Our Vision of a Wellness Room in a School
A Wellness Room offers a reset space for a student to discover and practice coping strategies that respect their feelings, and promote self-regulation. It is not a hidden space, but can be made private if needed. The goal of the Wellness Room is to teach all students how to self-regulate, promote resilience, destigmatize mental health, and return quickly to their classroom learning environment.
Grant Awardees
Porter Traditional School
Bull Run Middle School
Fred Lynn Middle School
Graham Park Middle School
Hampton Middle School
Marteller Middle School
Potomac Shores Middle School
Rippon Middle School
Unity Braxton Middle School
Woodbridge Middle School
Woodbridge Sr. High School
Battlefield High School
Demonstration Video
Suggested items for the Wellness Room
- Sounds – rain stick, head phones
- Smell – essential oils, smelly putty
- Sight – breathing ball, bubbles, giant mandala wall poster & colored pencils
- Taste – mints
- Touch - Weighted blanket, sand paper, nubby balls, squeeze balls, bubble wrap, play dough, fidgets, velcro, sand table
- Gross Motor - Yoga pose cards, Balance balls with nubs, swing hanging from the ceiling, mini trampoline, rowing machine, breathing cards, Legos, slam ball.
Wellness Rooms offer a space to step back from and process stressors in a student's life. They may implement:
- Check-in-check-out rating scales (1-10 for stress levels)
- Light timer, green, yellow, red
- Projector to project the Calm app or nature pictures
- No posters or decorations in the Wellness Room, soft lighting, comfortable seating
- Laminated cards for beyond the walls of the room – box breathing, lap around the school, pass to counselor
- Zones of regulation Cards
*Expansion idea: School wide brain breaks: breathing, gross motor movement, and stretches.