(gentle music) - My name is Meghan Murphy.

I'm a certified wellness coach with Placer County Office of Education, housed here at Colfax Elementary School.

We have a rough population of about 360 students here at Colfax Elementary School.

We're a one school school district and we've always been a Kindergarten through 8th Grade model.

(gentle rhythmic music) - [Meghan] Hey, Delilah, how's it going?

- Good.

- Awesome.

You here for a wellness break?

Come on in.

Wellness coaches are providing non-clinical services and supports to students.

Whatever looks good.

- Can I choose this one?

- This is your break.

Perfect.

We're a little bit different than your typical school counselor or your school social worker.

Those are licensed clinical positions where they can provide counseling services directly to students.

How's your day going so far, Miss Delilah?

- [Delilah] Good.

- Our role is really to help support and buffer the areas where those professions aren't able to reach all students.

So, we focus on areas like social emotional development, providing safe spaces for students when they're experiencing difficulty.

(legos rattling) And being able to help coach them with different life skills.

Skills that they'll be able to take into their educational settings and be able to thrive.

- Voila, look at that.

Nice job.

(palms smacking) I think seeing their faces light up when they were able to take a skill that I taught them and put it into practice and watch the outcome of that?

Those things are really powerful and really make my heart and my cup just full of joy.

I think kids are just full of love, and oftentimes all they want is an adult to connect with, an adult to listen to them.

What was going on that made you feel frustrated?

- My sister.

She's trying to be my mom.

- Yeah.

That can happen sometimes with sisters.

I have a sister too.

Listening is so key.

Oftentimes, adults in our kiddos lives are busy juggling work and family and responsibilities, that kiddos are often missed.

And so, to be able to have somebody that can genuinely show up for them and genuinely listen to them, it really makes an impact on that child.

That is our time.

Awesome.

Good work.

Teamwork.

So, our wellness center is intended to be a safe space here on campus that any one of our students can access us throughout the day.

(knuckles thunking) (door latch clicking) Hey, Lilly.

- Hi.

- How are you?

- Good.

- Good.

Welcome in.

- I've been coming here since 3rd Grade to where I just come in here for like 15, 20 minutes and just talk about what's been happening.

- [Meghan] How are things going with friendships?

- They're going good.

It helps me with my ADHD because it helps me calm down.

(gentle melodic music) - It's really about meeting a child's basic needs and be able to provide students with support right away instead of having them wait.

We don't ever want students to wait when they're experiencing a mental health crisis.

(knuckles thunking) Hey, Cece.

- Hi.

- Come on in.

How's it going?

- It's going really good.

- Good.

You having a good day so far?

- Yeah.

- Awesome.

Are you here for a wellness break?

- Yeah.

- Very good.

Well, I have some stuff set up for us over here on the table if you'd like to do that?

- Yeah.

- Perfect.

Let's go.

- Miss Meghan when she talks to me, I understand it a lot and it helps me a lot.

- [Meghan] All right.

How's your day going so far?

- It's going pretty good.

Sometimes you need to talk to someone and sometimes there's not always to talk to.

But when you come in here, there's always someone to talk to in here and they can help you.

I feel really grateful because I feel safe and feels like when I have a problem I can just come here and it gets solved really easy.

If we do it wrong the first time, then the road's just gonna be rocky the rest of the way.

I like coming here because it's really calm in here and they make me feel better about the school because I just moved here.

And they said, "Here's some ways you can adjust to it."

And I learned everything's not gonna be easy but sometimes you just gotta push through.

- All right, Miss Cece.

I hope you have a great rest of your day.

- Bye.

- Bye.

We'll see you later.

I do my best to be as involved as possible in the day to day of our students.

I don't like to be bunkered down in here very often.

I enjoy engaging with them on the playground.

(children chattering) There you go.

- Bang.

- Nice.

Just trying to be a warm adult in their life that helps to make their day better.

Don't laugh.

Ooh!

Oh!

(laughs) Oh.

I have always loved working with children since I was very young.

I grew up in Colfax, California, born and raised here, and went to Colfax Elementary School myself as a student.

I graduated from Colfax High School, so this community is really special to me.

It's been really a fun experience to work in the school that I went to as a student.

There are teachers here that are still working that were teachers of mine when I was a student, so it's a really special, unique experience to work alongside them as colleagues.

My job is extremely rewarding and I feel really honored to serve the families and children of Colfax in the community that raised me.