This week I was finally able to conduct an interview with two guests from the San Diego for Children. This center focuses on aiding children and adolescents who have either emotional or behavioral disorders. One of the representatives we talked to was, Erica Gomez - Aranda who is the program manager at one of the their Life School Day Treatments. Their center branches out to many different programs such as outpatient therapy, foster care, residential, school based therapies and about six other services as well. Something Erica said that really stuck with me was, “These kids are not only struggling with emotional health issues but also the constant stigmas surrounding brain health, the most important thing we can do is let them be heard and do our best to raise awareness against these stigmatizing labels.” This really resonated overall, with what our goals are for this project, and especially what my group hopes to achieve during the NAMI walk. It was also just super nice to be able to sit down and have a conversation surrounding these common disorder and what we as a community can do to help out, whether it’s by participating in walk-a-thons or being a spokesperson for a certain cause. In the end it's important we normalize brain health and especially remove the harmful stigma associated with reaching out for help. This interview left me wondering how I could continue to play an active role in my community in regards to brain health after our project ends. I hope to continue being an advocate in my topic and participate in local events.
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AuthorHere I will be uploading weekly reflections on my Teen Brain Health Project! Archives
April 2017
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