UnitedHealthcare Community Plan of Florida recently invested $52,500 in the development of a “wellnes rooms” in six schools across Alachua County. Seeing a rise in mental health concerns, the plan conducted listening sessions and explored methods of supporting child and adolescent mental health. Wellness rooms are an evidence-based mental health and wellness program — proven effective at elementary, middle and high school levels — to increase student and educator well-being.
The majority of UnitedHealthcare Community Plan of Florida’s investment will allow Alachua schools to receive training, curriculum, and a data system to manage and evaluate the program with support from Braintree Wellbeing. Braintree Wellbeing uses evidence-based tools to train educators and teach students how their stress response system works.1 Research on the effectiveness of the system found that schools using wellness rooms observed a substantial decrease in the number of students reporting mental health concerns and an 80% reduction in office discipline referrals.
The remaining portion of UnitedHealthcare Community Plan of Florida’s grant will be used to supply the six local schools with resources for wellness room spaces.
By teaching students how their stress response works and providing them with a physical space for regulation, UnitedHealthcare Community Plan of Florida and Alachua County Public Schools are providing children with invaluable coping skills they can use throughout their lives.
