(1)School districts must annually provide a minimum of five hours of instruction to students in grades 6-12 related to youth mental health awareness and assistance, including suicide prevention and the impacts of substance abuse.

(2)Using the health education Standard adopted in Rule 6A-1.09401, F.A.C., Student Performance Standard, the instruction for youth mental and emotional health will advance each year through developmentally appropriate instruction and skill building and must address, at a minimum, the following topics:

(a)Recognition of signs and symptoms of mental health disorders;

(b)Prevention of mental health disorders;

(c)Mental health awareness and assistance;

(d)How to reduce the stigma around mental health disorders;

(e)Awareness of resources, including local school and community resources;

(f)The process for accessing treatment;

(g)Strategies to develop healthy coping techniques;

(h)Strategies to support a peer, friend, or family member with a mental health disorder;

(i)Prevention of suicide; and

(j)Prevention of the abuse of and addiction to alcohol, nicotine, and drugs.

(2) Members of the instructional staff of the public schools, subject to the rules of the State Board of Education and the district school board, shall teach efficiently and faithfully, using the books and materials required that meet the highest Standard for professionalism and historical accuracy, following the prescribed courses of study, and * (n) Comprehensive health education that addresses concepts of community health; consumer health; environmental health; family life, including an awareness of the benefits of sexual abstinence as the expected standard and the consequences of teenage pregnancy; mental and emotional health; injury prevention and safety; Internet safety; nutrition; personal health; prevention and control of disease; and substance use and abuse. The health education curriculum for students in grades 7 through 12 shall include a teen dating violence and abuse component that includes, but is not limited to, the definition of dating violence and abuse, the warning signs of dating violence and abusive behavior, the characteristics of healthy relationships, measures to prevent and stop dating violence and abuse, and community resources available to victims of dating violence and abuse.