Sacramento County school district partners with Kaiser to expand student wellness outreach
SACRAMENTO — Schools around the region are looking for ways to help students with anxiety and depression. This comes as the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention reports that 37% of youth experienced poor mental health during the pandemic.
Seniors Araneli Pineda and Alain Rodriguez sat with a clinician in Encina High School's wellness room. It's a safe place for teens to talk about their worries or take a minute to gather their thoughts when feeling overwhelmed.
"To me, this is that breath of fresh air, especially when times are hard with students overstressed about exams or tests," Pineda said.
Encina's High's wellness room is one of twelve in the San Juan Unified School District, which services approximately 10,000 high school students.
"This is that room they can protect themselves with if they need to cry in here, take a few minutes for themselves," Rodriguez said.
It's a trend seen across the country to address growing mental health concerns. Experts say one in four youths now struggle with depression or anxiety.
"The primary reason these rooms exist is to help students manage their stress," said Dr. Anjali Amladi, a Kaiser Permanente psychiatrist. "When students are less stressed, they are able to be more meaningful participants in school, which increases the likelihood of academic success."
Thanks to more than $100,000 in grants over the past few years from Kaiser Permanente, mental health programs and wellness rooms are expanding. Encina High is now equipped with private rooms for one-on-one counseling and has an improved ambiance.
"You'll see that there is no fluorescent lighting, so it's backlighting and kind of presents a calming demeanor to the room itself," Dr. Amaldi said. "It's a multi-sensory experience, so you can hear water features in the background. There's birds chirping."
Students just tell teachers when they need to take a moment.
Kaiser is also supporting wellness rooms at Roseville Joint Unified School District.