Western Youth Services is Offering Over 40 No Cost Events Throughout May in Honor of Mental Health Awareness Month

LAGUNA HILLS, Calif., May 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Mental Health Awareness is more important now than ever. The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on the mental health of children, families, and communities globally and right here in Orange County. Now, more than ever, it is imperative to meet people where they are and provide the mental health support they need right now.

To help meet this need, Western Youth Services (WYS) is offering over 40 ways for residents of Orange County to learn how to proactively build resilience and integrate mental wellness into their lives.

"Resilience is the antidote to trauma and adversity," said Dr. Lorry Leigh Belhumeur, CEO at Western Youth Services. "Our aim is to make no cost mental health services as accessible as possible, so children, families, and the Orange County community can receive the resources they need to lead successful and fulfilled lives."

Over the past year, WYS has created a robust online learning platform with a combination of live and on-demand trainings and programs. The movement to creating an online learning platform started out of necessity. When Orange County went into lock-down, WYS moved their mental health services to telehealth and their live community-based events and mental health trainings to an online platform in a matter of days to seamlessly continue to service their clients and the community.

Additionally, they launched the RESET Toolbox, a collection of resources and trainings to build resilience in children and teens in collaboration with several organizations, most notably Children's Hospital of Orange County (CHOC) and Orange County Department of Education (OCDE) to pool their knowledge base, relationships and resources into one online mental health toolbox.

Throughout the month of May WYS will either host or participate in over 40 events featuring topics such as Understanding Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), Suicide Prevention & Assessment, film screenings of: The S Word - Talking about Suicide Prevention, and Resilience - The Biology of Stress and the Science of Hope, a series of workshops hosted by the Outreach and Engagement team, a virtual Mental Health Fair, and so much more.

The good news is that this will extend beyond the month of May. Every day is mental health awareness day at WYS, as life starts to open up again, they will add in more live community-based events, and the online learning platform that was created as a result of COVID-19 is continuing to grow strong with an ongoing full roster of programs and trainings each month.

Many of these services are made available by funding from the Orange County Health Care Agency (OCHCA), Behavioral Health Services, Prevention & Intervention, Mental Health Services Act/Prop. 63 and ACEs Aware.

Visit their website to learn more about the individual events, collaborative partners, and how to attend.

Media Contact 
Donna Cravotta 
914-663-5266 
[email protected] 

SOURCE Western Youth Services