Stress Program and Video Debut

(Emmaus, Pa.) Emmaus High School students speak candidly about the stress in their lives in a new program and original video production from the Weller Center debuting at the school next week.

Stress: Overcoming the Overload, addresses the pressure today’s teens face trying to balance academics, family, work, sports and friends. The program will be piloted at Emmaus High School on Thursday, May 18 at 8:15 a.m. Students will be available for interviews after the program.

The 45-minute interactive assembly features video segments with interviews of Emmaus High School students about the stress they face. Weller Center health educators also instruct students on ways to recognize the symptoms of stress, discuss the physical, emotional and behavioral ramifications of stress and help them practice strategies to handle the pressure. A segment of the video is available for preview at http://www.wellercenter.org/Stress.htm.

The Weller Center developed the program in response to high student stress levels identified in a comprehensive health-risk behavior survey performed by the Center last spring.

The survey revealed that academic stress is at an all-time high in the district as the majority of East Penn students (92.1%) reported being stressed about their grades.

Consequently, 43.2% of students reported feeling depressed on one or more days during the week, while 12.6% said they felt sad or hopeless every day for two weeks or more in a row and that their depression interfered with regular activities. Another 10.7% reported intentionally cutting or injuring themselves and 6.5% of students said they had seriously considered attempting suicide.

Melissa Lee, president and CEO of the Weller Center, said the school district acted quickly to address the survey findings.

“Administrators took the survey data very seriously and immediately committed to working with us to develop a program to help the kids learn to manage their stress and improve their emotional health,” she said.

Air Products, The Morning Call, Highmark Blue Shield and Just Born, Inc. funded the video production as well as the program development and delivery.

Stress: Overcoming the Overload will be available to all school districts in the Weller Center’s 39-county service area in Pennsylvania and New Jersey beginning this fall.

The mission of the Weller Health Education Center is to measurably improve children’s lives by giving students the tools they need to make informed and healthy life choices. To accomplish this, each year the Center partners with more than 500 schools to supplement and enhance the teaching of health, character education and life science for students grades K through 12. The Center was the first not-for-profit health promotion, disease prevention education facility of its kind in Pennsylvania. Serving more than 1.2 million children since our inception in 1982, the Weller Center remains the only such center in our 39-county service area and one of just 34 health education centers across the nation.