‘Wellness’ series aims to alleviate pandemic stress
Marin school families, staff and students are in for a week of TLC next month to help raise their mental, physical and emotional health after almost two years of pandemic stress.
The first “Wellness Week Marin” is scheduled for Dec. 6 to 10. The free online program will feature three, 15-minute video segments daily. Each segment will focus on a different aspect of health.
“It's been two years now of incredibly challenging things for all of us,” Dr. Matt Willis, Marin County's public health officer, says in the video introduction to the event. “We worked hard to open schools early and to keep them open.”
Even though Marin “has had a lot of success” in that area, the pandemic has taken a toll on everyone, he said.
“We're tired,” he said. “This is a way to acknowledge that, and to say, ‘We need a boost.'”
Mary Jane Burke, Marin's superintendent of schools, said event viewers can track their participation in Wellness Week Marin to be eligible for gift card prizes. Event sponsor Kaiser Permanente is providing the gift cards, which will be awarded on the last day, Burke said.
“We cannot wait to have more tools in our toolbox so that we can all be healthy and strong and well,” Burke said.
The event comes as Marin's high vaccination rate is making it possible to “shift our collective efforts toward recovery,” said Dr. Lisa Santora, Marin's deputy public health officer.
“Wellness Week offers our community the opportunity to pause and regroup.”
— Dr. Lisa Santora, deputy public health officer
Marin has the highest COVID-19 vaccination rate in the state, with more than 96% of residents age 5 and older receiving at least one dose and about 87% fully vaccinated, according to county data.
“Wellness Week offers our community the opportunity to pause and regroup,” Santora said. “During this week, residents can refocus on improving their individual and family's health and well-being as they prepare for 2022.”
Santora cited pandemic effects that will need to be addressed for the county to get back to full health. Those include the burnout by essential workers “who have been working tirelessly since the beginning of the pandemic,” she said.
“Community-wide, residents are tired of and frustrated with restrictions in their daily activities,” she said.
Other impacts are the “higher reports of anxiety, depression, substance use disorders, as well as worsening chronic conditions,” she added.
“Communities of color in Marin were disproportionately impacted by the pandemic,” Santora said. “They have experienced higher rates of COVID infection, hospitalizations and deaths, as well as widening educational attainment gaps, unemployment and unstable housing.”
Santora said that while Wellness Week Marin is a great first step, “it will be a long road to recovery after the pandemic.”
Other Marin health and school specialists support the concept of moving into wellness and recovery.
Jessica Colvin, a health specialist for the Tamalpais Union High School District, said the district’s five high schools are already offering weeklong “stress less” events for students and staff every semester during the week before finals.
“We are planning an event the second week of December,” Colvin said.
Kelli Finley, executive director of NAMI Marin — the local chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness — said she backs the countywide event.
“The collaborative efforts across the county to meet the needs of students and families have increased exponentially in recent years and in response to the pandemic,” Finley said in an email. “While we know our challenges are significant, so is our resolve to work together to support our community now and always.”
Jonathan Lenz, an assistant superintendent at Marin County Office of Education, said the events will be recorded and posted at the Wellness Week Marin website at bit.ly/3o2t2By. The December event is a pilot test for what could repeated later in the school year, he said.
“This will allow us to learn more about what elements in the week worked well and what area or areas we could enhance to better support the participant’s experience and their application of wellness strategies,” Lenz said.
Each day of the event will focus on two of the eight dimensions of wellness: physical, social, intellectual, financial, spiritual, emotional, occupational and environmental.