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May is Mental Health Awareness Month: How Are You?
May is Mental Health Awareness Month, a time to raise awareness about mental health and reduce the stigma surrounding behavioral health issues. It's also an opportunity to highlight the ways mental health and substance use conditions can affect communities – from clients, providers, families, and our society at large.
It is also time to check in with ourselves and take stock of our own mental health. How are you? If you or a loved one is in need of help, please reach out. You are not alone.
Join us! May 19, 2023 - Caminar’s Speakers Series
Climate crises, COVID-19, mass shootings, the prevalence and effects of lethal drugs like fentanyl, a polarized political environment, among so many other issues, cause anxiety, depression, and toxic stress for this generation of youth. Left unaddressed, we face an entire generation growing up with unresolved trauma, anxiety, and depression that will be passed on to future generations.
Join us on Friday, May 19, 2023, from 12 - 1:30 PM for an engaging and enlightening virtual panel discussion with adolescent mental health experts to address solutions to the question: How can we restore hope and resilience in our youth?
Santa Clara County Behavioral Health Hero Honors for Tamekia Johnson
Tamekia Johnson, a client care manager in our Family & Children Services division, honored as a Santa Clara County Behavioral Health Hero Mover and Shaker
For the last three years, Tamekia has been supporting Caminar's adult mental health outpatient program in Santa Clara County. She has been in the mental health field for 13 years, and started her journey as a front desk admin at an inpatient psychiatric hospital. While she didn't know it at the time, her passion for supporting others would become a life-changing career - both professionally and personally. Tamekia is fearless in her approach to supporting her clients, and is always willing to make space for her clients to be seen and heard in such a way to propel their wellness journeys.
Tamekia shares, “This is the fight I chose to fight, 5 days a week, 8 or more hours. The face of mental health doesn’t always look like it does in the movies. It could be you, me, her, and him. Mental illness impacts someone we all know. Let’s continue to be kind, understanding, compassionate and hold safe spaces to anyone who is willing to ask for and accept help. I remind myself daily that this fight is ongoing, and worthy."
Congratulations, Tamekia! Our clients, community, and team are grateful for all you do.
Institutional Giving Update
We are pleased to share that Valle Monte League awarded Caminar a grant of over $100,000. Valle Monte League’s generous support is invested in Caminar's school-based services, abuse prevention services, LBGTQ+ services, and counseling services. Valle Monte League has been a supporter and valued partner since 1954; year after year, they continue to be a leader in our community to provide hope and improve access to mental health treatment and support.
Caminar is proud to announce a recent grant from the Los Altos Rotary Endowment Fund (LAREF) of $2,500 in support of our LGBTQ Youth Space. This grant will be used to underwrite the outreach, counseling services, and care the LGBTQ Youth Space provides our community's young people. Our thanks to the Los Altos Rotary Endowment Fund!
Cargill Salt has generously renewed its longstanding grant of $5,000 in support of the LGBTQ Speakers Bureau. Caminar's Speakers Bureau is a group of multigenerational LGBTQ+ community members who volunteer to share their stories on panels and answer questions for a variety of audiences throughout Santa Clara County. Our thanks to Cargill Salt for their ongoing support!
WHY I SUPPORT CAMINAR
"Because of the life-changing work they do each day - our family is eternally grateful.
They brought joy and purpose to our loved one's life."
-A Caminar donor
