Mental health has been a strong focus at Whitney M. Young Job Corps lately, and recently, the center held one of its biggest pushes yet.

With levels of mental illness continuing to rise, Whitney has put on a number of events to ensure students and staff both remain mentally healthy themselves and are equipped to help others in case of a crisis.

And in order to support the mental well-being of students, the center held a unique event in observance of Mental Illness Awareness Week: a self-care day.

“I really wanted it to be a day themed on self-care, increasing coping skills and awareness,” said mental health consultant Amy Worthington. “Basically for staff and students to have a relaxing day and maybe try some new things.”

This involved changing how the usual day at Whitney went – rather than the usual day of trade training and education, students would instead get to visit a number of stations each promoting a different type of self-care. At some, they practiced mindfulness. At some, they made stress balls. They went on nature walks, played in drum circles, even got to pet the goats that Worthington brought from home.

Based on her observations, students and staff were more relaxed – something Worthington said was a big part of the goal.

“Ever since COVID, I feel like the level of depression and anxiety and stress is palpable on our center,” Worthington said. “The way to try to address that is to encourage people to engage in honest conversations…and to work on coping skills to address those things.”