Jessie Alexander ’01 has re-entered the Paideia community and is already making an impact around the High School. Alexander is the new high school counselor; alongside her co-counselor Jessica Smith, she has been working together this year on finding new ways to improve the Paideia wellness program. Alexander has more than ten years of experience, which Smith claimed was a factor that made her appealing for the job, in addition to her sense of humor, her creativity and her theoretical knowledge about mental health.
Smith noted how even though there is a new counselor, the traditions of the wellness department such as Wellness Week and the Wellness Wagon will definitely stay, and the Grief Group is planning to continue with Alexander as the new head. Smith and Alexander also want to grow and create new traditions: one idea was to have one-on-one meetings with students, so that they are able to feel more comfortable and familiar with the counselors.
“Something called Weekly Wellness comes out in the Python Pit,” Smith says, “and when students get that email on Fridays, we want to hype that up.” These little changes and features are the small elements that Alexander and Smith are implementing to expand and improve the wellness department.
Because Alexander spent so many years working in the mental health field, including owning her own practice, Oak and Reed Clinical Services, and attending Paideia herself, she is knowledgeable about the community and certain wellness aspects of Paideia from over the years. She explained how important speaking to a therapist can be: whether for a happy or heavy conversation, “the process of talking about how you’re experiencing the day, whether it’s good or bad or neutral, can be a need.” She is spreading the word and putting her mark on the Paideia wellness department, one Weekly Wellness memo at a time.
