At 8:05 a student ran into my class with tears in his eyes. We talked until the bell rang, after which they headed to their first lesson, no longer wanting to go home and, of course, more prepared to study.
So, my first communication with students began on the first day at a new job, even before school started.
For recording:
9:00 August 26, 2025A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that Planned Parenthood clinics in Los Angeles had closed. Closed Planned Parenthood clinics were located in other parts of California.
That's why I'm hereI thought.
In 2024, Planned Parenthood Los Angeles hired and trained 16 health educators to expand the Wellbeing Center, a program developed by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health to bring mental and sexual health services to public high school students directly in their communities. campuses. I was part of this new group of educators, working with others to staff more than 20 centers in Los Angeles high schools, with plans to expand to 50 in the coming years.
Our Wellbeing Center classrooms had their doors open four days a week to any student who came with a pass. My job was to be a trusted adult with resources, information, and an unbiased ear.
I know that critics of such programs believe that students should not take mental health breaks in school because that is not what happens in the “real” world. They're missing the point. Wellness centers are what's happening in the world could be as if. These are places where young people have the freedom to ask questions without fear, where they find mentors who don't grade or punish them, where they can practice self-regulating their emotions instead of skipping classes and running off campus.
I sat across from students who told me about sexual assault and suicidal thoughts. Others were cheated on, were nervous about exams, were bullied by peers, or were reeling from the news that they wouldn't qualify to graduate. One student came to WBC to call her father for the first time in her life, and another came to talk after learning that her father was leaving. Students have told me that I am a safe person for them, that I am the one they turn to first, that no one at school listens like the Wellbeing Center staff.
The WBC is an urgent response to problems that we need to take seriously. The reality is that 90% of my interactions with students involved helping them through various stages of a mental health crisis. It wasn't always the easiest job, but I never doubted that we were needed. Then, due to the Trump administration's One Big Beautiful Bill Act, I lost my job on July 16th.
This budget bill targeted Planned Parenthood by eliminating its eligibility for Medicaid reimbursement. Planned Parenthood in California estimates that loss of reimbursement will result in cost the state system $300 million. This fights cuts in courtbut in the meantime, clinics across the state are closing completely. For Planned Parenthood in Los Angeles, stabilization efforts mean deep cuts to its education department staff.
Los Angeles is losing Planned Parenthood educators who worked on health initiatives in Black and Latino communities and in various school programs, including Wellness Centers. We're talking about educators who have taught workshops for parents on how to have conversations about sexual health with their children, who have connected adopted children with health insurance, and who have taught comprehensive sex education classes in our schools.
These public workers are not fired because they are ineffective at their jobs. They were fired because the government does not value Planned Parenthood and the mental and sexual health education it provides.
I can describe how the real world has invaded the high schools where I've worked—school shootings, the pandemic, the January wildfires, immigration raids—but just writing these words raises the question: Is now really the time we want to cut mental health programs for children?
When I told my grandmother I was fired, she said she didn't think President Trump knew his budget would eliminate positions like mine, jobs that provide direct aid to students who so desperately need it. She said he was not a good person, but just a businessman.
And of course he didn't know who he was firing, not that my employment status matters. Yes, layoffs are bad news for me and my colleagues, but it's bad news for everyone. For my students, for Los Angeles and for the country.
Telling people I lost my job hurts, not because I'm ashamed of being unemployed, but because it means there will be fewer adults to trust in WBC in Los Angeles schools. Not all wellness centers will disappear, but the gaps in access will be real. I'm devastated because of this.
Jessica Lipas is an interdisciplinary educator and writer based in Los Angeles.
