Social emotional learning is important for emotional regulation, social communication, empathy, and more. CHADS Coalition for Mental Health provides education in schools in order to advance awareness and help prevent depression and suicide in the Saint Louis area. Social emotional learning helps children and adolescents understand, manage, and communicate their emotions. This can in turn help adolescents to connect with and maintain relationships with their peers. Peer relationships become increasingly important during adolescence and, as a result, peer rejection (or a lack of peer support) can influence depressive symptoms. I was inspired by my observations of in-class CHADS presentations and used research on peer support in adolescents and its effects on depression to develop an empirically informed set of recommendations designed to develop and foster peer support as a preventative intervention for depression and suicidality.

McCaully would like to thank her faculty sponsor Lisa Willoughby for their support of this project.