By: Lana Martinez and Jessica Hoard
May 24, 2024
Inner Strength Education teacher Lisa Laney introduced a 12-week mindfulness program in G. W. Carver Chemistry classes aimed at “helping students find their inner strength."
Carver student Lana Martinez uses the Inner Strength app for the first time . The apps homepage introduces different mindfullness activities for the day inlcuding journal prompts and inner strength lessons.
42% of high school students reported feelings of sadness or hopelessness in the past year. Statistics like these run throughout the entire Philadelphia School District. Counselors and Inner Strength leader Lisa Laney work towards providing students with more ways to build their inner strength.
Laney's mindfulness activities provide a lens through which students can introspect and understand their emotions. The program explores different techniques to strengthen the mind and encourage healthy physical and mental well-being.
“So we try to get the students to engage and involve, you know, what they're feeling and what they need for the moment,” Lisa explains. “When we present the meditation, then we might do journaling. Each week we try some kind of tool to help bring out the teachings that we offer.”
The Inner Strength Education program highlights the importance of creating a peaceful environment and providing students with resources such as meditation stations, journaling, and brain-based lessons. Students at Carver emphasized the need for a comprehensive approach to mental health and well-being education for high school students. Sophomore Savannah Yancey shares how time to herself is a way for her to achieve wellness.
“I appreciate time to myself. Being able to focus on clearing my mind,” Yancey says.
Carver’s social worker and attendance designee Kevin Sanchez believes inclusive communities in high school settings are crucial for students. On top of implementing this Inner Strength program, Carver has a myriad of ways to aid students with their mental health. Carver acquires roughly 300 students every year, making it important to offer multiple outlets for students.
“I have been in the school district for 12 years now. There's not one right way to do it,” Sanchez explains.
Carver’s counselors like Kevin Sanchez regularly reach out to students via email and bulletin board, yet struggle because of lack of participation. Carver recently introduced a morning pathways program consisting of speakers coming in once a week to introduce topics such as STD safety, mental health awareness, and relationship advice. One guest speaker is assigned to around 700 students which causes problems to emerge. Counselors are forced to use trial and error to find efficient ways to help students’ mental health.
“I think the biggest problem we have here at Carver is a lack of asking for help,” Sanchez says.
Carver Highschool bulletin board put up by counselors consistently provides updates on school schedule and opportunities.
Inner strength covers the same categories as the app and helps students from Carver and anyone who uses the app to covere topics they need help with.
Introduced alongside the Inner Strength class is the app Inner Strength Vibe, which reinforces prior lessons like mindfulness practices, journal prompts, and all sorts of meditations meant to further help students. Project manager Patrick Gleeson shares about the app’s mission to bring mindfulness education not just to students but to anyone who requires it. He highlights the challenges of developing the app while navigating budget and resource constraints.
“My main goal is to make ‘Inner Strength Vibe’ the best and most accessible Mindfulness App possible,” Patrick states.
According to Amaro Truong, a Software Engineer for Inner Strength, the app has proven to be effective. Truong is responsible for working on Ari, the app's AI assistant which helps users navigate through mindfulness practices. He shares that limitations come with AI when addressing inner strength and mindfulness, but Truong explained his solution: Training the AI using his engineering skills, error handling, and the technique of RAG to achieve the desired outcome.
“In the last month, user usage by hour has had a 23.08% increase and an additional 4.72% increase of users,” Truong shares.
According to a 2018 study, an increasingly concerning amount of college students are reporting thoughts of self-harm. 20% of all college students have considered suicide, and 1 in 10 college students have attempted it. Students identifying with the LGBTQ+ community have the highest rates of mental health diagnoses. Unfortunately, these records are primarily self-reports so these statistics may only scratch the surface.
Laney’s organization, coupled with the efforts from Carver’s counselors, hope to help students better understand the importance of their mental health. By encouraging them to be vocal about it, they can find more resources to help with their specific needs.
“I think Inner Strength is really focusing on the upward and forward modality of our students to success and well-being,” Laney expresses. “Giving you your own agency to be a stronger voice and your student body is really empowering.”
Inner Strength app also help to set goals and keep track of what works for you. The app provides an AI named Ari to talk to.
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