ASHLAND – Dozens of Reagan Elementary School students and their families left their worries behind Tuesday and took part in various relaxing activities ranging from art therapy and spa treatment to dancing and basketball.
The De-Stress Fair was the second of what school leaders hope will become a biannual event at both Reagan and Edison elementary schools. The first event was recently held at Edison.
The evening was organized by school-based therapist Emily Harstine and executed with help from volunteers and grant funding from Walmart Foundation.
The De-Stress Fair was designed to help connect families with their schools and communities as well as to offer resources for improving mental health, especially in the winter.
“Winter is a time where we all hunker down, so this gets everybody out and connected,” Harstine said.
Harstine, a Licensed Independent Social Worker with Supervision Designation (LISW-S), has been working at both Reagan and Edison elementary schools since August. It’s the first time the district has had a social worker at the K-3 level, she said.
When she started, Harstine surveyed elementary school staff about what they felt was missing and or could be done better in response to mental health issues in the schools.
“One of the things that came back repeatedly at both Edison and Reagan was that there was kind of a missing family outreach component,” she said.
While talking over the need with school administrators, Harstine said, Edison principal Krist Manley came up with the idea of having a fair-style event for families.
Harstine wanted to incorporate various techniques for dealing with stress through activities families can do together.
“We really wanted to bring different coping techniques to life for them,” Harstine said.
Families rotated through stations including a dance party, a reading with therapy dogs room, a yoga session led by Studio Rise instructor Rebecca Zickefoose, a spa station with Z’s Hair Designs and a healthy snack station with OSU Extension Educator Kathy Blackford.
Mayor Matt Miller spent the evening coloring with and talking to families, and volunteers from Ashland Police and Ashland Fire departments helped students make stress balls by filling balloons with flour.
“I wanted thes doing something we don’t normally see men doing, so our little boys can see that those things are okay. And I wanted them to talk about stress so they can see how adults deal with stress,” Harstine said.
Members of the Ashland University Women’s Basketball Team were stationed in the gym, where they played pickup games with students.
Additional volunteer help came from the Ashland High School chapter of National Honor Society.
“People have just been so willing to help, which has been amazing,” Harstine said. “It’s just really cool to see so many people show up and be here for the schools.”
Each family was given a page of stress-relieving ideas to try at home, based on the various stations from the fair.
Harsitine said she and the elementary principals, Krist Manley and Nicole Brodie, are planning to do a mini-version of the De-Stress Fair for third graders during the school day before the students take their standardized tests.
Kelly VanDriest, a mother of a first grader at Reagan, said she appreciates not only Tuesday’s event but also the entire program of activities Harstine has helped bring to the school.
“I think Mrs. Brodie and Mrs. Harstine are amazing, and they have really incorporated a lot of ideas like mindfulness, gratitude, self control and kindness into the school,” VanDriest said. “I appreciate that they are encouraging self-care for kiddos this young. It’s good for their mental health.”
