Dave: Thank you so much Dr. Lazaro for carving time out of your busy schedule to speak with us. Let’s dive right in! Can you tell us about the Family Wellness program at Valley Mountain Regional Center?
It’s my pleasure! I’m grateful you are focusing on such an important issue as our families’ mental health and well-being.
First, in drawing your attention to our flyer promoting the program, I just want to highlight the counseling piece of the project, which is free counseling for families – so we really want it to be more of a family counseling rather than individual or couples. But of course we try to accommodate our families as to whatever stage in their lives they are. If at this point, its only the mother who is interested, it ok! If during the course of the counseling there is a family member that becomes interested, and they just want to join maybe one or two sessions, we welcome them – that’s OK too!
Everybody is different. Everybody is at different stages, and everybody deals with stress differently. We are offering help, but we don’t want this help to be limiting. Remember, when you are in a typical healthcare system, there are a lot of limits to the help that you can get. So with our Family Wellness program, we want to make sure that we meet families where they are.
Teresa: Claire, can you tell us what is at the heart of your work with families through the Family Wellness program?
Ever since we started Family Wellness, we started from the approach similar to the principles of Community Based Participatory Research.
So, the principle is that families are experts. Previously, such clinical efforts believed the clinicians tell the community how you will be helped. That’s not what we are about. With this approach, we partner with the community. Yes, we are there to help, but we ask the community how they want to be helped, because they are the ones in the situation, they are expert in their situation, so they know what help they need. And then we can respond appropriately.
(NOTE: “Community-based participatory research (CBPR) is a collaborative approach to research that involves collective, reflective and systematic inquiry in which researchers and community stakeholders engage as equal partners in all steps of the research process.
CBPR empowers all stakeholders to offer their expertise and partake in the decision-making process. The goal of CBPR is to improve health and well-being through taking action.”)
Dave: This is exciting! How long has the program been up and running?
We started in June/July of 2022. Back then, we started with our hiring process for staff. I wanted to have staff that was really focused on this approach. Then we started partnering with the community through the parent support groups. Around May of this year, we started the counseling sessions. Because we want to address and meet families where they are, we offer a blend of either remote or in-person activities. We have counseling available evenings and weekends for that same reason.
Teresa: How are families identified? How do families gain access to these services?
It could be either through a service coordinator. It could be when we are at outreach events where we are sharing information about this new project and families sign up on the spot to let us know they are interested. Our services are only available to families served by Valley Mountain Regional Center and the child has to be between 0 to 5 years old. Our funding limits our services to that right now.
Teresa: this is such an exciting program! Do you see this expanding to serve other ages?
That’s the plan! We have already gotten a lot of interest and inquiries from families and service coordinators who are interested in helping families with children over 6 years old. Remember that the parent support group that is a part of this project isn’t limited to just 0 – 5 year olds. Its open to all. So they are aware that this is happening and we are getting demand through that group already. They want this!
Dave: Thank you once again Dr. Lazaro for sharing so generously of your time.
If you would like to learn more about the Family Wellness program at VMRC, you can contact Dr. Lazaro directly at:
Dr. Claire Lazaro
Claire B. Lazaro, MD, MSN, APRN-CNP, PHN, CCRN, NP-C
Clinical Director, Valley Mountain Regional Center (VMRC)
Direct Line: (209) 955-3206 | Email: [email protected]
“Having the Family Wellness Project’s support has been invaluable to TAG. Being able to coordinate events and not worry about food and the costs of food has been a huge relief off my shoulders. And it’s such a wonderful experience to give these
parents a night off. They show such an appreciation for the food and companionship. For a few hours, the parents know they are not alone, and that someone cares. That is priceless!”Quote from Parent, KC Ferreira (Turlock Autism Group)
