Calm minds, ready to learn: A therapist’s perspective on school wellness
High schools buzz with constant energy. Lockers slam. Bells sound. Hallway chatter leaks under the door. Even after the bell rings, the stimulation continues.
And for teenagers today, school is only one part of a relentless flow of information and expectations. Academic pressure, social media, extracurricular demands, and constant alerts from phones create a sensory load that human bodies were never designed to handle. This chronic overstimulation doesn’t just create stress, it disrupts learning.
“When the nervous system is always on high alert, you can’t expect the brain to focus or absorb new information,” says therapist and Impact on Education donor Sarah Ahn. “Calm isn’t just about feeling better, it is about being able to learn and retain information.”
The link between mental health and learning
As a therapist, Sarah sees this connection firsthand in her work with young adults and parents. And as a parent of two Boulder Valley School District graduates and a current high school student, she understands the pressure young people today are under.
She specializes in sensory processing challenges, which often appear as intense reactions to noise, texture, or crowded spaces. Without tools to calm their nervous system, teens may shut down, lash out, or mask their distress, none of which supports learning.
“Regulation is not just for kids with diagnoses,” she explains. “It is a life skill every student needs. When they learn how to notice their stress and respond to it, they not only feel better, they learn better.”
Research is beginning to back up what educators and mental health professionals like Sarah observe every day in their work. Teaching emotional regulation skills, including mindfulness techniques, can help students strengthen attention and memory, build resilience, and manage relationships more effectively.
“Regulation is not just for kids with diagnoses. It is a life skill every student needs. When they learn how to notice their stress and respond to it, they not only feel better, they learn better.”
How Wellness Centers help boost learning
That’s where Boulder Valley School District’s Wellness Centers play a critical role. Funded by Impact on Education, these calming rooms in six Boulder Valley high schools give students something increasingly rare in their day: time and space to reset. They’re available during the school day and stocked with soft seating, sand trays, fidget toys, puzzles, and journals.
They’re also staffed by trained professionals. Mental Health Advocates are there to offer support and provide referrals as needed.
When Sarah toured a Wellness Center and saw students, including some of her daughter’s friends, relaxing in the space, she immediately recognized the value. “Students were learning how to recognize what is happening in their bodies and gaining tools to manage it,” she said. “Those are skills most adults never learned. It was so impressive to see.”
Students can step into a Wellness Center when they feel overwhelmed, talk with a trusted adult if they need to, and return to class more grounded and better prepared to engage. For some, that reset is a quiet fifteen minutes. For others, it’s a cup of tea before the next bell. Either way, the result is the same: a calmer body and a brain ready to learn.
“Imagine if all schools were centered around mindfulness and wellness,” said Sarah. “Students could fully access the resources and education available to them. But too many students today remain in fight, flight, or freeze mode throughout the school day and are desperately looking for ways to regulate their bodies and emotions.”
“Students were learning how to recognize what is happening in their bodies and gaining tools to manage it. Those are skills most adults never learned. It was so impressive to see.”
Education changed her life. Now she’s paying it forward.
Sarah’s support for public education is deeply personal. The daughter of Korean immigrants, she grew up on free and reduced price lunch in New Jersey and credits education with transforming her life.
“My parents always said, ‘Go to the best school you can get into,’” she recalled. “We didn’t have much money, but they always prioritized learning. Education changed everything for me.”
Today, Sarah and her husband Chris Moody have made education one of their family’s philanthropic pillars. They choose to donate to programs that remove barriers for students and improve their ability to learn, hoping to change lives in the same way public education changed hers.
That commitment is what led them to Impact on Education. When Sarah saw firsthand how Wellness Centers helped students regulate their emotions and return to class ready to learn, she recognized the program as exactly the kind of work their giving pillar was built to support.
She also knew these supports were not standard in most schools. Colorado public schools face significant funding gaps, especially in mental health, and without community partners like Impact on Education, students would not have access to resources like these.
To date, thanks to generous donors like Sarah, private foundations, and local government, Impact invests nearly $1 million annually in mental health, wellbeing, and belonging resources for students in the Boulder Valley. “These are not extras,” said Sarah. “They help every student, whether anxious, overstimulated, or simply needing a break, return to class ready to learn.”
BEFORE YOU GO
Impact on Education is an independent non-profit supporting the Boulder Valley School District. We depend on the generosity of our community to put our mission into action.
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