People skills like the ability to connect, understand, deal with conflict and deal with emotions are determinants of your health, happiness, life expectancy and likeability. These are essential skills that should be taught in school. These are skills that you use daily, sometimes hourly, those who master them are greatly rewarded.
Students who learn these skills at school have more resilience, self-confidence, higher grades, and get better jobs.
With regards to suicide, it is great that it is becoming acceptable to tell others if we are not OK. By teaching SEL at schools we can also reduce the incidence by increasing two protective factors, connection and resilience. People who have developed resilience and self-confidence are less likely to experience depression or anxiety or suicidal thoughts. People who have greater social skills are more likely to have more, high-quality connections which are inversely proportional to the likelihood of suicide.
By teaching SEL we can make the world a happier more productive place.
