TEAMS room helping Bethel Park High School students cope
Paul Paterra/Observer-Reporter
A part of the relaxing atmosphere of the TEAMS room at Bethel Park High School is this comforting waterfall.
Photos: Paul Paterra/Observer-Reporter
Those who are there for students are, from left, Jim Yackuboskey, EPIC (Education, Prevention and Intervention Consultant) worker; Lisa Cusick, TEAMS coordinator, and Melissa Polosky, EPIC worker.
Paul Paterra/Observer-Reporter
When a student leaves the TEAMS room, they see this message on the door.
Paul Paterra/Observer-Reporter
Artwork is one of the ways students decompress.
Paul Paterra/Observer-Reporter
There are three rooms within the TEAMS room where students can go to be alone or have alone time with a social worker. This room sports a rain forest motif.
Bethel Park High School has a room dedicated to help students deal with issues and challenges that many teenagers face.
It’s called the TEAMS (Therapeutic, Emotional, Avoidance, Monitoring and Support) room, which is in its flagship year. Lisa Cusick, TEAMS coordinator, said it’s the brainchild of Bethel Park High School Principal Joseph Villani. Its development was supported by grants from the Bethel Park Community Foundation and the Bethel Park Education Foundation.
“Mental health is a huge issue across this entire nation,” Cusick explained. “He was thinking … what happens when we have a student that has a need, where do they go, what do we do with them?”
The room is a place where students can go to regroup or decompress or do whatever may be needed as they deal with the challenges of the school year and rejoin the classroom as soon as possible. Those who feel bullied or isolated have a place where they can feel safe. Tele-health services are offered, as are workshops on student-driven topics on managing stressors.
Students can go the TEAMS room to get help dealing with social anxiety, something that has increased quite a bit due to the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as depression, panic attacks, loss of a family member or just a challenging situation that arises on any given day.
“Kids can self-refer to come in here or a staff member can refer them,” Cusick said. “It’s a simple as going up to the teacher and saying, ‘Can I go to TEAMS?’ They don’t have to give a reason.”
Students are connected to services throughout the high school and lines of communication are opened among teachers, students, parents, administrators, counselors and social workers.
Working with Cusick in the TEAMS room are Jim Yackuboskey and Melissa Polosky, social workers referred to as EPIC (Education, Prevention and Intervention Consultant) workers.
“We’re getting great feedback,” Yackuboskey said, adding that the social workers are there to provide any support a student may need. “(Students) love the space.”
Polosky said there are many benefits for the students who use the TEAMS room.
“They have someone that will listen to them,” she said. “They may not get that other places. We can work through their problems with problem-solving and skills development that they’re learning from us. They’ve been very open to listening to us.”
The three of them combined to develop the room’s design, which exudes a calming atmosphere.
Lights are kept relatively low as a comforting waterfall adorns one wall and relaxing videos are shown on another as soothing music plays. There’s also a jigsaw puzzle on a table where students can work; others come in and draw. Computers are available for activities as well.
Part of the space is three low-lit destination rooms, each with its own theme – Mountain Room, the Arctic Room and the Rainforest.
“Sometimes when the kids come in, they just want to sit quietly, calm down or decompress and they don’t want to be around people,” Cusick said. “It’s a choice of whether they want to talk to one of the social workers, engage in one of the activities or be by themselves. This gives them a place to go.”
Partitions in the room allow students some privacy during a busy time. Another room on the same hall allows for even more privacy.
Cusick said about 200 kids have been using the space each month.
“We do have a lot that come in for lunches, which is one of my pride and joys,” Cusick said. “We have a lot of kids that may have sat in isolation in the cafeteria. They’ve come in here and didn’t realize that organically they’ve formed their own group. We have about four or five students who start their day here, then they can calmly go about their business. It’s a reset button for some of them.”
There is a container toward the front of the room where students are encouraged to put their phones once they enter. A sign by the container says, “Sometimes we need to unplug, even you.”
“For the most part when they’re in here, we try to get them to unplug and use the room for what it’s meant for,” Cusick said.
There is even an unofficial theme for the room, a term the staff has developed called “flawsome,” which refers to individuals who embrace their flaws and know they are awesome regardless.
As the students leave the room they see a parting message on the door, “P.S. You got this.”
The next step in the process will involve alternative ways in dealing with distractions instead of simply assigning punitive consequences.
“We keep saying we’re evolving,” Cusick said. “We’re collecting data, such as how many kids are using it, for what purpose. We just keep refining it and making it better as we go.”