Sonoma Valley Wellness Centers Uplift Students

By Madeleine Edwards
Sonoma Sun High School Correspondent

Following the 2020 coronavirus pandemic, the Sonoma Valley Unified School District (SVUSD) discovered an issue that needed to be addressed and appeared to be missing in the lives of numerous Sonoma Valley High School students – an on-campus resource to support the wellness and mental health needs of the student body. 

To address this need, money was made available from a District fund, facilitated by the Sonoma Valley Education Foundation, aimed at providing crucial mental health and social-emotional support, notably by implementing wellness centers in schools across Sonoma Valley.

A wellness center is a designated space where students can come for a 15-minute “brain break” from class, individual or group therapy, or crisis support. It offers a safe and supervised space for students who are overwhelmed or experiencing intense emotions.

According to Camille Garcia, a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist who helped establish the wellness center at SVHS, a key benefit of wellness centers is the ability to provide care to students and families despite barriers in receiving mental health care.

“Many of our students and families face [these] barriers … due to insurance coverage, stigma, or transportation. By providing these supports at school, we are able to remove many of these obstacles,” she said.

Before the county’s first school wellness center was established at SVHS, along with a companion center at Altimira Middle School, Garcia surveyed students and teachers about the issues that existed on campus. “It is important to always listen to the youth voice to be sure our services are relative and changing with the unique needs of our students and community, ” she said.

Garcia then used this information to create targeted services with a sizeable impact. The SVHS wellness center sees 2,000 student drop-ins each year, and provides approximately 250 students with individual therapy, and another 200 with group therapy. 

I truly believe that access to mental health support is a basic right, especially for youth,” Garcia said. “By creating spaces for students to access free and confidential support, we are able to help them thrive in other areas of their lives including their family systems, social relationships, and of course school.”