Celebrating School Health Brand Initiatives That Improve Student Wellness
Across America, schools are navigating a growing mental health and physical wellness crisis, with rising student anxiety, burnout, and health challenges stretching already limited resources. As educators search for sustainable solutions, health and wellness brands are stepping in, partnering with schools to deliver meaningful support that strengthens students, staff, and entire communities.
Student Mental and Physical Wellness in Crisis
According to CDC Youth Risk Behavior Survey data, nearly 40% of high school students reported persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness, and about 20% seriously considered suicide in the past year.
Meanwhile, a 2024–25 survey of school administrators shows only about 18% of students accessed school-based mental health services, even though about 97% of schools offer at least one service, and many schools cite staffing and funding challenges as barriers
When mental health and physical wellness decline, attendance follows, turning emotional strain and unmet health needs into rising absenteeism across schools.
According to EdWeek, 22% of students were chronically absent during the 24-25 school year, up from 19% the year prior. Illness accounted for 67% of absences, while anxiety or depression contributed to 10%. At the same time, 56% of schools report funding barriers that limit their ability to respond effectively.
Confronting a challenge of this magnitude will require coordinated, sustained solutions that address both student well-being and the barriers keeping them out of the classroom.
Schools are Already Leading the Charge
Across the country, educators are stepping beyond academics to nurture the whole child. Even with limited resources, schools are building creative, student-led wellness initiatives that prioritize connection, resilience, and community care.
At Franklin High School, educator Gwen Carey helped establish the Here4You Club, a student group that meets monthly to talk openly about stress, self-care, and supporting one another. Meetings are interactive experiences designed to build empathy and character.
Students participate in activities such as:
Writing letters to community members
Creating a gratitude wall inside the school
Designing projects that strengthen peer support
Leading conversations around emotional and physical well-being
Clubs like Here4You give students language for their emotions and practical tools for managing them. They also reinforce something powerful: wellness is a shared responsibility.
Schools are doing the work.
But the demand is still rising. Capacity is stretched. Educators are innovating, but what they lack is scalable support
Where Healthcare Brands and Organizations Can Amplify Impact
When healthcare organizations collaborate with schools, they expand existing efforts rather than replacing them. They provide resources, infrastructure, and visibility that help student-led and educator-led programs scale. Here are some brands already shaping the landscape:
Kid’s Mental Health Foundation: Equipping Classrooms with Tools
The Kids Mental Health Foundation delivers free Mental Wellness Teacher Kits for grades 1–5, designed by licensed professionals.
Each kit includes:
In-class mental health activities
A teacher booklet with structured guidance
Parent letters in English and Spanish
Student and teacher engagement materials
This model empowers educators to normalize conversations about anxiety, kindness, bullying, and emotional regulation—early and consistently. The result? Proactive support instead of reactive crisis management.
For healthcare partners, initiatives like this position them as trusted allies in child development as well as partners in student success.
GoHealth Urgent Care & Health System Partners: Meeting Seasonal Needs Head-On
In collaboration with four health system partners—Memorial Hermann Health System in Houston, Northwell Health in New York, Mercy in St. Louis, and UPMC in Pennsylvania and West Virginia—GoHealth recently sent wellness kits to 250 nearby schools to show their appreciation for school nurses who play such a vital role in keeping students healthy, safe, and ready to learn.
““I hope more health care organizations decide to do this...this idea is absolutely genius because it helps the community out so much!””
Each kit included:
Bandages
Mini tissue boxes
Cold packs and other essentials
One school nurse shared, "I hope more health care organizations decide to do this...this idea is absolutely genius because it helps the community out so much!" - Christine Gorski
This approach supports school nurses, reduces preventable absences, and extends wellness materials into students’ homes, supporting not only the school but the entire community.
Move Your Body, Calm Your Mind: Linking Physical Fitness and Mental Wellness
The Move Your Body, Calm Your Mind campaign brings awareness to the connection between physical health and mental well-being by providing Californians with resources to encourage daily movement, mindfulness, and breathwork. Launched in 2023, the campaign is an initiative of the Governor’s Advisory Council on Physical Fitness and Mental Well-Being, the California Department of Health Care Services, and the California Department of Public Health.
Their goal is to increase awareness among all age groups about the benefits of movement, sport, nutrition, and overall mental wellness; encourage intergenerational physical fitness activities; promote equitable access to outdoor and physical activities for underserved communities; and facilitate collaboration among federal, state, and local agencies, education, business and industry, the private sector, and others in the promotion of movement and mental wellness.
This initiative seeks to create a positive sports and fitness culture for all Californians across the lifespan that fosters belonging and builds community. Join the movement today! Learn more about this initiative at MoveYourBodyCalmYourMind.org.
Crisis Text Line: Immediate Access to Support
Crisis Text Line provides free, 24/7 mental health support. By texting “HOME,” “SCHOOL,” or “CONNECT” to 741741, students, parents, and educators can access trained crisis counselors instantly.
Their offerings include:
Student anxiety and bullying toolkits
Self-care planning guides
Grounding and breathing exercises
This is scalable support. It meets students where they already are—on their phones—and removes traditional barriers to care.
Models like this demonstrate how healthcare organizations can amplify existing infrastructure rather than reinventing it.
Planet Fitness: Fitness as a Community Commitment
Planet Fitness offered free summer memberships to high school students, attracting more than 3.5 million signups and generating 17 million logged workouts.
This initiative delivered:
A safe, structured summer environment
Accessible physical wellness support
Meaningful youth engagement during out-of-school months
The long-term impact reaches far beyond the gym. Entire sports teams, school clubs, and individual high school students recognize Planet Fitness as a brand that actively champions student health and well-being.
Innovation Spotlight: Rallee!
As schools look for daily, classroom-friendly solutions, technology is playing an increasingly important role.
Rallee! is a science-backed move-to-learn app designed to energize both body and brain in five minutes or less. Built specifically for modern classrooms, it helps students reset, refocus, and build resilience through short, structured physical and mental health activities.
Rallee delivers measurable classroom impact by boosting focus, strengthening resilience, and activating learning readiness through science-backed movement that supports both mental and physical wellness in just minutes a day.
The Bigger Opportunity
Schools are working tirelessly to address rising anxiety, chronic absenteeism, and widening health gaps, but they cannot solve a growing mental and physical wellness crisis alone.
Healthcare organizations are uniquely equipped to strengthen and scale the efforts already underway. By embedding resources, expertise, and sustained support into school communities, they can directly improve attendance, expand early access to mental health care, and reinforce lifelong wellness habits.
The impact is meaningful and measurable: stronger community trust, positive brand relationships with families, improved student wellbeing, broader household reach, and healthier learning environments built to thrive.
The schools are ready. Students need support. The opportunity for collaboration is here.
Campus Multimedia helps healthcare organizations activate strategic, turn-key school partnerships that deliver real results for students and communities. Request our school health partnership guide to explore how your organization can lead with purpose inside K–12 schools.