壁咚影院

The Palo Alto Unified School District (壁咚影院) is proposing new plans to further address mental wellness on campus post-pandemic. As students regain familiarity with being fully on-campus, the district鈥檚 wellness staff聽is working on strengthening its services to best serve students.

In the most recent school board meeting on March 22, board members proposed the School-Based Mental Health Program (SBMH) 鈥渢o offer a comprehensive and coordinated approach by coupling mental health services with other supports already provided in the school setting and establishing a mechanism for supporting student well-being across all dimensions of health.鈥� In summary, this plan would increase wellness staff on 壁咚影院 campuses with support from local mental health agencies, implement early intervention services for mental illness and create school-wide awareness of early signs of mental health struggles.

Sophomore Juan Acosta-Perez, who is working with senior Anika Saraf and junior Abby Kuang on a Youth Community Service project to increase mental health resources to 壁咚影院 students, believes that the current聽wellness program at Gunn can be improved significantly. 鈥淢ental health counselors are a good idea, but [the Wellness Center] is very, very understaffed,鈥� Acosta-Perez said. He also pointed out that the information students are taught during Social Emotional Learning and Functionality (SELF) classes don鈥檛 adequately explore mental health issues. 鈥淚 think many students can agree that [SELF lessons on mental health] are just done to check off a box,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not very sensitive. [Mental illness] has to do with environment or what somebody might be struggling with at home. It鈥檚 such a deep issue that cannot be resolved with one presentation.鈥�

Currently, the wellness staff at Gunn is supported by Counseling and Support Services for Youth (CASSY), which provides resources like on-site counselors to Bay Area schools. Despite this partnership, the Wellness Center is still understaffed to the demand in students requesting wellness services. SBMH intends to bolster wellness staff, especially in elementary and middle schools, and promote personal wellness for students in all grades.

School Board Vice President Jennifer DiBrienza described the specific goals of SBMH. 鈥淸We want to] make sure that we provide wellness earlier in the process, before it鈥檚 a crisis,鈥� DiBrienza said. 鈥淭he way that I heard staff talk about it on Tuesday night was [about] creating a culture of wellness. We鈥檙e in a school district that is highly academic [and] somewhat competitive. There鈥檚 a lot to do; the expectations are high.鈥�

壁咚影院 Director of Mental Health and Wellness Dawn Yoshinaga explained the proposed timeline. 鈥淥ur high聽schools will continue their partnership with external agencies with an additional day of support through Asian聽Americans for Community Involvement,鈥� she wrote in an email. 鈥淎s we roll out this first phase of the SBMH program at elementary and middle schools, we will seek input from our high school students, staff and families to design an in-house program that will best meet the mental health needs of our students.鈥�

The program includes a tier list which offers information about how to help low-, moderate- and high-risk students struggling with mental health issues. DiBrienza compared it to the elementary reading levels and resources. 鈥淸There are three tiers],鈥� she said. 鈥淭ier one, in terms of reading, is like regular reading instruction in elementary school. If you鈥檙e talking about mental health, it鈥檚 part of the SELF curriculum. Tier two is [if] there are elevated needs. If I鈥檓 learning how to read and I鈥檓 struggling a bit, maybe I need more than what the classroom teacher is giving everyone. [In terms of] mental health, it鈥檚 taking advantage of our counselors. Tier three is an even greater need. [This program would] make sure that we have robust systems so that we鈥檙e not just catching kids when they鈥檙e at two or three or when they鈥檙e in crisis.鈥�

Assistant Principal Michalis Gordon explained that SBMH, as it is now, will not have huge effects on Gunn campus. 鈥淚t won鈥檛 affect us much because we鈥檙e still contracting with CASSY,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t may help with getting us more therapists.鈥�