Mississippi School’s ‘Coping Skills Cafe’ Serves Lessons Instead of Lunch

At Pleasant Hill Elementary School in Olive Branch, Mississippi, students are sitting down for a very different kind of meal. Instead of food, they’re being served lessons in resilience at the school’s unique Coping Skills Cafe.

Counselors Marsha Foster and Megan White launched the program last year after seeing the idea shared by Alabama counselors on social media. They adapted it for their own students and quickly discovered how the imaginative setup drew kids in.

Here, the “menu” is filled with four courses of coping strategies. Students work their way from appetizers to dessert, with lessons including breathing exercises, positive affirmations, journaling, and using reading as a tool to manage negative emotions.

“The students really buy into it,” said Foster, explaining how the cafe’s playful structure keeps the kids engaged. “They’ll say, ‘I didn’t order that’ or ‘I wanted chicken,’ and it makes the process fun and memorable.”

Now in its second year, the Coping Skills Cafe is expanding with new “courses” while still reinforcing the lessons learned the year before. Counselors say many students even recall the skills they practiced last year.

“These are really good skills that anybody can learn,” White explained. “We hope they take them home to teach their parents, grandparents, or anyone in their families. And hopefully it’s something they really enjoy too.”

As long as students remain excited about the Coping Skills Cafe, Foster and White say they’ll keep donning their aprons, serving up valuable tools kids can carry long after leaving elementary school.

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