New program in Hillsborough County helping students be more mindful
Helping students cope with stress
FOX 13's Kylie Jones reports on the Hillsborough County School District converting classrooms into rooms for students to unwind and deal with daily stresses.
BRANDON, Fla. - A high school in Hillsborough County is putting a new spin on mental wellness.
In partnership with Tampa Bay Thrives, the Hillsborough County Public School District opened a "Zen den" at Brandon High School. They call it the ‘Eagles Nest,’ after their school's mascot.
Dig deeper:
The wellness room focuses on early intervention and prevention tactics to give students tools to manage their mental health.
Dr. Jeremy Klein, the principal at Brandon High School, says his kids are dealing with lots of things in and outside the classroom.
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"Everything from old school fitting in," Klein said. "The social media stuff is real. The hardship of poverty, right? We are a Title I school, so that comes with poverty."
View inside the 'Eagles Nest.'
The wellness room, which once looked like a traditional classroom, was designed with help from the students.
"A lot of kids in neighborhoods where they don't have a cafe or Starbucks really crave that experience," Tampa Bay Thrives President & CEO Carrie Zeisse said.
The backstory:
The room was built with the idea of a coffee shop in mind.
Students hanging out in the 'Eagles Nest.'
Zeisse says they want it to be a calm space where students can feel comfortable and escape some of the chaos of a regular school day.
"This space was designed to help kids before they get to crisis," Zeisse said.
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Local perspective:
A similar room opened at Sligh Middle School in January 2024.
Zeisse says they've already seen encouraging results from the mental health programs there.
"Of the kids who are involved, there's a 70% increase in attendance, and 14% decrease in behavioral issues that are being referred," Zeisse said.
Students hanging out in the 'Eagles Nest.'
The room was constructed aiming to deconstruct the stigma around mental health.
"There might just be an opportunity for some one-on-one counseling, right? Our team is doing that all the time," Klein said. "Maybe we need to have a safe place for mediations to occur. Maybe there needs to be a teacher-student conference where we get the barrier of a traditional classroom out the way and into a new space to open up dialogue; some comfy chairs to just get kids to relax."
What they're saying:
Addison Gosselin, a senior at Brandon High School, says the daily grind in high school can be exhausting.
"There definitely is a lot, like, it gets thrown at you," Gosselin said.
Gosselin says this is a room she could envision herself using to practice theater lines with classmates or just come to between classes.
A student hanging out in the 'Eagles Nest.'
"I have an empty class period in my day, so I could definitely see myself coming here and doing other classes' work," Gosselin said.
Whether it's doing work in the room in between classes or one-on-one counseling, school staff say one of the biggest challenges students face is figuring out how to express their thoughts and feelings.
"Just walking in and a kid being able to have a thought about having a mental health conversation, it's doing its job," Klein said.
Big picture view:
The room has a dedicated staff member hired to run the space for students.
Zeisse says the room was funded with help from the Department of Children and Families and various community partners around Tampa Bay.
The school district plans to open a similar room at King High School by the end of the school year.
The Source: FOX 13's Kylie Jones collected the information in this story.
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