Local teacher recognized for instruction in ‘Positive Psychology’

WEST BLOOMFIELD — West Bloomfield High School teacher Jennifer Sepetys has been acknowledged by the Michigan Education Association for her efforts in addressing student mental health as part of her 20-week course, “Positive Psychology.”

The class utilizes tools such as mindfulness, breathing, goals, gratitude, journaling and meditation to achieve results.

Sepetys and two of her former students recently shared details about the class and the impact it has had.

According to Sepetys, after the pandemic she noticed that her students were struggling with mental health concerns.

She said that she would ask if they were OK “and some would break down.”

“They would be crying,” Sepetys said.

As a teacher, she wanted to support them in her classroom, but also wanted to help them learn strategies they could use to help themselves in their own mental health journey.

“With the rising mental health conditions among the adolescent population, how can we manage their mental health if there’s maybe six counselors at a school, one mental health coordinator, two social workers and a psychologist, with schools over 1,000-plus? There’s a lot of responsibility put on the schools to help out with managing all the mental health conditions,” Sepetys said.

She wanted to implement something that students could readily access.

“What I’m trying to do through this class is help with (some) of those barriers and really try to help them learn strategies that they can potentially use,” Sepetys said.

Some of the barriers students can face include a lack of transportation to get extra support if they need a therapist, financial issues, and stigmas associated with mental health, according to Sepetys.

Septettes is currently working on a Ph.D. in education leadership with a focus on student mental health. Through her research, she dove into the topic and took an online course with Martin Seligman, a psychologist and educator.

At that time, a lot of the work had been done with college students, according to Sepetys. However, she tailored what she learned to high school students.

“The purpose of the class is … to bring evidence-based strategies to the students in order to increase their wellbeing,”  Sepetys said.

Sepetys’ class incorporates multiple strategies, including mindfulness, breathing techniques, gratitude, goal setting, journaling, and meditation.

 

Mindfulness
Sepetys describes mindfulness as being aware of the present moment.

“Mindfulness is another evidence-based strategy that has been shown over time, if you practice it, it starts to bring some calmness to yourself,” Sepetys said.

Kennedi Aulgur, a 2023 graduate of West Bloomfield High School, took the class in  2022, the first year it was offered,  and still practices many of the strategies and tools that she learned during the course.

Aulgur has learned to be mindful about taking care of herself, eating, sleeping, drinking water, going outside and taking a walk, saving her money, and on occasion, indulging in a treat.

 

Breathing
Sepetys teaches more than 20 breathing techniques, although she does not expect her students to remember and use all of them. Instead, her aspiration is for them to have a couple of “go-to” ones they can use before a game, an interview, speaking before a group, or anytime they need to calm themselves.

“That is something that has really helped me,” Aulgur said. “Overall, a simple deep breath can improve you so much.”

She inhales for four seconds, holds for four seconds, and then exhales for four seconds.

Ella Thomakos, a 2024 graduate of West Bloomfield High, took the class her senior year and still uses the breathing exercises to help manage her anxiety.

“I have severe anxiety when I am getting really, really anxious or worked up. I will use these techniques at any random point of time, if I feel I need to calm down,” Thomakos said.

According to Thomakos, reciting anything, including numbers, as she is doing the breathing exercises, calms her.

Among her favorite exercises is drawing an imaginary box while inhaling and exhaling — breathing out while drawing the horizontal line and breathing in while drawing the vertical line. She repeats until a box is drawn.

“I do take medication for anxiety. Personally, I’m trying to work on not relying on medication for anxiety, so it (the breathing exercises) has helped me wean off of the medication because I can replace the medication with these techniques I learned in class,” Thomakos said.

 

Goal Setting
Goal setting is also a key component to the class. Sepetys has students set a goal to accomplish in four weeks.

Doing so provides them an opportunity to focus on something they have been thinking about.

Thomakos set the goal of not biting her nails.

“With anxiety comes a lot of fidgeting with your hair or your nails,” Thomakos said.

Sepetys  has provided “fidgets” in the classroom that students can use to occupy their hands to prevent them from fidgeting. The fidgets included Play-Doh, slime, fidget spinners, things that can be put together, fidget blocks to click, and more.

During those four weeks, Thomakos was able to stop biting her nails. Now, she uses a stress ball to squeeze when she feels anxious.

Although Thomakos has made headway, if she doesn’t have the stress ball with her she still occasionally resorts to biting her nails.

Thomakos is currently studying forensic science at a university in Chicago. In addition to the breathing exercises, she also incorporates yoga to ease her anxiety.

 

Gratitude
According to Sepetys, writing a letter to thank someone and reading it to that person makes both the receiver and the writer feel good.

 

Journaling
Journaling helped Aulgur when the school she was enrolled in her freshman year of college faced a closure.

For her, that meant relocating and leaving the friends she made her freshman year of college. Although she described this as a “bad” time, journaling helped.

“I made sure my journaling was on top of everything,” Aulgur said. “Mrs. Sepetys would make us do these daily journals and think of three things for that day that (were) positive or that we enjoyed, just to make us aware that the whole day may have been bad… but there were still good things from the day that made it better. You just don’t realize them (the good things) and you don’t appreciate it as much until you write it down.”

Aulgur ended up moving across the country and is currently a sophomore at a university in Oregon, where she studies biology and lives in a dorm with her medically-declared support cat, Lily.

Aulgur plans to become a physician’s assistant or a medical doctor.

 

Meditation
Aulgur credits the course for making her more optimistic and open to new ideas. The meditation portion of the class is a practice she continues today.

“I love sitting on my bed or on my floor with no bright lights on… and (going) to a happy place,” Aulgur said.

She credits the class for making her more independent and receptive to new ideas, as well as helping her rely on herself and others.

“I’ve bettered (myself) so much after taking that course,” Aulgur said.  “I remember always leaving that course with a smile on my face.”

The students have been receptive to the class.

“People may think, ‘Why am I not happy? I don’t understand,’” Sepetys said. “But … happiness takes work and there’s things people can do in order to improve that.”

Although Sepetys gives her students tools that can ease stress and promote happiness, she tells them, “You’re going to get out of it what you put in.”