Blog
The First Annual Family Fest is Coming to San Clemente April 23rd
Family Fest will be held on Saturday, April 23rd from 11AM to 4PM at the Jim Johnson Memorial Park in San Clemente. The fun-filled day will have activities that appeal to all ages. Come early at 10AM with your yoga mat to join us for some free morning yoga! Families...
Wellness & Prevention Youth Coalition Visits Washington, DC
For the first time since the closures in 2020, San Clemente High School’s Wellness & Prevention Coalition (WPC) had the opportunity to attend CADCA’s National Leadership Forum in National Harbor, Maryland. With funding from the Centers for Disease Control Drug...
Setting Intentions For The New Year
It’s a new year and like many others, you may have made resolutions and are setting goals for 2022. But how do you get started? Research suggests that knowing what you want helps set the intention to work toward it and imagining one’s best possible self-motivates you...
Wellness & Prevention: Teens And Impaired Driving
Parents and guardians have been protecting their child from dangers on and off the road for many years and then they suddenly find themselves handing over the keys to the family car during the teen years. While a teen may look and sound like an adult once they get...
Expressing Gratitude Beyond the Thanksgiving Holiday
Each year when the holiday season rolls around, we are reminded of the heartwarming memories associated with these festive times. However, it is unrealistic to believe that this is the case for everyone. Around this time, it may be easy to feel isolated when everyone...
Stopping Overdose Deaths in Our Communities
Have you lost a loved one to a drug or illicit substance overdose? You are not alone. Preliminary data released by the CDC show that drug overdose deaths reached a record high of 93,331 in 2020. While these estimates are not final, this number is 20,000 deaths higher...
Suicide Is Preventable
September is suicide prevention awareness month, yet suicide is a difficult subject to talk about. In recent years, headlines have reported celebrities' deaths by suicide bringing this topic to the forefront. When we hear that someone has died by suicide, whether it...
Looking Forward To The New School Year
The Wellness & Prevention Center has been supporting families as they return back to school for five years, and there are some common concerns that we hear from teens, families, and educators each year. I have been in touch with administrators at our middle and...
Downward Trend in Youth Vaping: How can we sustain it?
A recent study published in the Journal of American Public Health reports that 67.7% of youth surveyed reported decreasing or quitting e-cigarette use during the COVID-19 pandemic. This promising trend comes only two years after the US Surgeon General declared youth...
Celebrating our Teens
On June 3rd, I had the honor of awarding high school diplomas to the students in the class of 2021 - in person and in front of their loved ones. I was particularly thankful to hold a traditional graduation ceremony for this group of teens who spent the last 15 months...