Breathe in, breathe out. While school can be an enriching and communal environment, it also comes with its own stresses and pressures. The Mindfulness and Well-Being Club provides an on-campus environment where students can relieve their stress while learning more about navigating their mental health.
Founded by club presidents Alexa Guss (10) and Eamon Hinton (10), and vice president Priscilla Akin (10), the club meets in the dance room biweekly on Wednesdays to focus on a new aspect of mental health.
Guss got the idea to start the club after attending the Global Youth Leadership Summit by Tony Robbins, a summer camp for 14 to 16-year-olds to build leadership skills.
“[At the] camp, my group and I were assigned to create solutions for mental health for students,” Guss said. “And I suggested to the group to create a network of clubs at different schools. We actually had to present [our ideas], and then I actually came back and I made it happen.”
With input from Hinton and dance teacher Sarah Kaye, who offered her room to host club activities, the club came to life.
“We kind of talked about it … then we started filling out all the forms for the ASB [club registration] because they need all your information,” Guss said. “And then, we had to do everything for club rush and get everything in line with our Google Classroom, find Ms. Kaye to support our club and then get people to come [when they can].”
Hinton was driven by his worries of a lack of mental health awareness among today’s teenagers.
“When we came up with the idea, I was immediately very passionate about it, just because I think that a lot of the practices that are embedded into our club are things that I applied in my daily life, and I think that this generation could use more,” Hinton said.
Paloma Heil (10), the club secretary, is responsible for ensuring members of the club are engaged, and that the club continues to grow.
“I record the time that the club runs, the [amount of] participants in it, who’s attended all the meetings and how many meetings we’ve had,” Heil said. “And, I also do [some of the planning for our activities].”
Kaye wanted to support the club because it aligned with her own personal practices.
“I really love my students who are the leaders that started this club,” Kaye said. “They asked me, and I do a lot of mindfulness work in my classes, so I guess they thought I would be the right teacher to ask. I’m a big believer in mindfulness meditation and manifestation.”
A typical club meeting consists of a quick presentation to discuss the day’s objectives. After each meeting, attendees leave with a small amount of mindfulness homework, where they can apply what they learned during the meeting.
“Normally we’ll have a 5-minute presentation on the agenda for the day, or what our goal is for the day,” Guss said. “During [the presentation] we’ll talk about what our activity is, why it’s important, maybe a reflection, and then usually we give mindfulness homework. [The homework is] something people in the club can do that week to work on improving their mental states], like going on a mindfulness walk, or spending time with people they love or being more aware with their routines.”
Guss added that her goals for the club are to create a space on campus where students can participate in a club without the experience feeling like additional work.
“Our objective is to create a safe space for people to come in during lunch and have a little community, because we’re not doing a bunch of tedious work, or volunteer hours or anything like that,” Guss said. “The meetings are kind of just to chill, relax, maybe gain some new tools that you can use to cope with [challenges]or handle your week.”
Hinton believes learning about mental health is important for success.
“It’s really important that we do teach the [importance] of mindfulness and well-being, because it’s something that permeates into every facet of our life and is directly correlated to academic performance,” Hinton said.
The club wants students to focus on the present and goals for the future.
“I think we’re so busy [most] days, doing things all the time, and with our phones [a lot], and we just sometimes forget to just be with our own thoughts and our breath and put things into perspective,” Kaye said. “So I think when you’re in that state [and you do some] breathing and a little meditation and positive self-talk, it’s easy to manifest and listen to what you want in your life and see yourself there. I’ve been doing that my whole life, and so I teach my students that.”
The Mindfulness and Well-Being Club plans on continuing to grow as an inclusive community, and spreading the importance of mental health across campus.
“I think that we have a great community, and we try to make everything as interactive and as inclusive as possible,” Hinton said. “It’s really great to have a group who really cares about one another and is really passionate about mindfulness and well-being.”
