By Misael Gomez, Sports Editor
Mills High School has always made a conscious effort to prioritize their students mental health and has been increasing their efforts over the last few years with many student-led wellness activities, including an annual Mental Health Assembly. This year, three new Wellness Counselors joined the Vikings family: Staysha Veal, Laura Hahn, and Linda Windes. Together, they are more than ready to connect with students and encourage them to have a successful and enjoyable school year.
Along with intelligence and compassion, the Wellness counselors are curious to learn more about teenage emotions and motivations. Ms. Windes has worked extensively with different people when training as a therapist, however, her work with teenagers was by far her favorite. Ms. Windes feels that, “adolescence is such a cool period where youth are really interested in learning about themselves.” Ms. Veal on the other hand, has a very different backstory as to why she wanted to become a counselor. As a teenager as well as throughout her adult life, Ms. Veal went through a lot of difficult situations, ones she believes, “[she] would have never gotten through [these situations] without the support [she] received from a counselor.” The third wellness counselor, Ms. Hahn is very experienced in the field of counseling and helping others. Ms. Hahn expanded on this idea stating, “Before I became a therapist, I spent over a decade working as a community organizer, non-profit manager, and political consultant. It was hard work, but I loved helping people make positive change in their lives and communities.” It’s safe to say the students of Mills should be confident in the abilities our three wellness counselors possess.
A wellness counselor is much larger than making sure the students of Mills feel welcome, healthy, and safe. Ms. Veal emphasized the idea that there’s a difference between a school counselor and a wellness counselor, stating, “a School Counselor mainly deals with a students academics, but as a Wellness Counselor, I focus on a students social and emotional health.” Ms. Windes added on to her statement by saying,“relationship challenges; having difficulty with managing stress, trauma, depression, grief…” as things they assist students with. As Ms. Hahn likes putting it, they’re “here for all the ‘life stuff’ that comes up during the 4 years of High School.”
Students making sure they take care of their mental health takes more than just the counselors, though. If students can’t find ways to keep themselves healthy in all states, they can be negatively affected. Ms. Viel puts this perfectly, saying, “I think maintaining wellness is more than just taking care of your mental health—it’s your complete and general well-being.” Working on keeping your mental health can be difficult, but Ms. Veal put this matter in her own words explaining that “A person’s mental health is what helps them to navigate through their life and all their planned endeavors”. The way you take care of your mental health determines your confidence, your self love, and the way you decide to spend your day. Ultimately, our wellness counselors have a message for the students of Mills to stay safe and healthy. Starting with Ms. Windes, she has an important message of looking for what you need when you need it, stating, “It’s important to take the time and space to get what you need to be able to get by – whether that’s reaching out to get connected to resources you and your family need (like food banks or relief funds) or taking the time to check-in with a Wellness Counselor about what’s going on for you”. She wants every student and family to find ways to keep themselves ready and able during these difficult times. Continuing on to Ms. Veal, she offered students and staff members different ways to stay healthy. She identified these 3 ways as, “(1) self-care, (2) positive self-talk, and (3) giving yourself permission ”. Ms.Hahn wants to make sure the students of Mills can accept their feelings during a time like this. She explains, “In this unprecedented period of global uncertainty it’s completely normal to be experiencing a wide range of emotions. Accepting your feelings is an important first step to building resilience”. Our wellness counselors are prepared to take every responsibility given to them in order to make sure the students and staff members of Mills High School are ready to achieve their goals for the school year. TheThunderbolt wishes the best of luck to Ms. Lisa Windes, Ms. Veal, and Ms. Hahn and thanks them for all their hard work!
