LOS ALAMITOS, Calif. – Los Alamitos High School’s WellSpace team is constantly working to improve campus wellness and community connection, from introducing new aspects within the WellSpace to campus-wide initiatives and much more. The WellSpace fights to erase the stigma between finding help and helping others.
Last month, the WellSpace pushed for Unity Day to be more present within LAHS. On Oct. 16, people practiced inclusion, kindness and acceptance in an effort to prevent bullying in schools nationwide. The WellSpace put together several events for Unity Day to promote the cause to students throughout the month of October for National Bullying Prevention Month.
The WellSpace offered cyberbullying prevention workshops to teach students how to protect themselves and each other online and to give insight into how actions affect people both positively and negatively. By offering these workshops on a wide scale, the WellSpace urges students to help prevent bullying one person at a time and spread awareness of the increasing dangers of cyberbullying in our very online world.
“It’s hard to stand up when someone is doing something wrong (and) it’s hard to intervene. You should be that person who can stand up for someone else,” Mrs. Ledterman, LAHS Wellness Counselor, said. “I feel that students have gotten more of a hold in doing that, and I think it is such a great ability.”
Additionally, the “Never a Bother” campaign has been introduced throughout LAHS spaces, with posters providing tips on psychological wellness such as coping skills, suicide warning signs and seeking help. Through this campaign, the WellSpace hopes to form an atmosphere of safety and bring awareness on self-help.
“I thought it was great a thing for students to know that they are, as the name implies, never a bother — that they have people to come to,” Mrs. Ledterman said. “I really like that it reminds people that they are never bothering anyone.”.
In teaching students how to look for warning signs in others and showing them that they aren’t alone through outreach, the WellSpace provides a safer, more welcoming community on campus.
“I’ve seen people are more comfortable going to the wellness space and, in using these resources, they can go there and relax in order to make it through the rest of the school day,” Charlie Wysocki, LAHS senior, said.
On top of it all, the non-profit organization “Letters Against Depression” has also been brought to LAHS, offering students a way to get service hours while supporting a strong cause. Through writing or creating art to send to those in need of encouragement, students can provide caring outreach to others. While this initiative may seem small, just one letter could mean everything to someone who needs it.
“I hope that we can bring that culture that we need to take care of each other. We really are a community here, and even just asking something as simple as ‘Are you okay?’ and showing that little bit of outreach toward others can mean a lot,” Mrs. Ledterman said.
In bringing these campaigns together and ushering in a unified school atmosphere, we create a safer impact and raise awareness about topics such as bullying and mental health in our classrooms. If we can learn to take care of each other, better things can come towards taking care of ourselves. Remember to visit in on these activities and be more aware of what’s happening around us — just checking in on someone can make a huge difference to their day. Take care of each other, Griffins!
