By Lisa Lussier, Program Coordinator
The Path staff at Carteret Middle School is excited to announce that we have created an area for students to access mental health resources, called “The Path Calm Corner.” We chose our guidance office suite as the perfect location to display these resources. Many students visit this area on a daily basis for a variety of reasons. They may come in due to a variety of stressors. For example, they may feel anxious about an academic issue, a peer conflict, family stressors, or getting into trouble. Many students also like to have lunch there and enjoy the peaceful environment. We thought this was the perfect place to have resources accessible right at their fingertips. This also gives us the opportunity to reach students that we may not have otherwise had contact with.
During the month of February in honor of Valentine’s Day, we included resources focused on self love and self care. We provided mindfulness resources, positive self-esteem, and coping strategies. Coming up in March, we are going to incorporate Say Something Week into our monthly resources. Say Something Week is part of the Sandy Hook Promise campaign, which is a campaign about learning how to identify warning signs, intervene, and get help for students who may be at risk of hurting themselves or others. During this month, we will have resources for students to become more aware of mental health issues and symptoms and learn how to seek out help for themselves or other students who may be struggling.
During the month of April, our theme will be inclusion. For this theme, we will provide resources geared towards increasing empathy, being an ally of oppressed groups, and embracing diversity. May will be goal setting and growth, with resources to guide students towards creating achievable goals and accepting a growth mindset. Finally, we will finish out the year in June with the theme of individuality and self-esteem, including resources to help students develop positive self-esteem and embrace their unique qualities.
We are grateful for the support of the Carteret School district to allow us to make these resources available to students. The district recognizes how important it is to support students’ mental health and how it contributes to their overall well-being and success in school.
The CMS Path Staff,
Johnna Caporuscio, Lisa Lussier and Jesenia Serrano
Photo by Andrea Piacquadio