The Wellness & Prevention Center is pleased to announce a new partnership with the Orange County Health Care Agency (OCHCA),( Services for Behavioral Health, Prevention & Intervention, Mental Health Services Act, Prop 63), to provide community wide education designed to lower the stigma surrounding the diseases of mental health. The contract which runs through the end of June, supports prevention education events designed to increase mental health literacy in our community.
As part of this partnership, Founder and President of Season 5 Community Consulting and current Director of Parenting Education at Olive Crest, Dr. Neftali Pereda presented on adolescents and mental health in Spanish at Las Palmas Elementary School this past Monday night. His audience were Latino San Clemente families. He focused on teen anxiety and the importance of paying attention to signs and symptoms that might require extra attention.
Today’s teens are facing different environmental and social stressors than when their parents were younger. Dr. Pereda encouraged parents to stop and reflect on that fact before answering teenagers with the phrase, “when I was your age..”. Dr. Pareda explained how the teen brain operates and how symptoms of anxiety and depression might take over and harm health teen development and behavior.. A very meaningful take away from Dr. Pareda, is that parents can help adolescents with anxiety by making them feel safe, capable, and loved.
If you are looking for resources to raise healthy teens, visit the Wellness & Prevention Center’s website www.wpc-oc.org and sign up for bimonthly eNews that support raising healthy teens. You can also join our Facebook group Raising SouthOCTeens to stay up to date on our activities and to join important conversations about parenting. If you need help now please contact us at info@www.wpc-oc.org.