Dr. Ajitpaul Mangat, assistant professor of English, facilitated a panel of his students at the inaugural SMART (Supporting Mental Health by Advocating for Resources Together) Youth Mental Health Summit at the Buffalo Convention Center on Nov. 18, 2025. The summit brought together experts, practitioners, and advocates to share knowledge and strategies for improving mental health and wellness in various settings.
Dr. Mangat was joined by English education majors Julia Nielsen, Grace Elson, Adam Lombardi, and Celena Barone to discuss the barriers that prevent the flourishing of the mental health and wellness of young students and to offer concrete strategies for creating a more accessible classroom.
The students drew on scholarship in disability studies to create pedagogical tools that educators can use to make their classrooms more accommodating. Nielson discussed the ways stories about OCD can be used to improve accommodations for students with neurological differences; Elson stressed the value of multisensory storytelling as a tool for improving students’ reading comprehension; Lombardi shared how he has used freewriting in his classroom to help students control and regulate their emotions; and Barone argued that popular music can be used to help students talk more openly about mental health.
“I am always looking for opportunities that allow my students to extend their work outside the classroom and into the community,” said Dr. Mangat. “My hope is that this experience will give these students the confidence and expertise to be educators who are attuned to disability and mental health in their teaching. I also hope that it might encourage some of them to continue researching, and even publishing, after their time at Niagara University is completed.”
In addition to presenting at the conference, the students networked with other Western New York educators and attend several panels.
The Erie County SMART Collaborative is a professional learning community established to prioritize P-12 student mental health and social emotional learning. Comprised of Erie County School Districts, educators, community agencies and representatives from Erie County, SMART serves as a vital link between available mental health resources and students.
