mental health support staff and selecting purposeful, high-quality literature can empower students to explore mental health topics with care, curiosity, and confidence. Engage with curricular examples and collaborate with fellow participants to begin designing an adaptable, standards-aligned unit for your own classroom. Walk away with practical tools, renewed inspiration, and a clear path toward creating age-appropriate, empathetic learning spaces.
Schedule (schedule subject to change)
8:30 am Registration
9:00 am –12:00 pm Workshop
12:00 pm –12:30 pm Lunch included
12:30 pm –3:00 pm Workshop
Attendees will take away:
• A research-based framework for integrating mental health literacy into middle grades ELA
• Strategies for selecting high-quality literature to support inclusive, stigma-reducing dialogue
• Collaborative approaches for planning with counselors and support staff
• Examples of standards-aligned units that support both ELA goals and mental health awareness
• Realistic, adaptable solutions to implementation challenges like time and resource limitations
• Opportunities for collaborative planning and peer feedback
• Tools to help students develop empathy, normalize help-seeking, and engage in meaningful reflection
• Inspiration to create brave, developmentally appropriate spaces for discussing mental health
PLEASE NOTE: A minimum of 10 attendees is required.
Registration Forms:
IMPORTANT INFORMATION: If you use the interactive registration form, please remember to do a "Save As" after you type in your information to save the form to your computer. Then you can print the form to mail or attach the form to email to NELMS.
About the Facilitators:
Brooke Eisenbach, PhD is an Associate Professor of Middle and Secondary Education at Lesley University. She has co-edited several books, including Queer Adolescent Literature as a Complement to the English Language Arts Curriculum and the first edition of Fostering Mental Health Literacy through Adolescent Literature. Her research on middle level education, virtual education, and young adult literature has been published in books and top-tier journals such as Voices from the Middle, Research in Middle Level Education Online, Middle School Journal, and English Journal. She is a former middle level English and YA Literature teacher and virtual school teacher. She continues to engage in the middle school classroom as a substitute teacher for the Acton-Boxborough School District in Massachusetts. She has received several teaching awards, including the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) Outstanding Middle Level Educator Award.
Jason Frydman, PhD, RDT/BCT, NCSP is an Associate Professor of Expressive Therapies at Lesley University. Dr. Frydman is a licensed psychologist, registered and board-certified drama therapist, and nationally credentialed school psychologist. His school-based research program focuses on mental health literacy, trauma- informed practices, and the use of creative arts therapies for students and staff. He received the 2024 Research Award from the North American Drama Therapy Association, is the associate editor for general topics of Translational Issues in Psychological Science, and the co-editor of Fostering Mental Health Literacy through Adolescent Literature (1st edition).