Pictures from Mary Ellen Henderson’s ‘Stress Less Week’
Co-written with Colleen Hoover, School Social Worker at Mary Ellen Henderson Middle School
2024 Healthy Kids Grantee Makes an Impact
In August 2024, the Community Foundation awarded a grant to the Falls Church Education Foundation to support a new club called Henderson Minds Matter at Mary Ellen Henderson Middle School. Henderson Minds Matter, is a part of a nationwide student-led movement called Our Minds Matter that is designed to change school culture around mental health.
Henderson Minds Matter fosters a safe and welcoming school environment by engaging the school community in activities that bring awareness to mental health and wellness issues at Henderson. Through club activities, discussions, and school wide campaigns, the goals of the club are to reduce stigma surrounding mental health, promote social connectedness, and encourage self-care and healthy habits among students at Henderson.
Suzanne Hladky, Falls Church Education Foundation’s Executive Director, first discovered the Healthy Kids Grant opportunity and forwarded it on to the division social workers. Colleen Hoover, a school social worker at Mary Ellen Henderson Middle School, immediately became interested in the grant opportunity. Recognizing the grant’s potential, she asked, “what can we do at the school to mirror and exemplify the values of the Healthy Kids grants?” Healthy Kids Grants are awarded each year to individual public schools in Northern Virginia that implement a program or strategy to encourage better nutrition, more physical activity, or better mental health among their student body during the school year. As a long-time advocate of youth mental health, Colleen researched various programs that would bring awareness to mental health issues, as well as reducing the stigma around mental illness. In researching an answer, Colleen learned about the work of nationwide nonprofit organization, Our Minds Matter.
The organization’s mission statement resonated with Colleen, and she and her team decided to establish a club chapter of Our
Minds Matter for the middle school students. Our Minds Matter’s values and student leadership structure would be crucial to spark the necessary cultural change around mental health. With that in mind, the team applied for and received a $2,000 grant from the Healthy Kids Grant to start Henderson Minds Matter. The group offered a platform for Colleen to connect with all students- not just the students she or the counselors meet with regularly- and an opportunity to all students to engage in the club and activities.
Since the program’s founding, challenges and opportunities alike have sprung up. For example, Colleen and her co-counselor and club sponsor, Tara Filmyer, faced the challenge of accommodating students with after-school commitments, such as extracurricular activities or responsibilities like caring for younger siblings. To ensure all students could participate, Colleen restructured the club schedule. She now runs three consecutive sessions during the school day, twice a month—each tailored to a specific grade level—so that every student has an opportunity to attend without conflict.
Programming and activity ideas have also taken inspiration from the Our Minds Matter curriculum, geared toward helping students develop their social connectiveness, self-care, and healthy coping skills. Meetings consist of small-group activities that focus on education, healthy coping skills and reducing stigma around mental health issues. The club members also decided upon several school wide campaigns for Henderson Minds Matter to lead throughout the year. One of them was creating a “Stress Relief Wall” which students designed and picked a place for the board, and had students fill out a husky paw print with a healthy coping strategy for the bulletin board.
Furthermore, Mary Ellen Henderson Middle School celebrated a school-wide campaign, called "Stress Less Week" as a result of Community Foundation grant funding. Held the week prior to SOLs, the goal of stress less week was to get the school community thinking about how to cope and promote care when facing stress. Each day of the campaign had a different theme (Monday Mindfulness Day, Movement Tuesday, Wellness Wednesday, and Laugh more Thursday, Fun Friday) to promote and encourage students to practice self-care and positive coping strategies.
Henderson Minds Matter club has one of the largest numbers of club members for a middle school chapter in the Northern Virginia region. When asked what her advice would be to other schools following Mary Ellen Henderson’s footsteps, Colleen says, “The more people to help you plan the program, the better the club will be.” The positive engagement and student feedback about the club has been even more positive than Colleen anticipated, and the club will continue a second-year next school year.
Give Access to Increased Exercise, Better Nutrition, and Mental Health Support
Every year, Healthy Kids Grants are awarded to public schools across Northern Virginia that implement programming to improve nutrition, physical activity, or mental health among their student body. As highlighted in our 2025 report, Health and Safety of Children and Youth in Northern Virginia, there is a deeply concerning trend in youth mental health across the region. In 2023, 10% of high school students and 15% of middle school students reported skipping school because they felt unsafe—a reality felt most acutely among Hispanic/Latino youth. We all share a responsibility to ensure that every child in our community feels heard, safe, and supported.
These grants are possible through support from The Permanent Fund for Northern Virginia, our endowment that supports critical needs throughout the region. Explore our website to learn more and make a donation today.
Questions?
Questions?
