The Welcome Center

 As the two staff members who run the Welcome Center at City High, Amy Kahle and Thos Trefz’s goal is to ensure that no student’s life interferes with their academics. Trefz works to help find the resources that the student would need to be successful.

“If kids are having problems with their parents at home, we help them get hooked up with resources to help resolve that,” Trefz said. “Lydia Frazier is here; she’s a therapist from Four Oaks, a school-based therapy that we have a contract with. Also just finding an adult in the school, whether it’s with a club, Success Center, or what have you.”

The school also works with United Action for Youth to help solve issues between students and their families.

“They have a great family remediation program. Their skill set is working with families to solve problems. I think as a school, it’s tricky to wade into that. It’s great to have that outside resource that you know can be impartial enough to help the kid and the family.”

Trefz says he’s noticed an uptick in kids who are struggling with mental health.

“This is my fifth year at the job and it seems like every year there are more and more kids who are experiencing anxiety and depression, and that’s having a big impact on them,” Trefz said.

The Welcome Center helps work to provide resources for a student’s mental health. Kahle helps work with students to determine how to best work through mental health struggles.

“If a student comes to me and they’re having some mental health issues, then I will chat with [them] about specifically what’s going on and then what is the best path forward,” Kahle said.

The path forward that Kahle described changes from student to student, so she has to ask several questions to determine how she can help the student find a solution to their issue.

“[We ask if] they have a therapist, we talk a little bit about medication, the pros and cons of medication, and have them reach out to their family doctor to discuss [medication],” Kahle said. “I also work with a lot of students who need to take a break during the day for mental health. They might come in here and just chill out for a little while, take a breath, and then go back to class when they’re ready.

Kahle thinks that mental health is a real barrier for a lot of students,

“Mental health and attendance are closely linked. If you are not healthy mentally, it’s hard to focus on academics and oftentimes students just won’t even come to school,” she said. “I think we have to address [mental health] in school and part of the school’s responsibility is addressing mental health needs.”

Although the Welcome Center has several resources for students who seek help, they have also been working to integrate better mental health practices in the classroom.

“One thing I’m doing is going into classes and teaching mindfulness, so I’m going into two AP classes, and then there’s a Success Center that is just focused on mindfulness and coping skills and mental health awareness,” Kahle said.

Although in previous years Success Center was only open to students with an individualized education plan (IEP), City High became the first school in the district to offer this program for students without an IEP. Trefz thinks that a success center can be an important resource for students.

“There’s a variety of areas where a kid might be struggling, whether it’s academically or something else. [Success Center] supports [students] that could use help with organizational or study skills,” Trefz said.

Kahle also believes that the Success Center teaches students valuable skills.

“The Success Center is a group of students who have asked for just a few extra coping skills. It’s called dialectical behavioral therapy; it’s not a therapy, it’s just more of skill-based learning,” Kahle said. “They’re relearning how to have better emotional regulation and distress tolerance, so that when big emotions do happen they have better-coping skills on how to deal with…emotions.”

Despite the fact that the Success Center is now available for all students, Kahle wishes that more people would take a class similar to it.

“I wish that every student at City High would take a class like the Success Center that we’re piloting. I wish that every freshman that walked through the door would have a have a class that taught coping skills,” Kahle said.

For Trefz, helping students make it through high school is something that he’s proud of.

“When you see a kid that’s spent hours in your office see the light at the end of the tunnel at graduation, it’s something that gets you a little teary eyed,” he said.