Los Alamitos Unified School District officials recently gathered with representatives from the Orange County Department of Education, CHOC and the Los Alamitos Education Foundation to formally dedicate new WellSpace centers at McAuliffe and Oak middle schools.
There are now five WellSpace centers at middle and high school campuses in Orange County through a partnership involving OCDE and CHOC. The initiative kicked off in Los Alamitos during the last school year with the goal of improving mental health by creating calm and comfortable spaces for students to reset and learn about mindfulness strategies with support from school counselors.
“During this pandemic, when we see an increase in mental health needs and anxiety, we’re able to provide them support right in their school as part of their campus and really reduce that mental health stigma,” said Mayu Iwatani, OCDE’s manager of Mental Health and Wellness Care Coordination. “So this is the first school year they’ve been really able to use it, and the impact has just been amazing to see.”
OCDE’s Media Services team produced the brief video above on the dedication and ribbon-cutting ceremony for the two WellSpace centers in Los Alamitos. Take a look.