The Pacific School of Innovation and Inquiry is impressive in many ways: their students are independent learners, they foster an entrepreneurial mindset, and the space they’ve made for exploration in education is truly remarkable. And yet the aspect of the school that I was most impressed with existed in a small, windowless room that is fondly referred to as “The Cave.”
“The Cave” is simple in design: rug, bean bag, lava lamp, fidget toy, a puzzle. They include a salt lamp, a down-blanket, a stack of National Geographics. It’s a small room with a lockable door for those moments where you need to be alone. If you need a quiet fifteen minutes, a place to close your eyes for a while, a good cry that you don’t want anyone to see, you can enter this room without explanation and take that time for yourself.
Though I have heard that mental health is more widely discussed in schools today, I had never seen a physical representation of this growing acceptance before this room. I think about all the times this simply constructed room could have helped my peers and me in our educational experiences. It could have given my friend a space to regroup during her nearly daily panic attacks that would lead to her dropping out of school. It could have given me space to cope with the stress of school. I was aware of the importance of mental health (I spent many days home from school, feigning a 24-hour bug just to take a breath) but I never had the space to talk about it in school. I never had a space to deal with stress in a healthy way without taking an entire day off.
I think the idea of “The Cave” is a simple but important tactic to allow students to take accountability for their mental wellbeing and allowing it to exist in an educational setting.