If you're a parent, teacher, school administrator or anyone who gives a damn about helping young people navigate the chaos of growing up, this episode is for you.
More info, resources & ways to connect - https://www.tacosfallapart.com/podcast-live-show/podcast-guests/iuri-melo
Licensed clinical social worker Iuri Melo joined me for a Mental Health Monday conversation that challenged a lot of assumptions about student mental health. With 20 years of experience and five kids of his own, Iuri knows what he's talking about when it comes to supporting young people.
When students reach out to School Pulse (the text-based support service Iuri co-founded), two themes dominate the conversation: pressure to perform and relationship struggles. Not vague anxiety or mysterious depression but concrete worries about grades, parents, friends and fitting in.
Iuri's take is that we're focusing too much on teaching people to identify mental health problems and not enough on building protective factors. Schools don't need teachers to become amateur diagnosticians. They need teachers to be friendly, approachable and genuinely connected with their students.
School Pulse takes a proactive approach rather than waiting for crisis. They text students directly with encouragement, growth mindset tools and practical advice. About 75-80% of their interactions with students are positive. When crisis does happen, their goal is simple: connect kids back to their parents and their school community.
The service isn't trying to replace therapy or become the ultimate solution, but it is filling a gap by being accessible (just a text message away), immediate and less intimidating than walking into a counselor's office.
Iuri's advice for educators is to be friends with your students. Not in an inappropriate way but in a genuine, fist-bump-at-the-door kind of way. When teachers invest in relationships, students do better academically and emotionally. When students are friends with their teachers, they're more likely to ask for help when they need it.
He also pushed back against the SEL (social-emotional learning) controversy. School Pulse makes all their content completely transparent to parents and proactively includes them in email campaigns. Their focus isn't on clinical diagnoses but on practical skills that help kids succeed academically and socially.
If Iuri could wave a magic wand, he'd start what he calls a "humility movement." In a world where everyone seems absolutely certain about everything, he wishes people (especially those influencing young minds) would approach conversations with a beginner's mindset. Just because we think or feel something doesn't make it capital-T True.
Throughout our conversation, Iuri kept coming back to simple practices that actually work. His personal life hack is to start the day with movement. His advice for managing emotions is to not overthink your thinking. His favorite way to boost mood is to practice gratitude but add "because" to go one layer deeper.
For parents, his message was clear: don't send your kids into the world with fear. Send them with confidence. Model approachability. Make yourself a safe place to land.
The conversation reminded me that supporting student mental health doesn't have to be complicated. Sometimes it's as simple as showing up, being kind and helping kids connect with the people who care about them most.
