On a Thursday morning in October at Monarch High, a student sits on the floor of the wellness center, rocking and hugging a large stuffed animal. In the dimly lit room, decorated with string lights and faux ivy, an image of gently falling leaves in an autumn forest glows on the projector screen. The room is quiet, but a low white noise allows for hushed conversation. Overstuffed leather couches invite students to kick up their feet, which, according to Allison Billings, director of Impact on Education — the nonprofit funding six wellness centers across Boulder Valley schools — were donated by faculty.
On Sept. 24, the BVSD Board of Education heard an initial review of data from the wellness centers, gathered through a partnership with the Renée Crown Wellness Institute at CU Boulder. The partnership seeks to analyze how students are using the wellness centers, a program that started at Monarch in Louisville in 2022 to support student mental health and expanded to six schools last year: Boulder High, Fairview, Monarch, Centaurus, New Vista and Nederland Middle-Senior.
Although in-school wellness centers exist elsewhere in the U.S., this is the first attempt to collect data about their impact, according to Tammy Lawrence, BVSD’s director of student services, who presented at the board meeting.
Colorado has one of the nation’s highest rates of adult mental illness and some of the lowest levels of access to adult care. Although the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry reports that Colorado is the only state in the Western region with both a relatively low prevalence of youth mental illness and high access to care, the state, including Boulder County, still faces a significant shortage of mental health professionals, with only 16 child and adolescent psychiatrists per 100,000 residents.
“People who work with youth and adolescents are few in number, and there is a dearth of therapists who fill that need in Boulder County,” said Sarah Wu, a clinical psychologist in Boulder who works with young people. “Most of us have waitlists that can be quite significant.”
She said her most requested appointments for youth are in the evening, when after-school activities are done. “Kids’ schedules are packed with sports and everything, so parents are asking for a therapy session at 8 p.m.,” Wu said.
But as a parent herself, Wu’s workday can only go so long. Due to the lack of evening availability, Wu and her colleagues have discussed creating opportunities for sessions during school. “We’ve been talking about how amazing it would be if there were rooms for kids to get therapy with their therapist during the day,” she said.
Wellness centers could be a step in the right direction. While they’re not intended for individual therapy, they are staffed with mental health advocates trained in areas like play therapy, depression and anxiety, grief and loss, addiction and more.
Arika Avila is the mental health advocate at Monarch’s wellness center. She has a master’s degree in education with a focus on school counseling. And she takes her fidget toys very seriously.
Avila brought out what she calls her “mental health kit,” which looks like a first-aid kit for cuts and burns. She grabs it when a student comes in noticeably panicked or overwhelmed to help ground them. It’s stocked with earplugs, finger massage rings, thinking putty, bubble poppers and a pulse oximeter to help show students how breathing techniques can help calm them.
The Monarch wellness center was founded in 2022 in response to the trauma caused by the Marshall Fire, whose scars are visible from the giant windows of the second-floor library. The most destructive fire in state history displaced hundreds of students, compounding community-wide trauma already heightened by the Covid-19 pandemic and the King Soopers shooting, and further straining mental health resources.
The girl with the stuffed animal came by to say hi, curious about all the adults in the room. She mentioned she came to the center because she was feeling panicky with the chaos surrounding preparations for Monarch Mayhem, the festivities around homecoming. She showed off her Rubik’s Cube skills and smiled a lot. You wouldn’t have known she had entered the room earlier feeling overcome with anxiety.
Drake, a 10th grader at Monarch, sat on a bean bag reading, his hair covered by a black hoodie. He looked unapproachable at first. But he soon pulled back his hood, confidently introduced himself, and shared his thoughts on the wellness center. “My parents say don’t go there just for the calm relaxing environment as it can incentivize laziness sometimes, just for me. But to be honest, I find it’s a very easy place to get settled in and to study and even write. It helps you get in the zone, or the Dao, so to speak. It’s a nice place for introverts to hang out.”
Aaryn, a 12th grader who uses they/them pronouns, started coming to the center during lunch after the school stopped allowing kids to eat in the hallways post-pandemic and has been eating there ever since. They said their mom was happy to know that the space was available after having such a rough time in middle school.
“She was really worried about me because I’m neurodivergent and queer and stuff. So she was relieved that there was a space that was not just safe for me but safe for everyone.”
Aaryn used to spend more time in the center during classes, which is allowed on a case-by-case basis unless the student has a 504 plan allowing them to leave class for the center without asking.
“Being able to leave class really does depend on the teacher. I used to leave more, but now I have a lot of good classes and don’t need it as much,” they said.
Avila believes allowing students to visit the center when they aren’t in severe emotional distress gives her a chance to build relationships, so when they are truly in need, they’re comfortable reaching out.
The first set of data analyzed by the Renée Crown Institute in partnership with BVSD shows the centers are well-received, though how much depends on the school. At one high school, which isn’t identified because the data is anonymous, almost 54% of students visited their wellness center at least once in 2023, while at another, only 10% visited. This disparity could be due to demographics, awareness and the location of the center in the school. Overall, last year, there were 13,500 visits to the wellness centers from 1,875 students, with about 62% of students returning at least once.
More insight is needed to understand why some students visit the centers while others don’t. The data indicate visitors were more likely to be freshman or senior females and less likely to be male or Hispanic.
According to Wu, a possible downside of the wellness centers is the “image factor.” If students are worried about their image, “I wonder how much safety they’re feeling if they’re having a real episode,” she said.
According to Lawrence, the BVSD student services director, the centers mostly provide tier-one support, which addresses the lowest level of need. If a student arrives with a tier-two need or even an emergency-level, tier-three situation, they are connected to appropriate services.
“When a student comes in they might need tea, but they need to have a skill and to regulate, or they need to be connected to care or they need to go back to class,” said Julia Zigarelli, deputy director at the Crown Institute.
Staff across the schools largely support the centers, with about 77% saying they believe the centers are “probably” or “definitely” beneficial for students. In fact, at Monarch, staff thought they needed a wellness center of their own and now have a separate calming space, complete with comfy couches and soft lighting.
The biggest concern is funding. Impact on Education, the nonprofit that keeps the centers running, only has funds to plan on a year-to-year basis. According to Billings, the nonprofit’s director, each wellness center costs about $100,000 annually. With six centers currently in operation and many students finding they have become an integral part of their routine, losing this resource could be a tough transition.
Billings and Lawrence believe the centers are working to overcome the stigma around mental health by making access more seamless. In an era of deep anxiety, depression, and ADHD, all of which are exacerbated by social media and the public broadcasting of comments or images that would’ve been more private in the past, something has to be done.
“We lost four kids to suicide at Boulder High in a year,” said Billings. “Shame on all of us; we have to do better.”
Correction: An earlier version of this story stated that 13,500 students visited a wellness center during the last school year. In fact, there were 13,500 visits to the wellness centers from 1,875 students.
