VENTURA COUNTY, Calif. – A particular group in schooling has rolled out a brand new “go-to” Wellness Middle, 11 of them, one on every campus within the Oxnard Union High School District (OUHSD).
“We would like college students to have a spot of refuge on campus,” stated Freda Rossi, OUHSD Director of Wellness and Inclusion.
Every Wellness Middle provides a spot the place teenagers can escape the stresses of college and life, particularly throughout a pandemic.
College students at Pacifica Excessive College voted to call their heart “The Cove.”
“The cove is a extra calmer a part of the ocean,” stated Ester Dominguez, Pupil Wellness Specialist at Pacifica Excessive College. “Its round and protected.”
Doorways are open all through the college day as a spot to assemble or spend time alone. Every heart is staffed with 10 specifically educated wellness friends.
“I do not suppose I do know a single pupil who would not go right here at the very least as soon as,” stated Tracy Hoang, a senior at Pacifica Excessive.
The purpose is to attach every pupil to the assist they want, together with particular person or group counseling.
“To have the protected house the place college students can are available in and chill out and rejuvenate after which return to highschool, feeling higher than they had been earlier than, it is a actually nice expertise,” stated Hoang.
Wrap-around providers deal with deeper points like home violence, household homelessness and meals insecurity.
“A lot of our wellness facilities are additionally internet hosting household occasions or guardian schooling occasions to raised equip dad and mom with the information of the best way to look out for his or her pupil in the event that they really feel that that pupil could also be experiencing anxiousness or melancholy,” stated Rossi.
Every heart has a chilled zone stocked with gadgets to assist destress and an space for meditation.
“At first, possibly the primary week, we had a pair college students in. Slowly, absolutely we might see college students that had been coming in with lessons, they’d be displaying up at lunch and vitamin. Generally we now have approach too many college students within the heart that we now have to, , reduce it off,” stated Dominguez.
College students on all campuses can take a look at their Wellness Middle as a spot for therapeutic, in a form of ‘residence away from residence’ setting.
“I might love dad and mom and college students to know that it is alright to get assist and getting assist does not imply that you simply’re weak, it simply signifies that you are not alone,” stated Hoang.