A new program in the Wellness Center has started aimed at helping staff and students alike de-stress and explore therapeutic outlets throughout the school day. The Art & Music Wellness Program focuses on using wellness and different forms of expression as a therapy technique. This program runs every Tuesday from 4th period to 6th period. A new activity will be available tomorrow.
Lori Boyer, a board-certified music therapist, is volunteering her time to help run this program.
“So we’re starting kind of slow, we’re doing music and art activities with kids,” Boyer said. “Mostly we’ve been doing activities for people to color to kind of get them into [a calmer] mindset.”
Art and music therapy uses artistic methods to improve a person’s mental, physical and emotional wellbeing. Many different forms of expression can be used with this technique including drawing, pottery or singing. The purpose of many of these activities, including the ones provided in the Wellness Center, is to find your center and become grounded.
“We might be paying attention to music lyrics and kind of analyzing the lyrics and seeing how they apply to us,” Boyer said. “I do some drama, play background music and some drumming for a bit of emotional expression.”
One activity that they worked on was listening to and analyzing lyrics to Queen/David Bowie’s “Under Pressure” while working on a brain maze. The purpose of this activity was not to complete the maze as fast as possible, but to work slowly through the maze to change your mindset from a negative perspective to positive.
Senior Eliana Greenburg tries to participate in the wellness activities as much as possible.
“The school day is long, and there’s a lot of work that gets put into it,” Greenburg said. “It’s definitely a nice break to have these activities.”
Senior Anna Li shares a similar view.
“It definitely brightens up my mood when I decompress in the Wellness Center,” Li said. “Just laying in the bean bags and not having to be in commons for two straight hours is a blessing.”
Boyer, whose children graduated from Solon, helped create this program as a way to give back to the community.
“I thought it would be nice to give back, I wasn’t able to do as much when [my children] were in school,” Boyer said. “I think being a teenager right now is incredibly stressful. There’s a lot coming at you in terms of academics, but also the outside pressures of the world are all in here.”
The Wellness Center was created to have a calming atmosphere where students could escape to during the school day. It first debuted during the 2022-2023 school year as a way to replace the Media Center.
Another activity provided was listening to “It’s Ok” by Imagine Dragons while journaling and coloring an image of the brain. Again, the focus of this activity was to promote grounding and a positive mindset.
“These activities definitely make getting through the day a lot easier and a lot less stressful,” Greenburg said.
All students and staff are welcome to stop by during the days Boyer is here to participate.
“Taking time to be mindful lowers your cortisol levels, reduces the stress on your nervous system and just helps you feel a little bit better and able to tolerate all the things that are coming at you,” Boyer said.
