By Ali Shwartz, Mental Health Specialist
May 2, 2025
This is a time when we shine a light on something that’s always present, but often tucked away behind closed doors and brave faces.
Mental health isn’t just about a diagnosis or a moment of crisis. It’s in the small choices we make every day: how we breathe through stress, how we respond to a child’s tough moment, how we offer ourselves kindness when we fall short. It’s in the way we ask someone, “How are you?” and really mean it. And it’s in the moments when we say, “I need help,” and trust someone will hear us.
I’ve been thinking about how powerful it is that Mental Health Month falls in the spring, when we’re surrounded by signs of renewal and growth. Just as the earth softens to make room for new roots, we too can soften—to make space for healing, for connection, for the deep understanding that none of us is meant to do this alone.
At Gateways, we see this every day. In a quiet corner where a student takes a sensory break. In a thoughtful pause from an educator who chooses compassion over correction. In the way our community reminds one another: you are seen, and you matter. Let’s carry that spirit into this month—and beyond.
As part of our commitment to supporting mental health, we’re hosting a free webinar, Helping an Anxious Child: Expert Strategies to Prevent Worry from Spiraling, on Monday, May 5 from 7:30 – 9:00 pm ET. Therapist and anxiety expert Robyn Isman, LICSW, will be sharing concrete tools to help kids manage anxiety, especially around transitions like the end of the school year. I’m especially looking forward to this session because it’s all about giving parents and educators practical, compassionate strategies they can use right away; tools that make a real difference in kids’ daily lives.
And don’t forget to follow Gateways on social media! We’ll be sharing mental health tips, reflections, and resources throughout the month of May.
Mental Health Month Events
There are no upcoming events at this time
About the Author
Ali Shwartz
Ali joins Gateways following six years as the Director of Support and Counseling at Schechter Boston. She has worked as a school psychologist in both the public and private sector, providing comprehensive mental health supports. Ali has experience working with a broad range of students from kindergarten through eighth grade, conducting a wide array of assessment methods, employing multiple consultation techniques, and implementing therapeutic and behavioral interventions. Her past experience also includes ACCEPT Education Collaborative, where she worked in a substantially separate therapeutic program for K-8 students who were unable to make adequate social and emotional progress in traditional classrooms, and also co-developed a program to provide short-term stabilization, assessment, and instructional services to students who were temporarily excluded from their educational placement due to emotional and behavioral challenges. Ali believes that if all children feel safe and loved, and are given the supports they need, they will thrive.