Welcome to Irvington High School’s Wellness Center!

Irvington High School Wellness Center An integral part of Irvington High School's wellness initiative, the Irvington High School Wellness Center (“WC”) opened in the 2019-20 school year in adjacent rooms that had before served as the school’s “Responsibility Center” and IEP meeting room. The WC was created as a hub for student well-being and social-emotional learning, a place for individual and group therapy, a safe space for students needing a break, and a center for developing new ideas to support students. A school board member, the district superintendent, four district directors, multiple staff from community partners, Irvington administrators, teachers, support staff, and students attended the center’s official grand opening January 28, 2020.

Throughout the WC’s first year, students received weekly individual counseling by a Hume Center intern, a Fremont Youth and Family Services intern, an ERMHS counselor, and a Tri-City Health Center clinician. Other students regularly attended a Tri-City Health Center Arise program support groups on East Asian identity, a La Familia group on Latino identity, and district- and school-led gender identity and social skills groups. During the lunchtime drop-in services staffed by teachers, administrators, and specialists, visitors relaxed in the center lounge, made art, played games, engaged in therapeutic activities, and made new friends. The WC was used in other ways as well. At the beginning of the second semester, the Fremont community organization Heartfulness began conducting 45-minute meditation sessions for students. Throughout the year, the center served as a meeting place for the IHS Wellness Committee and the IHS Student Mental Health Task Force.

Following the move to distance learning last March, Kaiser funding was used for the IHS WC to go online. A group of Irvington teachers, administrators, the school psychologist, the school speech-language pathologist, student leaders, and parents created the Virtual Wellness Center (“VWC”), which went live at irvington.org/wellness the end of last academic year. This year, the VWC has expanded and now includes the self-guided student wellness program WellTrack; live streaming events; individual counseling by Hume, Youth and Family Services, and Bay Area Community Health; counseling and mindfulness drop-in services Monday-Thursday; three support groups; fitness activities; arts and crafts ideas; mental health information; community resources, and access to online therapeutic activities and games. With new tablets dedicated to the wellness center and renewed licenses to online programs, the VWC will remain an important aspect of the IHS Wellness Center after we return to in-person learning.