TEACHERS ROLE TO GEN Z’s MENTAL HEALTH Shela C. Dela Peña Upon meeting young people every day, there will come a time that we would realize how vulnerable their feelings are. After the pandemic, more kids and adolescents experience issues in mental health. As teachers, we shall have the initiative to address this alarming situation that the Gen Z’s are facing. “Generation Z or Gen Z Filipinos, ages 18 to 24 years, are prone to depression and anxiety, higher than the global average”, says Red Mendoza in Manila Time, April 23,2023. We can recall that our mental health plays an important role to our well-being. As parents of our learners in school, we play a big part in uplifting their mental well-being. Fostering love and care help in relieving these children’s emotional issues and to developing their social and emotional skills. They deserve to feel happiness and live a healthy and rewarded life. Adopted from Unicef, here are the suggested tips on how to support the mental health of our children in school. For 0-5 years, we can lay the foundation for a lifetime of positive mental health in this period of growth and learning. For 6-10 years, we can encourage these learners to make friends and build resilience from the inside and outside world. For 11 -13 years, we can be an adult friend to them who can explain the physical changes that happen to their body and let them realize that changes are normal in appearances and friendships. For 14-18 years, we can be a trustworthy friend who explain the influences of school family and peers and how their emotions, behavior and health will be safe from risks. Gen Z’s ages are very critical. Our discipline styles can make and even break their emotions. We can apply several approaches but we can apply the appropriate ones to each unique individual. First, we can consider the application of games or plays as they strengthen the learners’ mental health. The moment we play with them, their emotional well being will be secured and positive. Aside from this, we can help in imposing discipline to our learners in smart and healthy way. It is true that positive discipline works most of the time. We can support them at early age as they will carry this in their hearts into adulthood. For teens, let us show our fatherly and motherly love while we are looking after them. Building their self-confidence will serve as their foundation to be happy and fulfilled. Teens at their young age may have risky behavior; however, with proper guidance, we can be of held to them to stay safe. Proper communicating with the teens help them in building trust. We can choose the proper approach in conversations with empathy and understanding. In other words, we teachers can make a change to our learners at different ages. Let us be partners in navigating their tough situations.