It’s no secret that many students at AHS face high expectations and stressful situations. Balancing a combination of extracurriculars and academics is no easy task and many students commonly find themselves too caught up in their activities to take time to reflect on their mental health. Thus, a new website dubbed the AHS Wellness Center has been launched this year to give students resources and materials to help manage their stress and reflect on their mental state. 

While mental health is a topic which is hard to quantify as it is largely personal, this website hopes to arm students, parents, and teachers with basic knowledge and other tools to get a head start. For instance, students can look on the website to see articles which explain what mental health is, some media that accurately describe specific mental health issues, and some basic tools to manage one’s anxiety. Additionally, the student section covers the sensitive topics of suicide help, LGBTQ+ student support, and depression through is many resources. As for the parents section, it is unabashed to confront topics of sexual abuse, suicide prevention, and trauma in explaining it to parents through a series of link to reliable resources. It even has a section for teachers to confront mental health in their classrooms and refer students to a counselor. While all of these resources are very helpful in navigating mental health as a community, a spotlight is the bi-weekly check-ins.

Ms. Deja Anderson, AHS’ Wellness Counselor, began to host these meetings on Sept. 10 and will host them on Mondays and Thursdays from 2:00 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. 

“The purpose of the open drop-ins is to provide our students with a place to come and be with other AHS students, share/ discuss, etc,” said Ms. Anderson.

 She has noted that one of the main motivations of starting these meetings was knowing that COVID-19 has caused a great rift in face-to-face interaction, likely emotionally distancing students from each other. She also hopes to be able to teach more mechanisms related to mental and emotional health during these meetings while also hosting games to build a sense of community. Ms. Anderson has noted that not a lot of people have reached out yet, but she is always well prepared with many more resources such as educational articles and the ability to schedule further counseling if needed. Additionally, starting on Oct. 6, students can schedule 15-minute private appointments with Ms. Anderson to ask questions or chat about mental health and stress. Ms. Anderson is willing to lend an ear to students in need in any way that she can.

“Our goal is for students to feel comfortable reaching out when they need support as well as having information they need in the area of mental health easily accessible to them,” said Ms. Anderson. “We want students to know they are not alone and we are here to help.” 

Mental health is an important issue to talk about, especially during a time of social isolation. These new efforts attempt to be more than just shallow and try to help students get a better understanding of themselves. These resources and the check-ins are welcome to all students so looking into them is highly recommended. You can visit the AHS Wellness Center at https://sites.google.com/ausd.net/ahswellnesscenter/home or @ahs_wellnessctr.