Iowa's new front on classroom behavior: Brain health rooms
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Inside one of Ankeny's Brain Health Retreat Rooms. Photo: Courtesy of Ankeny Community School District
Ankeny has joined a growing list of Iowa schools offering students "brain health retreat rooms" — spaces to step away to when anxiety becomes overwhelming.
Why it matters: The rooms fit into a broader shift toward addressing student well-being before problems require more intensive behavioral or therapeutic services.
Driving the news: Ankeny this month announced it opened rooms at Northview and Southview middle schools through a partnership with Brain Health Now.
- Up to five students can use a room for 10 minutes to practice self-regulation with school social workers.
- Brain Health Now provided each room a $2,500 stipend plus furniture and signage; existing staff operate them, district spokesperson Shelley Rouse tells Axios.
Catch up quick: Debi Butler founded Brain Health Now in 2017.
- She and her husband, Andy, later helped launch the first retreat rooms at Dubuque Senior and Hempstead high schools in 2022.
Context: Debi's brother Steve was diagnosed with schizophrenia in 1985, and she has said the stigma surrounding the diagnosis was isolating and negatively affected him.
- She advocates reframing the term mental illness as "brain health," arguing that it can help people overcome feelings of personal failure and encourage more people to seek treatment.
State of play: In February, the Iowa Department of Education said that nearly 20 Iowa schools had the brain health retreat rooms.
- Ottumwa High recorded about 1,000 visits during the first half of last school year.
Zoom in: Ottumwa school officials say attendance has improved since they added the rooms, particularly among students who had been chronically absent, and that some students use the rooms less frequently as they develop coping skills.
Behind the scenes: The expansion comes as Iowa schools try other approaches to improving student well-being, including tighter cellphone restrictions.
- Some Iowa schools use therapeutic classrooms to provide more intensive support for students with complex needs, aiming to help them return to a typical classroom.
The big picture: Schools are increasingly prioritizing prevention and early intervention to support students' mental health and classroom behavior, per the CDC.
Zoom out: Similar calming or wellness rooms have been used in schools in Minnesota and Massachusetts, though research remains limited on whether they improve attendance or reduce costs.
What we're watching: Whether longer-term use shows the rooms are an effective, affordable tool for schools confronting some of their biggest challenges.