Stress is something that everyone deals with, but not many people know how to deal with it in positive and productive ways. Students at Carbondale Community High School (CCHS), meet every week on Mondays to discover helpful ways to deal with their stresses.

This club formed once again after not having it for many years. “We had students begin to ask for the club again this year. We’ve always been a student-led group, and when students started to recognize that they needed it, I was happy to begin meeting again,” said Crystal Harsy, club sponsor. 

The club is open for anyone who needs or wants a space to connect with other students and share what they are going through. Carbondale Community High School’s “Stress Management” club is diverse and is open to all grades. With the rise of mental health issues especially during the peaks of COVID-19, so many people experienced extreme isolation. People need a place to connect with one another and be in a relationship.  

“To have a club centered around the idea of aiding students who struggle with these problems (which is basically every student at one time or another) is extremely important,” Mitchell Brown club member explained. “I’m surprised this club hasn’t been established earlier. Hopefully, in being a part of this club, I can learn to manage my stress in healthy ways that still allow me to get work done. Procrastination, overeating, and oversleeping are all methods of short-term stress relief that I, along with many others, use when I get overwhelmed.”

Members of the Stress Management Club use their time weekly to participate in many different healing activities. 

Exploring different types of meditation, practicing breathing exercises and giving students the space and time to share, are just some of the many activities the club partakes in. Students have expressed that the tools that they have learned in the past month are ones that they will take with them past high school.

“I think students do not have tools to manage stress. They try to handle many things on their own, but when they have a few strategies or tricks for managing their stress it is much more effective,” said Harsy. 

One of the special things about this club is the positive involvement of other teachers. Teachers have been moved by this club and have shown interest in wanting to be involved. As they share their own personal experiences with anxiety, depression etc. and it has helped students to realize that they are not alone in this, and that everyone goes through these things.