Have you ever experienced a class focusing on skills to help with mental health at school?

At Dallastown Area High School, guidance counselor Dr. Alison Wabnik has set up the opportunity for students to be able to participate in a at the end of the day skills workshop to practice some skills used from the book DBT Skills in Schools: Skills Training for Emotional Problem Solving for Adolescents (DBT STEPS-A) which is a program for developing emotion management, interpersonal, and decision-making skills in high school students.

It is not a graded class for students, but it’s a way of getting students involved and engaged if they choose.

Only about 38% of public schools reported providing treatment to students for mental health disorders according to nces.ed.gov. 

Wabnik offers students who come to her for help the chance to be a part of this  group that meets during Wildcat Period every Day 6.

Other teachers participate as well including Mrs. Gaynor, Mr. Rojahn, Mr. Trone, and Mrs. Klinedinst. 

The program started in November, and since then, multiple students have joined and participated.

Wabnik hands out optional worksheets for kids to use to help them with anything they’re struggling with and to let them get their thoughts down on paper. 

“We opened this up after the pandemic since many kids after the pandemic were dealing with stress and anxiety so we decided to open this up to help kids by showing them skills that they can use to reduce stress and anxiety. It also helps kids relate to other kids and let themselves open up to other people.” 

Many schools do not have this opportunity to manage a skills workshop for students, Dallastown is one of the few that is doing this course. 

Every few weeks a new teacher will come in to help out and experience this and eventually Wabnik hopes for this to be able to expand and become a class where kids can learn and practice  the skills taught through DBT STEPS-A.  

“It would be great for this to become a class so more kids can be involved and have this opportunity,” Wabnik says. 

Wabnik would still need approval and the right approach in order for this to become a class, so there is no definite date, but she is looking for options to include these skills in a class setting in the future.

Philosophy teacher, Mr. Matthew Rojahn was the first teacher to be involved with the skills workshop.

Rojahn knew about DBT through personal interests and brought it to the counseling office’s attention.  DBT identifies and guides the mind to change negative thinking into more positive thinking.

Rojahn participated in the workshop for seven weeks and gave his input and followed along with the lessons displayed in class. More teachers will begin participating in the skills workshop so they can learn along with Wabnik and help out with the class.

“DBT touches on every aspect of mental health and is forward focused,” Rojahn said.  

In the future, teachers hope to see DBT putting a positive effect on students and hope to be successful for any kids who participate in the class so that future generations can use these sets of skills to help them better themselves and improve in school.