Dos Pueblos High School’s Wellness Center, located in T-03, is expected to open with the start of Term 2. However, due to complications with the Wellness Coach position, this date is not certain.

The Wellness Center will be available for use during school hours, including lunch and nutrition, and will offer a variety of services for students. Yoga, coloring, and relaxing spaces will be available alongside referrals to outside agencies that can help with grief counseling, substance abuse, and more.

“Services could be a student needs a 15 minute break because they’re having a hard day,” said DPHS Dean of Student Engagement Bethany Bodenhamer. “Services could be that they need a referral to an outside agency for mental health or wellness resources.”

A Wellness Coach will be located in the Wellness Center to aid students that need help. Whoever is hired for this position will be required to have a background in social services, psychology, or counseling to properly triage the needs of students and act preventatively when it comes to mental health crises. They will identify patterns in those who repeatedly visit the Wellness Center to come up with short-term goals as well as focus on long-term solutions.

“[The] long-term goal would be that this person could help build and develop some social, emotional, mental health, and wellness curriculum that they could push into classes as teachers request,” Bodenhamer said.

However, because of legal barriers, the job listing for this Wellness Coach is not up. Currently, the California School Employees Association is reviewing the job description, and they need to discuss and approve it before the position can be presented to the Santa Barbara Board of Directors. After these steps are taken, the hiring process can begin.

“It’s something we’ve been working on for a very long time, and that piece has been the biggest barrier,” Bodenhamer said.

Despite facing obstacles, the opening of the Wellness Center is still expected to coincide with the beginning of Term 2 at DPHS. When the Wellness Center opens, students can self-refer themselves with a google form.

The Wellness Center is centered around student feedback, and a student survey can be used to send information to those running the program about how to help students.

Aside from the challenges of hiring a Wellness Coach, there is more to the behind-the-scenes of how the Wellness Center came to be.

Bodenhamer has been the Dean of Student Engagement for five years. During her time at DPHS, she has heard students say that they are not aware of the mental health resources on campus. At the same time, she also worked with multiple agencies and mental health professionals that were available to those students. This “disconnect” between students and mental health services prompted her to search for a solution.

“I saw a problem, and I wanted to figure out how we could best solve that,” Bodenhamer said.

A year and a half ago, Bodenhamer started her research on wellness centers by going to the opening of Lompoc High School’s Wellness Center. She went on a tour and spoke to administration and staff in order to “see the Wellness Center in action” for herself. Later, she ended up touring six other high schools’ wellness centers. This research was to make sure she was addressing student’s needs.

“My dream was to solve this need of students saying ‘We don’t know what resources exist, and we want more help, we need more help,’” Bodenhamer said.

Along with her own research, Bodenhamer connected with members of the DPHS Wellness Connection Club, formerly Sources of Strength, to make sure she was incorporating student feedback into the program. She specifically mentioned working with Nicole Barger (12), the president of the club, who she named “champion of student health and wellness.” Barger said that the Wellness Connection Club partnered with the Wellness Center due to shared goals when it comes to student mental health.

“Our club works to destigmatize mental health and promote mental health awareness, as well as create a strong community of aware and sensitive and supportive students that are able to also support others,” Barger said.

Bodenhamer and Barger agree that student input has been very important to designing the Wellness Center’s programs and services.

“It’s definitely been essential to how the Wellness Center has been built because this is going to be for the students and is supposed to be here to support the students,” Barger said. “So, we want to know as much as we can about how we can best support students with this space.”

The Wellness Center would not have been possible without funding from the Dos Pueblos High School Foundation. Fundraising Chair and former President Jennifer Ono “spearheaded” the fundraising efforts for the Wellness Center. She began supporting the program after getting in touch with Bodenhamer and other important figures.

“When I became president, I sat down with Bill Woodard and Bethany Bodenhamer and said, ‘What is the dream? What would you love to bring to campus if you could do anything?’” Ono said.

The Wellness Center has been the DPHS Foundation’s “impact project” for the past two years. Last spring, the Foundation met its fundraising goal — raising enough money to staff the Wellness Coach for two years, provide furnishings, and stock up on wellness pantry supplies. In total, the amount raised was $250,000. Ono also recognized that these efforts were necessary for student health.

“I think coming out of COVID … we just all became even more aware of the mental health crisis in youth,” Ono said. “Kids are struggling, and we just really wanted a place for them to feel safe.”

Bodenhamer, Barger, and Ono each have similar visions about the impacts that the Wellness Center will have on DPHS students. Bodenhamer highlights that she hopes the Wellness Center will play an active role in student mental health.

“I hope to see that we are addressing students’ wellness needs preventatively before crises occur,” Bodenhamer said. “I hope that we expand education on what current resources and supports exist … and I really hope that we can focus on really building student resilience and just some more overall comprehensive wellness.”

Ono also said she hopes that the Wellness Center will be used to help students who are struggling.

“I hope that it’s really used in a meaningful way,” Ono said. “I hope that people can go there when they’re feeling frustrated, or are having a challenge at home or an interpersonal relationship issue, or just feel like everything’s too much – that this is just a safe place to go and recharge.”

Barger said she wants students’ needs to be met and for them to feel comfortable checking in to the Wellness Center.

“The Wellness Center is a spot for students to come and recharge if they’re feeling overwhelmed or need a break or need some extra support with anything,” Barger said. “Right now, the main space where students get support is just the counselor’s offices … so our goal with the Wellness Center is to create [a] space for students to come and check in and reset and do whatever they need to do so that they can continue to thrive and be successful at school.”