Mental health awareness is important, and Ma’ayanot is dedicated to cultivating and nurturing students’ mental health and well-being on a daily basis. During Ma’ayanot’s Mental Health Week, March 13-17, Director of Guidance Dr. Rayzel Yaish, along with Ma’ayanot’s outstanding guidance department, programming team and student mental health alliance, organized a series of incredible grade-appropriate programs. These programs were designed to empower students with knowledge that can help them sustain their own mental health, cultivate healthy friendships and relationships and contribute to a healthy school environment.
Freshmen and sophomores learned about safe social media use from Rahel Bayar, CEO of the Bayar Group and renowned speaker, who conducts engaging workshops on the topics of abuse prevention and detection, safe electronic communication practices, boundary guidelines and consent. Sophomores also learned about friendships in a powerful workshop with therapeutic coach and community member Shera Dubitsky. Juniors and seniors benefited from a panel by Shalom Task Force about healthy relationships. The entire school enjoyed a puppy show as well as opportunities to take part in playing with puppies, a proven stress-reducer. Pets belonging to Ma’ayanot faculty and staff joined the play time as well!
The student leaders of the mental health alliance, seniors Maya Rosencrantz and Bailee Schwartz, introduced gratitude as a cornerstone of mental health and showed students ways to incorporate gratitude into their lives. The guidance department also offered an opportunity to incorporate art as a contributor to mental health. Maya Rosencrantz explains, “The student mental health alliance, a club 60 students strong, was created in order to support the Ma’ayanot student body in issues and dilemmas that every high school girl deals with. We were very excited to hear from all of the speakers during Mental Health Week, and to receive tips to guide our club.”
The tools and skills emphasized during Mental Health Week will serve students well throughout their high school journey and beyond.
