HEALTH AND WELLNESS
Becoming Healthy, Resilient People
At O’Dowd, we recognize that our students' capacity to cope with life’s challenges is the foundation from which all other successes spring. O’Dowd’s Health & Wellness program provides access to social-emotional support students need to thrive academically, build resiliency, and grow a healthy sense of self. Through our Wellness Counseling services, peer education, annual dedicated Health & Wellness week, thoughtful wellness assemblies throughout the school year, drop-in support, and parent education evenings, our Health & Wellness team aims to equip students with social-emotional skills they need to live healthy, connected, purposeful lives.
Social-Emotional Support
As part of our community of care, School-Based Wellness Counseling is available for interested students in need of more frequent support than their school counselor can provide. We serve students who are struggling to manage persistent stress or sadness, navigate social relationships, process loss, or handle challenging circumstances. Under the clinical supervision of our Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, our team of pre-licensed associate therapists help our diverse students explore the complexities of being a teenager and make healthy choices for themselves. Students are screened to ensure the limitations of our school-based services are an appropriate match for their needs. Rooted in culturally inclusive practices, our Wellness Counseling services are designed to remove barriers to seeking mental health support, and prioritized for students who may not be able to access additional support outside of school.
Student Leadership
Our Health and Wellness Leaders are a team of thoughtful and compassionate seniors trained as peer educators to reduce the stigma of addressing adolescent mental health issues. Through weekly announcements to the student body, schoolwide events during O’Dowd’s annual Health & Wellness Week, informal conversations, and assemblies to support healthy relationships and student safety, our Health and Wellness Leaders strive to foster open communication and mental health awareness within the community while supporting the O’Dowd student body to make healthy choices and be positive influences on each other.
Partners in Parenting
As a Catholic school, we believe parents and caregivers are O’Dowd’s primary partners in educating our students. Our intention is to support families with additional resources and tools to raise healthy, emotionally happy teens. Throughout the school year, we offer a number of opportunities for parents and caregivers to come together for discussion and skill-building on a range of relevant social-emotional topics, all with the goal of supporting students to thrive in high school and beyond.
Elisa Dumesnil, LMFT - Associate Director of Health & Wellness
A Bay Area native, Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and credentialed school counselor, Elisa spent 10 years in high school counseling before focusing the past 15+ years on her private practice in Oakland. Clinically supervising O’Dowd’s Wellness Team, her passion is guiding student support services focused on adolescent wellness, resilience and student belonging.
