Jesuit High School Sacramento provides many resources to support Jesuit students’ mental health and well-being. One such resource is the Wellness Center, located next to the King Library.

Students struggling with their mental health benefit from having a place on campus designed to aid them. Marriage and Family Therapy Trainee Ms. Abby Hollandsworth explains how the Wellness Center is beneficial to those students who need help.

“The Wellness Center itself was designed as a space for students to land, regroup, and seek support,” Ms. Hollandsworth said. “Wellness counselors work closely with school counselors to assist students and bridge them to more support.”

The Wellness Center achieves its goals thanks to a team of dedicated professionals. Principal Dr. Michael Wood ’99 expresses his appreciation for this group.

“The best aspect [of the Wellness Center] are the people in it,” Dr. Wood said. “That’s what makes the center good, is the good people that are in it.”

The team in the Wellness Center works directly with students, both individually and in groups, to address specific mental health struggles. 

“The Wellness Center sees students individually who are going through some acute personal challenges; they do that in conjunction with the counseling department and the student’s counselor, and their parents,” Dr. Wood said. “The Wellness Center also runs groups for students who are sharing a common difficult experience.”

The Wellness Center is designed to help all students across the campus. Director of Counseling Services Ms. Amanda Smith mentions what is done to benefit the whole brotherhood.

“The Wellness Center provides help in a variety of ways,” Ms. Smith said. “Our whole student body receives monthly Wellness Wednesday messaging that aims to increase mental health awareness, share messages of hope, health tips and reminders, where to find resources, etc.” 

Such messages are spread with the assistance of groups like TeamCARE. TeamCARE is a student-run organization led by Dylan McMains ’23.

“The Wellness Center is really the main resource on campus, and that’s where students can go for the most professional help that [Jesuit] can offer,” Dylan said. “TeamCARE] advertises [what the Wellness Center offers] to the general community along with other professional mental health resources such as 988, the new hotline for [24/7 access to help].”

Dylan’s favorite aspect of the Wellness Center is its accessibility and how it facilitates a focus on mental health. 

“The best aspect is how open and welcoming it is, and how it’s simply a place where you can go and just sit, be still, and be calm,” Dylan said. “I think that’s really the first step to focusing on your mental health, is really sitting and noticing how you’re doing so that from there you can move forward.”

Students struggling with their mental health should know that there are many resources available to them, which the Wellness Center can help them identify. Students can get in contact with the Wellness Center through their counselor or the QR codes linking to self-referral forms, which can be found on the door to the Wellness Center.