Social-emotional learning (SEL) has become a focus at MHS with homeroom on Wednesday’s being dedicated to fostering proper social-emotional wellbeing among students. ASB’s Instagram occasionally posts SEL-related tips and hosts lunchtime events to raise awareness. Counselors are available for one-on-one talks from school-related to personal matters. However, do these resources effectively address the intricacies of mental health?
Mental health is a personal issue that can benefit greatly from support, so the school works with students to elevate the student support program and meet their needs, MUSD Program Manager of Mental Health, Sandra Quintana said. She also said that counselor’s are understaffed which makes it hard to provide students with the support that they require.
“Everyone’s encouraged to have their first contact be the guidance counselor to connect with the three school psychologists and the four mental health counselors, who work with students around individual counseling.” Quintana said.
Quintana credits School-Linked Services coordinator Nicole Steward for gathering information on the direction of student support services at MHS.
“My job is to find any barrier to a students’ education like housing, food, medical, immigration, mental health, and find resources in the city, county, state or federal resources that can remove those barriers so students can focus on their education,” Steward said.
Many students don’t know where to find help, senior Abira Rehman said. She visits her counselor regularly, but her mental health is still fluctuating.
Self-elected programs like counseling or small group listening sessions would be more effective than the crass awareness events, Rehman added.
MHS is committed to the integration of SEL and providing resources to the entire student body through their professionals, and these resources are beyond the surface-level SEL options, Quintana said. One of their upcoming projects is the Mental Wellness Center located in the library, she said.
Storm McNerney and Mireya Coronado, both Milpitas Wellness Center liaisons and employees for the Santa Clara County Office of Education, are leading the project. McNerney, who benefited greatly from the McKinney–Vento Homeless Assistance Act when she was in high school, hopes to make the wellness center a resource for everyone, she said. “The wellness center has a menu of different activities from art and tactile stations to one-on-one discussions, but our main goal is for students to know where to go for support when the center is closed,” she said.
Student input is key to the success of the center, Coronado said. “For our group counseling, we’ll only talk about what wants to be talked about and that choice for the students makes it a lot more self-selected and a safe space.” Coronado said.
Another resource Quintana stressed is CareSolace.org, a free concierge service that uses an algorithm that uses user input about insurance and special restrictions to connect them to a therapist. As mental health care takes a more holistic and self-advocacy reliant approach, institutions are listening and adapting from the one size fits all nature of support Quintana said.