April is Workplace Conflict Awareness Month and Eden Garcia-Balis with Airport Marina Counseling Services joins CBS News to talk about the top 5 conflict encounters people deal with in the workplace.
Expert advice to prevent quiet bullying
Mental health expert, Eden Garcia-Balis, of the Airport Marina Counseling Service on how parents can help children protect themselves from quiet bullying.
Voyage LA Features AMCS CEO
All About Eden …
Voyage LA recently featured AMCS CEO Eden Garcia-Balis as part of its Community Highlights. Learn more about Eden, the clinic and Eden’s journey to AMCS.
Hometown News Feature: Help Tackle Stress with These Tips
AMCS CEO
Eden
Garcia-Balis Provides Tips to Fight Stress
According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, one in five adults in the U.S. suffers from mental health issues. Stress can often compound these issues, and let’s face it–there’s no one on the planet who doesn’t have to deal with stress.
At Airport Marina Counseling Service (AMCS), located on La Tijera in Westchester, we often see clients who are trying to find healthy ways to cope with stressful situations. Here are some tips to enhance your mental wellness when feeling stressed:
• Create a mental health wellness plan. Create a guide of coping skills, people to talk to in stressful situations, and enjoyable activities to ensure that you maintain the balance between your thoughts, emotions and behaviors.
• Practice self-acceptance. Use the new year as an opportunity to practice self-acceptance and self-esteem.
• Put yourself first. Self-care isn’t selfish. It’s important to take time every day for yourself and your mental health. Engage in something that is meaningful and brings you joy. Do what helps you relax and recharge, and seek out experiences that have a calming effect.
• Learn a new skill. Creative hobbies can provide a sense of pride and achievement.
• Exercise. Exercising for at least 30 minutes every day can help alleviate symptoms of depression and anxiety. Go for a walk, ride a bike, take a fitness class, or play a sport with friends and family.
• Be grateful. Practicing gratitude every day can invoke feelings of thankfulness and optimism that make managing challenges easier. Don’t beat yourself up when you make a mistake–everyone makes them.
• Eat well. A balanced diet contributes to both physical and mental health.
• Get enough sleep. Most health authorities recommend that adults get between 7 and 9 hours of sleep each day. Avoid caffeine after lunchtime.
• Slow down. Notice with intention the things you are doing. Draw your awareness to the moment especially those that are positive.
• Ask for help when you need it. It’s a sign of strength to reach out for resources and support when your mental wellness is suffering.
If you’re interested in counseling, please call AMCS for an initial consultation at (310) 670-1410.
In addition to individual counseling, both in-person and through telehealth on a sliding scale, AMCS offers group therapy classes like a women’s process group, men’s support group and emerging adults.
Visit amcshelps.com for more information.
Contributed by Eden Garcia-Balis, CEO of AMCS.
The Hometown News Profile: Meet AMCS, supporting mental health and training therapists
Taking care of your mental health has always been important, but as we come out of the pandemic, the need to focus on mental health has reached critical levels. While Westchester’s Airport Marina Counseling Service (AMCS) has served the community for more than 60 years, for the first time in the nonprofit’s history there’s a waitlist for individual therapy. For Executive Director Eden Garcia-Balis, the good news is that people are seeking help and treatment.
Thankfully, after two-plus years of offering telehealth sessions, the clinic recently reopened for in-person therapy, giving people an option on how they’d like to receive counseling. AMCS also offers a variety of monthly therapy groups that deal with topics like “Women’s Process Group,” “Men’s Support Group” and “Emerging Adults.” Today, AMCS serves hundreds of individuals, children, families and couples weekly, with the services provided on a sliding-scale basis.
Read the entire article here.
AMCS's Dr. Mimi Hoang Tells Washington Post That Parents Must Be Advocates for Their LGBTQ Teens
In a recent Washington Post article, Dr. Mimi Hoang clinical supervisor of the LGBTQIA+ Affirmative Counseling Center at Airport Marina Counseling Service said, “Parents should treat their LGBTQ+ and questioning teens with complete acceptance and unconditional love, even if they don’t truly understand what it’s like."
The article discussed the fact that while teens endured a fair amount of hardship from an academic, emotional, and social standpoint during the pandemic, LGBTQ teens struggled more than others. LGBTQ youth experienced increased stress, anxiety and depression throughout the lockdowns, with loneliness and lack of social connections contributing to deteriorating mental health.
Read the article in its entirety here.
MHA's Latest Report Shows 90% of Employees Experience Stress at Work
For many of us, a quarter to a third of our lives will be spent in the workplace. On a daily basis, we will spend more waking hours in our workplace than at home, and experience more exchanges with team members than family members. Job satisfaction and levels of productivity depend on workplace culture, work demands, work support, and work rewards. Simultaneously, an organization relies on a productive and engaged workforce to remain competitive and meet external demands.
Airport Marina Counseling Service recognizes the psychological impact that workplaces can have on their employees. Millions of employees spend a large part of their day, and lifetime, at work, increasing the effect that workplace environments can have on psychological well-being.
Mental Health America’s latest Mind the Workplace 2021 Report provides an opportunity to better understand the mental health challenges that employees across company size and industry experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic. Data in the report comes from the Work Health Survey, which measured the perceptions of 5,030 employees across 17 industries in the United States between February 13, 2020 – September 9, 2020. Survey questions measured financial insecurity, burnout, supervisor support, workplace stress, and mental illness.
To download the report directly from MHA, please click here.
Therapy Helps, But There Are Other Ways to Improve Your Mental Health
At AMCS, we routinely work with clients who need therapy to address everything from depression and fractured relationships to suicidal thoughts and stress brought about by almost a year of isolation and COVID-19-related quarantine.
And while therapy is perhaps the best way to deal with issues like these, it is important to recognize that there are many things people can do on their own to stay centered, de-stress and improve their mental well-being. In a recent survey, respondents shared information about the strategies that helped them maintain and achieve recovery (shown above).
Even in the midst of a pandemic, many of these activities are possible and should be encouraged to help people reduce stress and address their mental health. Choose one or two. Focus on them. And see what works best for you.
Of course, when you need some professional guidance or discover exercise and nutrition just don't go far enough, AMCS is always here to help.
Wishing you nothing but Good Vibrations,
Eden
Eden Garcia-Balis,
CEO
Cedars-Sinai Marina del Rey Hospital: Our 2021 Champion of Mental Health
Airport Marina Counseling Service's (AMCS) 17th annual "Spring into Well-Being” Celebration will be held on Thursday, May 6, 2021, at 5 p.m. at the H Hotel Los Angeles and livestreaming via Zoom. The event will celebrate the success of our 2021 Champion of Mental Health Cedars-Sinai Marina del Rey Hospital. Cedars-Sinai has been instrumental in helping AMCS become an indispensable part of the county’s mental health care safety net.
“The hospital helped AMCS with grants to create a three-year strategic plan and funded a partnership with Mar Vista and Open Paths Family Counseling called the ‘Building Healthy Families Program,’" said AMCS CEO Eden Garcia-Balis. “They have also given us a grant for an electronic health records system, which will be huge for us as we work to digitize our records and make them more user-friendly. We are excited to honor Cedars for their incredible contributions to the clinic.”
The live event will be limited to 100 key local community and business leaders in a socially distanced and COVID-safe environment, while hundreds more watch via Zoom. The goal, Garcia-Balis said, is more than $300,000 to help continue providing much-needed affordable, community-based mental health services and to support the training of the clinic’s more than 60 mental health therapists each year.
NBC4 Weathercaster Fritz Coleman will serve as the emcee, and the event will include a variety of auction items and a celebration of AMCS’s success in providing critically needed mental health services even in the midst of a pandemic.
Night of Wine and Chocolate A Success for the Westchester Mental Health Guild
The Westchester Mental Health Guild's fun evening of wine pairings and delicious gourmet chocolates was a huge success.
Presented by sommelier Bill Priestley, the evening of wine and chocolate attracted 48 guests and raised more than $6,000 to support community mental health!
"The Guild hit it out of the park again!" said AMCS Director of Development Bill Morgan. "We have been so impressed with how the Guild has found new, creative and fun ways to continue to support AMCS. Thank you to Guild President Linda Peterson and all the members of the Guild!"
The Guild's next event will be a fun online flower-arranging event, "Focus on Flowers with Felicia!" The event will be held via Zoom at 7 p.m. on Thursday, March 11. More information will be available soon!