CARE Coalition – Alhambra Partnership

In July 2020, Touchstone Health Services received a three-year grant from the Office of Population Affairs to provide evidence-based programming that promotes optimal adolescent health in the Alhambra-Glendale region of the valley. The purpose is to develop a comprehensive systems-level approach to simultaneously work with community entities, parents, schools, and youth to increase protective factors amongst young people through the saturation of efficient programming and services.

Alhambra and Touchstone partner together to provide all sites in the district with an opportunity to engage in a multi-tiered level approach to improving adolescent health and wellbeing. THS believes that the prevention of risky adolescent behaviors requires strengthening family structures, community cohesion, and expanding support services (e.g., counseling, mental health, substance use, barriers to high school graduation).  We also need to bring together a wide range of concerned stakeholders to build a common picture of the current reality. The CARE Coalition provides resources, training, and networking opportunities to the Alhambra region to further develop, leverage, and develop referral methods for a variety of resources and needs in the community.

Touchstone is partnering with Alhambra in supporting teacher and school personnel training in various topics to help build the students’ social and emotional health throughout the district. Such topics may include trauma-informed schools, mindfulness, mental health awareness, and self-care.

The YLC receives ongoing leadership training and opportunities to engage in prosocial activities that support their community. The YLC provides direct feedback on programming, participate in leadership development, receives education on issues in their community, engages in comprehensive awareness campaigns, develops effective messaging and community-wide public service announcements, and participates in organizing the annual conference. Currently, YLC meets monthly on Webex.

For more information, please contact our staff.

Positive Action is an evidence-based social and emotional learning curriculum based on the intuitive philosophy that we feel good about ourselves when we do positive actions. The curriculum presents students with the concept of empathy. It teaches them positive actions about being honest with oneself and others and working out problems with friends and family. Students learn how to take care of their bodies and minds and manage their emotions and resources like time, energy, talents, and possess. The lessons teach self-discipline, emotional regulation, and as students learn to manage their lives, they will discover that these skills contribute to their success and happiness.

The curriculum’s previous results revealed significant positive effects on antisocial behavior, academic self-efficacy, social interaction skills, substance use, substantial reductions in suspensions and absenteeism, improvements in academic proficiency, and greater academic motivation.

Touchstone currently supports implementation at the following sites:

Touchstone provides two separate parenting programs for the district. Positive Parenting Program (Triple P) caters to parents of youth ages 0-12. This evidence-based parenting program gives parents practical and straightforward strategies to help them build strong, healthy relationships, manage their children’s behavior, and prevent problems from developing. Active Parenting of Teens (APT) is for parents of youth ages 12-18. APT teaches effective discipline, parents-children communication, and how to teach responsibility. Both programs are offered in English and Spanish.

Upcoming classes:

There are ongoing APT and Triple P virtual classes going on; please contact THS staff.

For parenting classes in the Alhambra area, please contact Alexis McKinley, Prevention Supervisor at Alexis.Mckinley@touchstonebh.org

Touchstone also provides behavioral health treatment to students and their families through School-Based Services. School-Based Services (SBS) provides comprehensive behavioral services for youth and their families through a collaboration with the school district. The idea is to provide youth help to address behavioral and mental health concerns and bring together the family and the school in how best to address and support the youth. To schedule an initial appointment, you are welcome to call 602.618.9815 or go to our online form to begin the process.