As the places where young people spend a significant amount of their lives, schools have an immense opportunity to attend to the social, emotional, and mental health needs of students on a regular basis. Calming spaces can be integrated as part of a school’s comprehensive strategy to provide nurturing environments that foster positive student development and prevent harmful and persistent distress.

This brief describes calming spaces and the potential positive impacts that offering such spaces in schools or classrooms can have on students’ mental health and learning. It features several examples of calming spaces and related resources from California and beyond, provides an explanation of how calming spaces align with other initiatives for supporting student well-being, and offers practical guidance for educators to consider when setting up their own calming spaces.