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Suicide Prevention Awareness Month
In the five minutes that it takes you to read this blog, it is likely that there will be roughly two deaths by suicide and eleven suicide attempts (American Academy of Suicidology 2019 Data). Suicide is the 10th leading cause of death in the United States and...
Celebrating 75 Years of Healing and Hope
Since 1946, The Guidance Center has broken down barriers and pioneered new ways to meet the unique and ever-growing mental health needs of the urban community’s most vulnerable population – children. The vision to build healthy, safe communities and a...
Back to School Tips to Help Your Child Adjust to Returning to Campus
Back to School Tips to Help Your Child Adjust to Returning to Campus In the coming weeks, many students will be heading back to a school campus and filling classrooms. This can be exciting and anxiety-provoking, scary and hopeful, joyful and stressful or all of...
Long Beach Gives 2021
The Guidance Center is excited to be one of 200+ nonprofit organizations participating in the third annual online giving event, Long Beach Gives! Set for Thursday, September 23, 2021, this citywide movement is a 24-hour day dedicated to help raise awareness...
Common Emotional Responses During Prolonged Crisis: The Feelings We Don’t Always Talk About
A year and several months into the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s hard to know what to feel. We have all been through an enormous, prolonged stressor, and it’s affected everyone. It might have affected each person differently, but no one is untouched. Because everyone had...
Building Strong Relationships to Impact Change
Three years ago, The Guidance Center and Educare of Los Angeles at Long Beach Unified School District partnered together to have a Mental Health Clinician and Consultant on-site to address and assess the needs of children and families that were at risk for mental...
An Update From The Guidance Center’s External Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Task Force
In the wake of the murders of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd last summer, a group of staff members aligned to combine their talents and work together to address social injustices in the community. Members of the External Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Task...
Minority Mental Health Month: Thoughts From Our Staff
This July, during Minority Mental Health Month, we continue to raise awareness about the mental health experiences of underserved and underrepresented communities. We reached out to our diverse staff who identify as BIPOC (black, indigenous and/or people of color) and...
Minority Mental Health Awareness Month
One in six U.S. children between the ages of 6 and 17 has a treatable mental health disorder such as depression, anxiety problems or attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), according to a 2016 National Survey of Children's Health data published online in JAMA...
Understanding the Signs of PTSD
Quinta was a 4-year-old girl who entered treatment when her mom noticed her reluctance to play with other children at school. Quinta was severely shy, had nightmares almost every night, and would often “zone out” at home. People often associate the term “PTSD” with...
Public Safety Clinician Program Update
Transitioning from Jail to Shelter: A Therapist’s Experience Since 2018, I have served as the Public Safety Clinician in the Long Beach City Jail. In the midst of the pandemic, I was temporarily reassigned to three different shelters to provide mental health services...
10 Fun Tips on Keeping Kids Busy This Summer
As summer approaches and more things open up as COVID19 restrictions ease, many parents are anxious about what activities and outings they can do safely with their children. Rather than thinking of summer as a stressful time, planning ahead can make summer an...
A Deeper Dive Into Pride
“See me for me. Not for my labels or for the expectations you have created for me. See me for my joy, for the love I want to shower the world with, for the opportunity to see me shine bright, brighter than the sun, than the moon, than the stars. Dive in deeper to...
First Response Mental Health Training Launch
The Guidance Center launched another exciting film project -- this time partnering with the Los Angeles Area Regional Training Group (LAARTG), Los Angeles Area Fire Chief Association (LAAFCA) and Long Beach Fire Department (LBFD) to develop a series of web-based...
Learn About AAPI Month with The Guidance Center
Along with Mental Health Awareness Month, May is also AAPI month. AAPI stands for Asian American and Pacific Islander, which is a rather broad term that encompasses all of the Asian continent and the Pacific islands of Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia. At The...
Lessons Learned – A Reflection on 5 Years of It’s About T.I.M.E.
Much has been learned in the past five years at six different schools, ranging from preschools and elementary schools to alternative education high schools. The most important lesson learned is how developing a trauma-informed lens takes time (pun intended). It's...
A Social Hour Success! Nearly $6,500 Raised for Trauma-Informed Schools
On May 5th, during Children's Mental Health Awareness Week, friends of The Guidance Center gathered virtually to celebrate a trauma-informed movement in Long Beach schools. The 5th Annual It's About T.I.M.E. Social Hour was filled with community, reflection,...
New Podcast on Mental Health with Patricia Costales, LCSW, CEO
We are so excited to share, in time for Mental Health Awareness Month, our new podcast! In My Backyard is an open conversation about children and mental health. Our CEO, Patricia Costales, LCSW, speaks with experts about the many factors that contribute to emotional...
5 Ways to Manage Anxieties of the World Reopening
It feels like just yesterday we were told we would be working and studying from home for what was supposed to be two weeks. Those two weeks quickly turned into a year. A year that has had a global impact that has created difficulties for many, if not all of us. ...
Encouragement for Parents
"As mental health providers, we work alongside parents to strengthen relationships and mitigate the cycles of abuse that are often passed down from one generation to the next, and bring hope and healing to traumatic experiences." April is National Child Abuse...