{"id":13607,"date":"2026-06-12T09:06:54","date_gmt":"2026-06-12T14:06:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/?post_type=campus_story&p=13607"},"modified":"2026-06-12T09:06:54","modified_gmt":"2026-06-12T14:06:54","slug":"turning-struggle-into-support-future-teacher-connects-with-students-while-bridging-mental-and-physical-health","status":"publish","type":"campus_story","link":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/story\/turning-struggle-into-support-future-teacher-connects-with-students-while-bridging-mental-and-physical-health\/","title":{"rendered":"Turning struggle into support: Future teacher connects with students while bridging mental and physical health"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Photo<\/a>
Jada Brunkow, a graduating senior in physical, adapted and school health education at UWL, has turned her personal mental health journey into a way to support and mentor students through her physical education teaching.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

It had been a rough day. They were burned out. They needed someone to listen. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At Logan High School, freshmen knew Ms. Brunkow\u2019s classroom was a place where they could exhale. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a student teacher in physical education and health, Jada Brunkow spoke candidly about her own past struggles with anxiety, depression and an eating disorder. Her vulnerability shifted the atmosphere in the room. Students opened up about their own fears, pressures and mental health struggles. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI want students to know I\u2019m not perfect \u2014 I\u2019m not happy all the time,\u201d Brunkow says. \u201cWhen students see that you\u2019ve struggled, it opens the door to talk about it and understand it more.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So when her placement ended in March and students realized there would be no more Ms. Brunkow to talk to every day, many said goodbye through tears \u2014 including Brunkow herself. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was a full-circle moment,\u201d she says. \u201cI don\u2019t think kids realize what they do for me too. All the struggles I dealt with that I thought I\u2019d never get over \u2014 they were worth it because now I can connect with these kids. My empathy is stronger. I can stand up and tell them it does get better and you can do this, whether you know it or not.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finding purpose through personal struggle<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Sarah Mosley<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Brunkow\u2019s journey at UWL began in fall 2021. She had experienced anxiety and depression throughout grade school and high school, but as a three-sport athlete, sports provided structure, accomplishment and control she needed to manage it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When she arrived at college and sports were no longer part of her daily life, she struggled to fill that void. Food became a way to regain control during a time of major transition. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWith an eating disorder, you feel out of control, so you try to control something,\u201d she says. \u201cI was going through a huge change coming to college and not knowing what to do.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As she lost weight, she never felt satisfied. And around late September, she began to realize something was wrong. At first, she hid those struggles, but the behaviors only became worse. By the spring semester of her freshman year, she had hit a wall. Exhausted mentally and physically, she told her parents she could not return to school. She stepped away from college and entered treatment from April through August. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThank goodness for my friends and family,\u201d she says. \u201cI don\u2019t think I\u2019d be here without their support.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Brunkow returned to campus her sophomore year, she encountered a classroom assignment that could have easily derailed her recovery. In a health course with Teaching Associate Professor Sarah Mosley, students were asked to track their food intake and calories. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI said, respectfully, \u2018I can\u2019t do this. I\u2019m just out of treatment and in recovery,\u2019\u201d Brunkow recalls. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instead of dismissing her concerns, Mosley listened. She encouraged Brunkow to approach the assignment differently by sharing a presentation with the ESS 230 class on how nutrition could be taught through an eating disorder-informed lens.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBecause of Jada’s advocacy, I have completely changed the way I teach nutrition for future health teachers,\u201d says Mosley.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brunkow created a presentation focused on building a healthy relationship with food. What began as a class project evolved into a collaborative research and advocacy effort between Brunkow and Mosley. Brunkow presented the work at the Wisconsin Health Education and Physical Education Conference<\/a> and later to a full house at the National Physical Education and Health Education Conference in Baltimore<\/a> with support from Mosley who also helped Brunkow answer questions from dozens of people from the audience seeking guidance afterward.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cJada is a natural leader and her experiences with eating disorders have reached people across the country,\u201d says Mosley.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The presentations gave Brunkow an opportunity to advocate for mental health awareness on a national stage while helping educators navigate sensitive conversations around nutrition and body image. Many teachers are now implementing the activities that were shared as part of the presentation and provided to attendees for free. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThose talks helped me recover,\u201d Brunkow says. \u201cMosley is the kind of teacher I want to be \u2014 someone who listens instead of shutting students down. She has been a huge person in my life and helped me through this more than she probably realizes.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Creating classrooms where students feel seen<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Jada Brunkow holds a keychain she created with Logan High School students. The beaded keychains spelled messages such as “U Matter” and “Pull Thru. You Got This.”<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Now, Brunkow is bringing those lessons into her own teaching. During her student teaching experience at Logan High School, she introduced a mental health unit centered on connection, empathy and self-reflection. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Students created keychains with positive messages such as \u201cYou got this\u201d and \u201cYou are loved\u201d to give to peers outside of their normal friend groups. They wrote gratitude letters to influential teachers and participated an anonymous writing assignment where classmates shared what made them feel scared, stressed or happy. The discussions that followed encouraged students to see life from someone else\u2019s perspective. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe need to break the stigma,\u201d Brunkow says. \u201cWe know a lot of people are struggling. Why don\u2019t people talk about it?\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brunkow completed her final student teaching placement at West Salem Elementary School, where she continued weaving mental health into physical education. At the start of class, students check a color-coded chart displayed on the screen and choose an exercise movement that matches how they are feeling \u2014 red for angry, yellow for excited, green for calm and focused, and blue for tired or sad. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re working on recognizing emotions and talking about them,\u201d she says.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Brunkow, physical education and mental health are inseparable. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhy are they treated as separate things?\u201d she asks. \u201cWe all have physical health and mental health. We talk about physical health all the time, but mental health is just as important. A lot of times they\u2019re connected.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

She believes empathy, connection and open conversation are key to breaking stigma. Brunkow also acknowledges that students may not be ready to share their own experiences yet \u2014 and that is OK. \u201cNow I have a voice, so I can help others who can\u2019t share their story,\u201d she says.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This fall, Brunkow will continue sharing that story as a K-12 physical and health education teacher at Kickapoo Area Schools. She plans to continue bridging mental and physical health in her classroom. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI hope my students will see that mental and physical health go hand in hand,\u201d she says.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brunkow will do great things as a teacher because of her passion for mental health, says Mosley. The two have already discussed ways that they can collaborate on projects. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cJada and I often discuss that our experiences shape who we are and sometimes sharing those experiences help us heal  \u2014 I too have struggled with my own mental health and sharing my story has helped me cope,\u201d says Mosley. \u201cI have learned as much from Jada as she has from me.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

May is Mental Health Awareness Month <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Observed since 1949, Mental Health Awareness Month<\/a> is dedicated to reducing stigma, educating the public and advocating for mental health care. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Written by UW-La Crosse University Marketing & Communications<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Link to original story: https:\/\/www.uwlax.edu\/news\/posts\/turning-struggle-into-support\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It had been a rough day. They were burned out. They needed someone to listen.  At Logan High School, freshmen knew Ms. Brunkow\u2019s classroom was a place where they could exhale.  As a student teacher in physical education and health, Jada Brunkow spoke candidly about her own past struggles with anxiety, depression and an eating […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":13608,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","institution":[104],"story_category":[147],"class_list":["post-13607","campus_story","type-campus_story","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","institution-uw-la-crosse","story_category-community"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/campus_story\/13607","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/campus_story"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/campus_story"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13607"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13608"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13607"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"institution","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/institution?post=13607"},{"taxonomy":"story_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/story_category?post=13607"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}