As junior and co-president of Natural Helpers, Jade Shionoya reflected on the club’s recent collaboration with Allina Health, he said the recent collaboration was a natural pairing.

“Since Natural Helpers was, and still is, aiming to reduce stress and anxiety, it was a very easy partnership between Natural Helpers and Allina (Health), who also hopes to achieve the same goals,” Shionoya said.

According to Shionoya, Allina Health provided funds for the Natural helpers to create a place for students to decompress.

“Allina Health has a program called Change to Chill. In this instance, Change to Chill gave the school some money to create a Chill Zone,” Shionoya said. “This was to relieve stress and anxiety for teens.”

According to freshman counselor Barbara Nelson, Natural Helpers selected two interns to collaborate with Allina Health and design the Chill Zone.

“(The interns) met three times over the summer where they basically designed and determined what that Chill Zone could be. They were the ones that came up with the whole plan,” Nelson said.

Shionoya said students should respect and not misuse the Chill Zone rules, so those who truly need it can have access.

“The room is meant as a space for people to relax. If people abuse it, there may be rules that get imposed, or it may get taken away completely,” Shionoya said. “We believe that this room will benefit students, and we would hate to see the room become heavily restricted.”

Nelson said students who continue to feel stressed despite using the Chill Zone can receive additional help from members of Natural Helpers.

“We know there are kids that will be using it more frequently,” Nelson said. “If you need to get additional help from another person, Natural Helpers are available to help.”

According to Nelson, in addition to the Chill Zone, Allina Health is providing resources on their website, as well as extra training.

“There’s a great website (and) there’s also a manual that teachers got when we did the training,” Nelson said. “The trainer and (the woman) who did the training with us is actually going to come back and do some training on Nov. 22.”

Shionoya said stressed students should take advantage of this new resource, by asking their teachers for a pass.

“It’s in the new student offices. If you are stressed, you should ask your teacher for a pass to go down and chill for a bit,” Shionoya said.