Episode 23: Back to School
After more than a year of remote and hybrid learning environments, as well as quarantines, social distancing and mask mandates, the adjustment back to in-person classrooms may be a difficult transition for K-12 students. In this episode, we speak with Meg Hayden, R.N., head nurse at the Oxford School District in Oxford, Miss., to learn more about how to prepare for the transition and how to support our students.
EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
Rhes Low:
Hey guys, welcome back to another episode of South of Fine. I'm your host Rhes Low. As our regular listeners know, our goal at South of Fine is to change the stigma around mental healthcare. One of the best ways that we can do that is by inviting more people to join the conversation. If you want to help our podcast get seen by more people, we really hope you'll subscribe to South of Fine, rate us and then share our episodes to all of your friends and family.
Today, I'd like to welcome Meg Hayden, head nurse at Oxford School District. For years, her and her team have been very proactive about reaching students and providing them with the tools and relationships they need to recognize and address mental health issues in themselves and their friends. This has been a huge effort to reduce the impact of anxiety, trauma, whatever else issue may arise or be on the horizon for these kids. Here we go.
Low:
All right guys. So we are back and as I said, Meg Hayden is joining us. She is lead school nurse at Oxford High School, and she teaches yoga at Southern Star Yoga here in Oxford. Meg, thank you so much for being here.
Meg Hayden, Lead Nurse, Oxford School District:
Thank you for having me.
Low:
Of course. So, we're kind of loose today and I'm not exactly sure how to run into this, but the best way is always to just kind of get to know you a little bit and so in that vein, would you tell us a little bit about yourself and about your work?
Hayden:
Sure. Well, as you said, I'm the lead school nurse for the Oxford School District and the nurse at Oxford High School. I've been in that role, I think this is my ninth year going into that role. And I have a son who's going to be a senior in high school next year. It's hard to believe
Low:
Oh, gosh. Wow.
Hayden:
... he survived four years of high school with his mom as a school nurse and I have a nine-year-old daughter. So, school nursing was not my original life plan, but when I went to nursing school, I worked a lot in women's health. I was a doula and then a labor and delivery nurse, a lactation consultant. But when we relocated back here to Mississippi, this school nurse position came open. And I have just, aside from the difficulties from last school year with COVID that we will I'm sure get into later in the conversation
Low:
Yes, we will.
Hayden:
... have really loved every minute of it. It is such a combination of things like mental health, public health. It's like having a little clinic, it's all the things. So.
Low:
Yeah, you got to be super well-rounded to perform the job.
Hayden:
Yeah. And I was nervous about it because I was so focused on women's health and on labor and delivery. I was like, "If somebody goes into labor, we're good, but [crosstalk 00:03:46]." So, I did go back and I did my national board certification for school nursing, mostly because I wanted to continue my education and to be more well-rounded. And so that was really helpful because you never know what's going to happen in a day. And at my school, at Oxford High School, we have over 1,200 students and then 100 faculty and staff members. And I'm the only, until last school year, I now have a second nurse at the high school with me, Nurse Agena Boles who's wonderful and amazing. And until then though, I was the only medical person on campus with that many people. So, it's a different feel than the hospital.
School nursing, you have this idea of what it is I did before I did it, that it was going to be like chill, laid back. And some days, I don't know, I'm hesitant to even say that, most [inaudible 00:04:50], but it's not, it's like a clinic and you never know what's going to happen. And that makes it exciting, but also, you have the opportunity to, because you're with students, the same students all the time in the same building with faculty and students, it's an opportunity to build relationships with people and work with them in a way that is not just medical. And that is the most exciting part about my job is that part, building relationships and I love teenagers.
Low:
Really
Hayden:
I love working with that age group. It's a magical time. And I think that it's like they're not adults, but they're also not kids. You know what I mean? It's this in-between, they're like on the cusp of this massive transformational time in their lives and it's amazing.
Low:
It's really interesting that it is a transformational time and you see that happening every day from ninth grade to 12th grade, you see their transgression, not transgression. I'm sure you see their transgressions, but you see them as they grow, but it's one of the smallest periods of time in our life, but it's so weighty.
Hayden:
It's so-
Low:
Why?
Hayden:
Well, I think because you are changing and growing so much, and then when it ends, you're expected to be ready.
Low:
Yeah.
Hayden:
And so, it's yeah. I don't know. I don't know... It's just to me, when I watched the ninth graders go from ninth graders to 12th graders, so much happens. And I think the thing that you have to remember when you work with this age group is that for us as adults, time has sped up. So, that seems like a short period of time, but for them, that's forever. They can't really. It's hard to even see beyond high school. And that plays a part in what we're talking about today, this mental health stuff because without much life experience, it's difficult for them to see beyond high school and that can be hard, but I try to think back and remember myself during that time. And four years, high school seemed like it was going to be forever.
Low:
Oh, yeah.
Hayden:
I was like your whole life.
Low:
I know, I know. It's weird. And I think that, and I could be wrong. So please tell me if I'm wrong. Given the immediacy of information and access to it that we didn't have, I would imagine that they deal with a lot of different stressors that are affecting that growing brain and all of those emotions that are going through them. So, kind of in line with that, but kind of not. What are some typical scenarios that you see from day-to-day, large and small?
Hayden:
Like related to mental health?
Low:
Yeah, just mental health. We don't need to know about the scrapes and bruises and-
Hayden:
Yeah. There's all different. You know what I mean? Because my day starts with like scheduled medications, kids come in with a lot of scheduled meds, and morning meds. And then from there, it could be... This year I dealt with a lot of, we did... This year was totally different because we were screening for COVID and we were... Then doing contact tracing and it was very, very different this year. But if we take out this year, we talk about in general, a lot of the mental health stuff that I see... First, I would say we are dealing with, I mean the human condition is just the human condition, right?
Low:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Hayden:
But there's a lot of students and adults, but students with trauma.
Low:
Yeah.
Hayden:
And so we have sort of changed our focus a lot in the school district to a more whole child perspective, right? We've adopted the whole child initiative. And so, we try to look at and approach students from the perspective of everyone has experienced some type of trauma, whether it's a lot of small microtraumas or some big event occurred and we know that that changes everything, that changes the way that students learn. It changes the way that students relate to each other, the way they relate to themselves. And I think my mission number one is to be a safe space for students in the school. And again, going back to that building relationships like that is my most important sacred job there is to be a safe space for students is what I feel. Also to keep students safe and faculty safe from a health perspective.
Low:
Well, but I think and that's one common theme in every single show that we do, regardless of who the person is I'm talking to is communication and relationships and how important those are to our lives. And I would think in particular to a high school student and I imagine that helps them open up to you and probably come to you more often than other people that don't put such a high priority on formulating those relationships. So, let's talk... A lot of things just start with anxiety, right? If it's not like some other bigger issue, anxiety plays a big role in escalating mental health issues.
Hayden:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Low:
How do you deal with something that a kid that comes in there and it's just off the charts worried about almost everything?
Hayden:
That's a very common scenario.
Low:
Is it? Really?
Hayden:
Yeah. Oh, I would say anxiety is a huge issue and something that I deal with daily with students. Yeah.
Low:
Like with grades, with
Hayden:
A range and it could be a range of someone who just comes to me as a check-in. So, I have students who I know will just stop by and say hi, and it's because they need that touch point for regulation, for routine to check in with their... It's like part of their routine. And that would be like one end of the spectrum, the other end of the spectrum is panic attacks, like full panic attacks, hyperventilating pass out. Yeah. Oh yeah. So, there's a range of things that occur. And so for me, again, being aware of the level of anxiety that these kids are dealing with and the range of symptoms that can occur with anxiety. And that goes back to being to me, part of being trauma-informed in building relationships as the number one thing that we can do for our students is build relationships and make connections with them so that they trust us.
Hayden:
And also, then so that we know our students, what their situations are, what their home life, their family situations are, and then what their behaviors are indicating to us. So, oftentimes things that are considered like negative behaviors or kids who are just being bad, they're not just being bad. They're actually ways that they're trying to survive, right? Their survival mechanisms, right? It's their nervous systems trying to regulate. And that's what it comes down to is so many of them are dysregulated.
Low:
Yeah.
Hayden:
And so, my job is to whatever range they are on the spectrum of anxiety is like, how can we get this kid regulated? One, the very first thing is that's not going to happen unless you have a relationship with them, and you have a connection with them and they trust you.
Low:
Yeah.
Hayden:
And the biggest thing, and this is what my colleague, Kakky Brown and I have tried to start implementing before COVID hit, was helping teachers and faculty that are interacting with students, not only be educated on trauma, being trauma-informed but also the number one thing is being regulated yourself, right?
Low:
True.
Hayden:
Being regulated yourself because if you are dysregulated, which is so easy to become when you're dealing with teenagers, especially if they're appearing to be disrespectful or whatever is to become dysregulated yourself. And then that's... We create the container for the classroom. I create the container for my office and the students will regulate to you, like you sort of set the tone. It's like when you walk into a classroom and you can feel that vibe, right?
Low:
Yeah.
Hayden:
"What's it going to be like in here?" You can feel it when you walk into a place, "Oh, this feels better, this doesn't." And so, it starts there with staying regulated. And then when you're regulated and you're taking care of yourself and you're taking care of your own nervous system and you're aware of your own stuff, then the way that you respond rather than react is going to change the whole thing. So, I don't know if that is what you're asking, I just went off and [crosstalk 00:15:04].
Low:
No, that's better than what I was asking. That's way better. And it's interesting because I think that... You're bound to be pretty limited in what you can do. So, it's wonderful to hear how proactive you are in creating ways to offset that and catch it on the front end rather than have to deal with it on the backend, such as the program with making sure teachers are now regulating themselves and taking care of themselves and creating those relationships. So, just for a technical knowledge, at what point do you have to turn it over to someone else or do you recommend, and what does that look like? How does the logistics of that work?
Hayden:
Well, it kind of depends. We have school guidance counselors, and they have a lot of roles and responsibilities and which include supporting the students in all kinds of ways. And so the students can go and talk to the guidance counselors and then we have a therapist at every school in the Oxford School District, which is very... We're very, very fortunate for that. So, students who need a higher level of mental health support can receive it at school. And especially after this year, I really feel like we're just beginning at the end of the school year, we're beginning to see the mental health effects that COVID had on our students. And I think it's probably that the population at that age group is it's probably been most difficult for those.
Low:
Yeah, what does that look like?
Hayden:
So, I don't know exactly what it looks like. I'll tell you after the school year starts because it's probably about to get worse, but I can tell you from my own part, I have a teenager and from being at the school this year. We talked about the importance of relationships and connections in general, right? As humans, we're wired for connection. That's so important. And now we know that... I keep going back to trauma, but it's just so relevant. Like with trauma, it disconnects us from ourselves, which disconnects us from other people, right? Essentially, we want to really boil it down. And with teenagers, they're in a stage of development that requires them to make connections. Like that's their whole thing, right? They're moving outside of their relationships with just their family and they're much more dependent on their relationships with their peers.
And, so this isolation has been devastating for a lot of them because it's like what they're supposed to be doing is connecting with one another and finding purpose in their peer group and it's like... But they're in their rooms on computers.
Low:
Yeah.
Hayden:
Then on top of that, I would say, the virtual school aspect, although our school district, I feel like we did an amazing job really compared to a lot of other school districts, we did a really great job with virtual school, but you'd mentioned earlier, like students and different reasons why they have anxiety and we do have our students... We have a lot of students who are very grade conscious and they... I would say that most students they want naturally, they want to do well. And it's having to manage themselves just like where they are with that exact functioning, lack of development and the executive functioning portion of our brains at that age is so difficult to manage online school for them. And then they get behind and then they get overwhelmed and then they don't know where to start and then they're failing. And it's just like this... I have time and time again, we had so many students in summer school this summer compared to other summers trying to get back on track [crosstalk 00:19:35].
Low:
But that was purposeful. Wasn't it? You guys were like, "Let's help them."
Hayden:
Oh yeah.
Low:
Yeah, yeah.
Hayden:
Oh, absolutely. Definitely, we want students to succeed, but I think the mental aspect of being asked to do online school, even with all of the support and all of the expertise and how well the Oxford School District did it, it was really hard for kids not to fall behind. And when they did, it's like just another stressor.
Low:
Yeah. And when they're thrown back into, I guess, to a normal year, which they are this year, like you said, we'll wait and see-
Hayden:
Yeah.
Low:
... the dynamics got to be a lot different. I know as an adult and as an adult that enjoys being social, I had a lot of trepidation stepping back out.
Hayden:
Yeah.
Low:
I didn't realize it. I didn't realize that I would. I was thinking, "Whatever," but then I get into a crowd I'm like, "Ah, kind of like being at home by myself."
Hayden:
Yeah. You have a whole new type of anxiety, right?
Low:
Yeah.
Hayden:
Post-COVID being-out-in-public anxiety.
Low:
Yeah. And I would imagine as a kid, not being able to really recognize and delineate between emotions and what's going on, that's tough. And recognizing what's happening. I don't imagine many of them have the tools to really articulate that. Is that a false statement or true.
Hayden:
No, it's true. I think it's not just them. I think many of us don't always have the words or the tools to really... Like if we're not in touch with ourselves, you know what I mean? It's like often in hindsight you can look back and be like, "Wow, that really affected me. I didn't even realize it at the time." You know what I'm saying? But it's true. Sometimes I think the kids actually have better insight than the adults do, but [crosstalk 00:21:32].
Low:
Yeah. That's good to know. As a father of two teenagers, I think that's a wonderful thing to know. And I agree, sometimes it's funny when they get to be teenagers and they say something and you're like, "Oh, you're actually right. And that's a way better idea."
Hayden:
It is. These kids I'll tell you, that is one thing about kids though is that they are so resilient and they are so open in a way that we aren't as adults. And it's beautiful. I think that's why I love working with them so much because they are just still so open. And there is that kind of like, they still have a playfulness to them. There's like part of them that still really wants to be a kid
Low:
Yeah.
Hayden:
And then they have this kind of like optimism that we lose as we get older. And that's why one thing that was that my colleague, Kakky Brown, I've mentioned her a couple of times, we started a peer wellness group that focused on mental health a lot called RISE, reach, inspire, support, empower. And I think this will be our fifth year with RISE.
Low:
Cool.
Hayden:
Don't quote me on that. I think it's our fifth year with RISE. And so anyway, Kakky and I started this group, it started with nine kids and we really didn't know what we were going to do, but we said, "Look, do you want to change the world?" [inaudible 00:23:04] like, "Yes." And we were like, "Let's do it." And I realized that a lot of colleges have these peer wellness groups where they take students and they train them to teach their peers. And I couldn't believe when I was doing research that I couldn't find any high school programs like that, really.
Low:
Yeah.
Hayden:
Because I was thinking maybe I could just get one and bring it, but I couldn't find any, so we just started our own and it just has snowballed. We had like 65 members and the year before last Kakky and I went to a convention for peer wellness groups. We were the only high school there. It was all colleges. And they were like, "How do you guys recruit? How do you recruit all these students?" We were like, "We don't, they come to us, they are craving this." It's become a family. It's become a place where kids can connect with each other if they don't have kind of like a home within the high school already. But it's also a place where we can help empower them to share all of what we're talking about, right? They have all of this wisdom. And if you give them the platform and you encourage them and you empower them to do it, they have a lot to say and a lot to teach and a perspective that we don't have.
And going back to that, talking about that stage of development that is critical and that was kind of like part of what made COVID so hard for teenagers, that's why the peer wellness works. Because if a teenager is telling a teenager, they just have more credibility, right? It's just automatic credibility because it's like, if you were saying it, it's like, "You don't know what you're talking about. You don't understand what it's like to be me."
Low:
Right.
Hayden:
And to some extent that's true. So, we focused the first, when we first started doing presentations in the classroom, because we have like campus-wide events, right? So, we have like a yearly event. This year because of COVID, it was an outdoor movie.
Low:
Oh, yeah. Yeah.
Hayden:
And so like a drive in movie. But before that, we've had actually outdoor concerts where local bands have played and we've had different people come. And then we do pop-ups at school. So like the last two years, we did pop-ups. We did a Valentine's Day pop-up that was focused on self-love rather than the typical [crosstalk 00:25:41].
Low:
Right, the Hallmark holiday?
Hayden:
Yeah. And so, they all took a quiz to find their self-love word. And then they all got a free bracelet that kind of like, I have it, I have mine as an anklet. So I'm just going to show you, you can't see it on camera, but it's like a...
Low:
Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, that's super cool.
Hayden:
Yeah. So, it's like etched into the metal. And so then they each get a free bracelet, a self-love bracelet.
Low:
Cool.
Hayden:
So, that's the kind of thing. So then Valentine's Day becomes self-love at the school instead of focused on like buying candy grams for each other or something.
Low:
Right, right.
Hayden:
And so those are the kinds of things we try to do. But then we do in-class presentations to all the ninth graders focused on mental health. And we polled the school... When we first started, we did a poll, "What do you want to hear from us?" And the students overwhelmingly said, "Stress and anxiety, suicide and depression."
Low:
Wow.
Hayden:
So, immediately, that's what we focused on, our peer wellness group focused on and we asked Tony Caldwell, I don't know if know him, a therapist to come in and do some trainings on these mental health topics. And he's amazing, amazing therapist. He lives in Nashville now, but he came in and trained the kids on those subjects. And then Kakky and I created kind of like a bare bones outline for a lesson plan. But then they came in and really pulled all the information from the trainings and made lesson plans. So-
Low:
Wow, that's [crosstalk 00:27:15].
Hayden:
Then they go into the classrooms and teach on stress and anxiety and depression and suicide. And that is why it grew from nine people, 18 people to 65 people because the students went in the classroom and it's a diverse group of students. So, you have kids who are really involved in sports or cheerleading. And then you have kids who are in the band and you have kids who are... Maybe they're not involved in anything but RISE but it's just kind of a variety of students. And we had feedback like, "Oh, my gosh, I didn't know what that was called. I didn't know anxiety had a name." And also these kids have anxiety. These kids have these feelings. These 11th and 12th graders are telling the ninth graders and they get vulnerable and they get real.
Hayden:
And that is, I think what's hard about being a teenager is that there tends to be a fear of, in a social setting like being vulnerable. And then we have social media, which makes that even worse because everyone's trying to live up to these totally inauthentic ideals, these made up realities. So, to have kids come in the classroom, older kids who are role models and say, "I feel this way. I struggle with this. It's okay. It's normal. Also, if you need help, reach out to us, connect with us." And it's been amazing. Absolutely. The response has been amazing. And one of our RISE students then went on for her Girl Scouts project to create an anonymous reporting form so students or teachers can get on there and report if they're worried about a student and it will go to myself, an administrator, guidance counselor, and it gets rated like level of importance like-
Low:
Wow.
Hayden:
... You need to go check in with that kid right away. You need to check in within 24 hours, and it can be-
Low:
That is awesome.
Hayden:
... Yeah. One of our RISE students. These kids are amazing. They've made... We started a whole campaign at the beginning of last school year called Taking Care of Us and Hassell Wilkinson and some of the other kids that are in RISE, they're so talented. They created these public service announcements. Immediately when we had some mental health issues in the spring, we immediately within 48 hours of that happening, RISE got together and made a public service announcement, reach out, like suicide hotlines and just reminding kids that there... So, that's the kind of stuff that RISE is doing. That's one way, I think that I have found to handle mental health. Like you were saying, being proactive, prevention is so important and RISE is a way to do that. And I think it's one of the most effective ways that you can reach kids this age is through each other.
Low:
Absolutely. That's incredible. What's the RISE site?
Hayden:
It's embedded in the school district website-
Low:
Okay.
Hayden:
... RISE.
Low:
Oxford School District?
Hayden:
Oxford School District, yeah.
Low:
Right. Okay
Hayden:
But follow us on Instagram, @riseoxfordhigh. We're on Facebook and Instagram. And so, we kind of keep it updated with our events and stuff, but that's been a huge mental health initiative that my colleague Kakky and I really started because we were seeing so much of this anxiety, depression, and all of these issues, and this is pre-COVID. So next year, we're really going to try to bring in some extra support. And I think one other thing I'd like to mention that when we talk about... Within these subject areas, another one we're going to really start to try to focus on coming into this year is with substance abuse and addiction, because we know that now like 65% of people who have substance abuse or addiction, they have experienced trauma.
So, that's something that we want to preventatively address through RISE for sure. And one thing that we try to weave throughout all of our presentations and our things are the importance of physical activity, but also mindfulness, practicing mindfulness. And Kakky and I are just finishing our mindful teacher certification through an organization called Mindful Schools. And that's one thing we brought to the teacher professional development was gratitude practices, mindfulness practices and then we bring that to students. So like teachers are beginning to start to try to practice a mindful minute in their classrooms. And I was going into the learning center before that, gotten integrated into the high school, but the classroom of, like credit recovery classroom I go into twice a week and do yoga and mindfulness with those students. And that's been an amazing experience.
Low:
Yeah. Because you're quite a prolific yoga teacher. I think you just got certified and you started teaching professionally and then you're in another program for yoga therapy. Is that right?
Hayden:
I am. Mm-hmm. Yep. A yoga therapy.
Low:
Wow. And so, I imagine with how as proactive as you are with RISE and these other things that you guys are doing, that at some point, we may have some yoga capabilities for these students that are still open to these things.
Hayden:
They are, they love it. It's amazing. And that goes back to relationship because they will try anything if they trust you and they know that-
Low:
That's great. That's great.
Hayden:
... [crosstalk 00:33:27] these students that... These high school students that you typically may be thought of as students who were maybe not so willing to be active in the classroom, or they might be more difficult to deal with. A lot of them are kids who have had behavioral problems or that kind of thing. And we're in there meditating and doing yoga. We're in there practicing mindfulness and they love it, but also RISE before pre-COVID, we had two students who were yoga certified and they were offering yoga in the library during lunch to all students. Yeah. And then when COVID happened, we were offering yoga for teens live on the Instagram page. And we also did a weekly mindfulness meditation for teenagers on the Instagram page as well.
Low:
Wow. That's absolutely incredible. When I was in high school, I had no idea what yoga was, I don't think, but even in college, when I was in theater school, they were teaching us all these yoga techniques and I was like, "Hey, I don't know what's going on here." And only in retrospect, do I look at it and I'm like, "Oh my gosh, this was incredible." And I still use them today.
Hayden:
Yeah. Oh, yeah.
Low:
The tools that they taught me, even though I don't practice yoga, which I should, but it's pretty incredible.
Hayden:
I feel like you're going to start now.
Low:
Well-
Hayden:
Yoga [crosstalk 00:34:53].
Low:
I just recently did a yoga class for anyone that's listening that doesn't know, but they put their knees in my back and it just popped about 20 times. It was awesome.
Hayden:
Nice.
Low:
Yeah. Just release of the past year, two years.
Hayden:
Totally, yeah.
Low:
So, let's talk a little bit about... I know that this is a whole subject to itself, but we can't do this without mentioning bullying. And is there a new term for that? Is there a new way of dealing with that? Can you just kind of give a little bit of an overview of... And do you see it that often anymore?
Hayden:
Yeah. So I think that... Yeah. So, the hard thing is that bullying became such a buzzword that it's almost like it took the meaning out of the word, maybe changed the meaning even. And so I think that that's why... Yeah, that word is hard because I think that people... Like sometimes my own elementary school child will use it and I'm like, "I don't know if that's the right... bullying is the word."
Low:
Yes.
Hayden:
They've heard like bullying education that maybe has gone awry. I don't know. But I think that we live in a world of... Specifically right now, the teenagers have a lot of social pressure because of social media. That's made that, like I was touching on earlier, they are competing with what appears to be reality, but what is not.
Low:
Mm-hmm
Hayden:
And that is so difficult. And so that just takes up the natural human inclination to compare to a whole new level, right? Because you're comparing yourself with the standard that's not real, that can't be met. But as far as bullying goes, I think that high school can be a very difficult social environment and all of the positive things that come along with this age, there's also some negatives. And unfortunately I think that it does happen. And so we try, that's another... A thing that we try to emphasize through RISE and other initiatives like that, which is that the sameness within all of us, that we are all the same. We all have the same need for love, acceptance. And when you can remind kids of that and tap into their ability to be compassionate, that's what we need to be emphasizing with these kids is connection and sameness and because I think that when they don't feel that, that's when that happens.
Low:
I think that's quite astute. Yeah. I would interpret compassion, I would use empathy.
Hayden:
Yeah.
Low:
I think that there's... I was born with a lot of empathy. I'm very thankful for that, but some people aren't and that's not their fault, but you can learn empathy and you can learn to put yourself in other people's shoes. And it sounds like a lot of what you guys are doing is that. And in the role you have taken, you were doing something that a lot of therapists can't do, they're addressing a problem that is there and you guys have taken that role and turned it on its head and you are trying to hit it before it happens. And if it is something going on, making these people okay with coming to you, which is going to change the whole dynamic of where we are in particular, which is Mississippi.
Hayden:
Yeah.
Low:
That's where we're building a culture of openness and care and relationship building and putting an import on that. That is not atypical in a high school situation. So, once again, Oxford has put the right people in the right place for these kids to thrive. So, I am as a, like I said, a parent of teenagers, so happy that you are leading that charge and you and Kakky have started RISE, brilliant program. I would encourage all listeners if you have children to look into that. They'll do donations or is it all through the [crosstalk 00:39:42]?
Hayden:
No, but we will have events and things, and like we'll be selling some T-shirts and that kind of thing.
Low:
Okay, cool. I could keep talking and I've got a lot of questions that I did not ask, but I think that the meat of what we've discussed is the important part. I just get back to the preventative work that you guys are doing is pretty incredible, and I hope that it gets bigger and bigger and bigger.
Hayden:
Thank you so much. Thank you so much for having me on the show today.
Low:
Of course. Well, thank you. And good luck with your yoga certification for-
Hayden:
Thank you.
Low:
... yoga therapy. That's pretty cool.
Everyone keeps telling me that I must do this. And like I said, I've done a lot of yoga, but not formally. I just didn't know-
Hayden:
Come visit [crosstalk 00:40:36] Southern Star.
Low:
Southern Star. Yeah. Okay. All right. Thanks, Meg.
Hayden:
[Thank you.
Low:
We'll catch you later.
Hayden:
Okay. Bye.
Low:
Bye.
If you have questions about mental health and the COVID-19 pandemic that you'd like our providers to answer in a future episode, please email southoffine@righttrackmedical.com. And if you'd like more information about Right Track Medical Group or the South of Fine Podcast, please visit righttrackmedical.com.
Thanks to our production team, Kelley Hunsberger, Caitlyn Clegg, Carol Ann Hughes, Aleka Battista, and Rhes Low. A special thanks Squadcast for providing superior remote interview services.
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