Most assume depression will ‘look’ obvious; a student who is sad or stays to themselves or perhaps even one who cries incessantly. But the reality is that this mental health disorder can take many forms in a classroom from the class clown to the angsty teen to the stereotypical loner.

This session will cover the various behavioral symptoms that are required to have a diagnosis of depression, delve into the neuroscience of the disorder and then show how various evidence-based interventions, including those using the principles of Applied Behavior Analysis, relate back to those symptoms. We will highlight methods to find a student’s motivation and harness those motives to gain momentum and meet goals during this complex period. Of course, ensuring we can do this in a school environment by school personnel and other important stakeholders is a hallmark of realistic evidence-based interventions.