As junior and co-president Jade Shionoya reflected on the upcoming changes to Natural Helpers, he is  optimistic about the future of the program.

“We are trying to improve how we recruit new members,(and) to get people to take us seriously and to expand Natural Helper beyond what it has been the last couple of years,” Shionoya said.

According to Natural Helper advisor, Allison Luskey, the school acquired a grant from Allina Health in order to create a space for students to relax.

“Two of of our counselor, Barb Nelson and Kelly Brown, applied for a grant called the Change to Chill grant through Allina Health,” Luskey said. “And we got that, so Barb Nelson and Kelly Brown asked if the Natural Helpers would like to be a part of that.”

According to Shionoya, the grant will be used to create an environment that students can relax in the high stress atmosphere of high school.

“We have been given some money in order to create a room for students to escape the chaos of school, and to just relax and get help from Natural Helpers,” Shionoya said.

According to junior Fynn Hammer, the space will help reduce test anxiety among students.

“I feel like a room like this will let students gather themselves before a test,” Fynn said. “Overall I think it will be a very valuable addition and will help students stress less”.

According to Luskey the revamp is in its last stage of development, and will soon be ready for student use.

“We have (the) space now we are ordering all the components to go into that space, such as seating arrangements, lighting and tables,” Luskey said. “It’s going to be a small space in the new student counseling office.”

Luskey said the space will help high school students in developing coping tools for dealing with mental health.

“The (space) is really about creating awareness and education around mental health, anxiety, stress and depression,” Luskey said. “(It’s also meant) to give kids tools to build resilience, mindfulness and stress management.”