WESTLOCK – After a few pandemic related delays, two wellness rooms to support students’ mental health are officially open.
In a special, ribbon cutting ceremony on March 2, students, staff and alumni of R.F. Staples School, joined community groups, local businesses and sponsors for the grand opening of the Wabash Wellness Room and the Rotary Room.
“More than anything (today) is an opportunity to thank the sponsors and the community members that really stepped up and believed in this project and believed in the spirit of both of these spaces,” said Maurice St. Denis, guidance counselor at RF Staples, noting that apart from some of the infrastructure, everything was purchased and funded via donors.
“On any other day, you would probably find anywhere from 15 to 20 students in both spaces, set up, spread out, doing all sorts of different things,” he said. “Whether it’s just reading, connecting with friends, or sometimes just finding a quiet space to breathe and decompress.”
The wellness rooms first opened back in 2007, and after several years, students were not using the space as often as they rooms were outdated, run down and needed renovations and upgrades, noted St. Denis. That is where local businesses and community groups, along with several alumni members from R.F. Staples, Class of 1979, stepped up to help.
St. Denis noted the challenges facing students, including social, emotional and mental health challenges, both at that time and especially over the past two years, that were compounded by the pandemic.
“(For) our school community, I think there needs to be a healing process now,” said St. Denis. “Kids have been incredibly resilient, but I think there’s a lot of healing that needs to happen in our school, in our community, and I think this space wills serve that purpose.”
Wayne Rufiange, principal at R.F. Staples School, said the rooms play an important role for students, and noted the community’s generosity in helping make them a reality.
“Mental health and mental wellness is a huge component, not only in the schools (but) in everyday life. So having this place for kids is really important,” said Rufiange.
The Wabash Wellness Room offers a calm, inviting and peaceful space for students, while the Rotary Room is bright and colourful, with a mural that is being completed by students and staff. It includes artwork that depicts what the school and community means to them, and what they love about growing up in Westlock.
Eighteen-year-old Grade 12 student Riley Plain is one of several students who has used the rooms in recent months and appreciates having the space available.
“You get depressed, you get lonely, you get tired and even domestic issues may show up and kids will need a space to have some time to themselves,” said Plain. ”It’s a great, comfortable space for people who are maybe not going through the best of times, especially throughout the past two years where social life hasn’t been the best and people have been isolated. It means a great deal.”
