\u201cThe Wellness Center is here because life is unpredictable and people need support. High school is a rough time in there. And if I can only imagine if I had something like this in high school, my high school would’ve thrived,\u201d Victoria Butterfield, a Berkeley High School Wellness Center counselor, said. Despite its efficacy in supporting students’ emotional well being, some students are not even aware of the BHS Wellness Center because of its relatively new appearance on campus; the Wellness Center made its debut during the 2023-2024 school year. The Wellness Center is a space for students to rest, relax, or talk to a trusted adult for 10 minutes during the school day.<\/p>\n
Unlike the Health Center \u2014 located in H105 \u2014 which mainly operates focusing on students’ physical health, the Wellness Center is a place for students to evaluate and concentrate on their mental health, a critical factor in students overall ability to focus and learn, though many students do not know of the center\u2019s presence at all. \u201cThe Wellness Center is here so that nobody ever feels like they have nowhere to go or no one to talk to. It’s really important because mental health can be hard to access, but with the Wellness Center, support for mental health is here,\u201d Butterfield said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Health Center and the Wellness Center have been implemented at BHS due to the need for students to have spaces to take care of themselves, both emotionally and physically. With a very large student population, it is difficult for teachers and counselors to individually check in and support every single student equally, making the centers a go-to spot for students to seek certain physical and mental health services that may not be available for them outside of school. \u201cIf you need more personal things, I’m pretty sure you have to go through more of a process, but you’re still able to get it and they provide you (with) so many things,\u201d Naomi Chambers, a BHS junior, said. \u201cI think that’s really important because not everyone has families that will give that to them.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Although asking for help and support with certain services at the Health Center or Wellness Center can be a bit more extensive of a process and can span over a few days or weeks, students frequently feel that they are able to eventually receive the services they need. \u201cI do think that the resources are easy to access because you kind of just need a pass\u2026honestly, most things that you need for your personal use are gonna be at the Health Center and it’s very easy to access,\u201d Chambers said.<\/p>\n
Along with efficiency, both the Health Center and the Wellness Center offer a scarce but invaluable institutional characteristic: confidentiality. Many students have mental or physical health matters that they do not feel comfortable talking to their parents\/guardians about. Both centers\u2019 counselors are bound to complete confidentiality in most cases, meaning students are able to discuss whatever they would like to without the imminent fear of their parents or guardians being notified. \u201cIt’s a space where there’s a lot of confidentiality, you don’t have to go in and they don’t have to tell your parents anything if you don’t want them to,\u201d Francesca Bertolini, a BHS sophomore, said. \u201cThere’s a lot of solutions to different problems that you can solve there, and they won’t judge you no matter what, which I feel is really important.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Although there is a feeling of safety and comfortability for many students at the Health Center and Wellness Center, stigma surrounding mental health and even aspects of physical health prevent some students from ever seeking help in these spaces, an issue that BHS counselors are battling everyday. \u201cMental health itself can be very stigmatized in general,\u201d Butterfield said. Overall, the Health Center and the Wellness Center provide a place for students to receive help with their physical and mental health without the stressors of judgment from peers or parents or consequences.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Above all else, counselors at both centers want to help students navigate their life issues and get the support they need regardless of their circumstances. \u201cMy wish is that students feel more comfortable coming in if they haven’t already because the space is here for your support. And it’s not a bad thing to need help, it’s actually a brave thing,\u201d Butterfield said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cThe Wellness Center is here because life is unpredictable and people need support. High school is a rough…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":167843,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[143,145,144],"class_list":{"0":"post-167842","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-oakland","8":"tag-oakland","9":"tag-oakland-headlines","10":"tag-oakland-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167842","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=167842"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167842\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/167843"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=167842"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=167842"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=167842"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}