Anxiety and stress, whether academically related or personal, is a common occurrence for lots of students and is something that often goes unnoticed and unheard. A possible fix to this lies within Malden High's newest addition of clubs: Self Care Club.
Running every other Wednesday from 2:30 to about 3:00 in room BR487 and open to all grades, the purpose of Self Care Club is to assist others in either finding comfort in expressing themselves in a safe environment or helping students find alternative ways to express themselves.
The club’s council consists of President Eldana Abrhame, Vice President Orit Abel, Secretary Matthew Ren, Treasurer Haset Tesfaw, Art Director Sophia Chen, and Social Media Coordinator Rashmi KC.
Abrhame explained that the club’s overall motive is to be a “safe space where students can come together and leave all their worries and academic baggage that they may have outside the room, and focus on themselves while also being in the presence of their peers.” Chen further added how the club is meant to serve as a “therapeutic environment where judgment is not allowed and students are encouraged to share anything that they’re comfortable with sharing.”
Although it would be beneficial both mentally and emotionally for students, getting teenage students to verbally open up while being fully comfortable is simply unrealistic. Fortunately, Self Care Club is hoping to offer alternative ways of getting students to build that sense of comfort by either helping them get to that point of verbal expression or simply by finding comfort in those activities. An array of activities are also being planned, such as “doing nails, face masks, building legos, workout out in the weight room, etc,” said Abel.
As their motives and goals were made crystal clear, the club wasted no time in getting started on fundraising. On January 8th, a bake sale in the main lobby was held where treats such as brownies, cupcakes, cookies, and donuts were being sold for two to three dollars.
“Fundraising is a fundamental part of our journey as we hope to continue to host fundraisers like this to raise money to give back to our community as well who also may struggle with mental health issues,” said Abel, who later on added how the money being raised will be donated to “women’s shelters to offer self-care items such as essential toiletries, skincare, makeup, sanitary products, etc.”
Moving forward, the future for this club is bright and full of possibilities due to both their deeply motivated council and members. Sophomore Alecia Louigene emphasized how she is very excited to learn new coping skills, but is most importantly excited to “learn all these new skills and coping together with other members; because although I don’t know all of them, at the end of the day we’re all students who are battling similar battles—if not the same ones.” She emphasized that “collaboratively working together to help these issues is something that I hope is achievable.”
In addition, Abrhame added how moving forward, she wants to “make sure that Self Care Club is a place where relief is found. Fighting on your own is never the answer, building a stronger relationship between one another gives me hope that MHS students will be able to have passion and desire both for school, peers, and internal well-being.”
If you feel as if the goals of this club align with your own and find yourself interested in joining, contact eabrhame26@maldenps.org or message @4_eldu on Instagram for more information.
