ABOUT MHM

The Mental Wellness Center works with thousands of people every year to improve and maintain mental wellness. We offer courses and activities for teens and adults to learn and practice self-management skills for better self-regulation; and We educate youth, families, and community groups about mental health so that we can take better care of ourselves individually and as a community. We help adults with mental health disabilities meet critical and basic needs as a foundation for their wellness. • WEBSITE •

Mental Health Matters (MHM) is a program of the Mental Wellness Center (MWC). Originally created in 2000, it is designed to introduce basic facts about mental health to elementary, middle and high school students. The MHM course addresses three foci: (1) signs and symptoms of major mental health disorders, (2) stigma and how it affects our perceptions of mental illness and (3) wellness activities and practices. The underlying premise of MHM is that with understanding, youth will know to seek help should they or someone they know experience symptoms of a possible mental health disorder, knowing that early treatment tends to lead to better outcomes. There is evidence of a recognized need for mental health education that is grounded in the increase in requests and the ongoing success of the MHM curriculum.
Our work is now well established in the Buellton, Carpinteria, Cold Spring, Hope, Goleta Union and Santa Barbara Unified School Districts.
BRIEF HISTORY OF MHM...
- In 2000, the Mental Wellness Center in collaboration with the Goleta Union School District developed a curriculum called the School Mental Illness Learning Experience (SMILE).
- In 2008, the curriculum was updated and rebranded MHM. The revised curriculum was piloted in a 6th-grade classroom at El Camino Elementary in the Goleta Union School District.
- In 2017-18, the MHM curriculum was taught in forty-eight 6th-grade classrooms, educating more than 1,200 6th graders!
- Based on an efficacy study, conducted in eight 7th grade science classrooms, the MHM curriculum was revised and updated during the summer of 2014 to also include mental wellness, and such issues as empathy, stigma and person-first language.
EDUCATION COMMITTEE

Ann Lippincott
[Chair] MWC Education Committee, MHM Team Leader & Instructor
PhD • Retired teacher educator,
Mental Health First Aid instructor
NAMI Family-to-Family instructor

CHRISTY MORSE
MWC Education Committee,MHM-HS Team Coordinator, MHM-6 instructor
Retired 6th grade teacher

Karen Feuer
MWC Education Committee,MHM-HS Team Coordinator, MHM-6 Instructor
Retired stockbroker

Susan Ayer
MWC Education Committee, MHM-6 Instructor
M.Ed. • Retired 6th grade teacher,
NAMI Family-to-Family instructor

Harriet Bender
MWC Education Committee
Retired 6th grade teacher and 6th grade teacher consultant

Jane Brody
MWC Education Committee, MHM-6 Instructor
MA • Retired SBCC English instructor

Jenny Bruell
MWC Education Committee, MHM-6 Instructor
MA, MSW • Hope 805 co-coordinator

Nancy Chase
MWC Education Committee, MHM-6 Instructor
Retired SB Symphony

Dyan Colven
MWC Education Committee, MHM-6 Instructor
PsyD

Kathy Culbertson
MWC Education Committee, MHM-6 Instructor
Retired educator

Michele Pouget-Drum
MWC Education Committee,
MHM-6 & HS Instructor
MFT • Hope 805 co-coordinator

Tom Franklin
MWC Education Committee,
MHM-6 Instructor
Retired SB County fire chief,
NAMI liaison & Family-to-Family instructor

Sue Johnson
MWC Education Committee, MHM-HS Instructor
PhD • Retired teacher educator, retired UCSB-Science-Math Initiative Coordinator

Catelynn Kenner
MWC Education Committee, MHM Research Consultant
MPH • Data Specialist

Cynthia Manigault
MWC Education Committee, MHM-6 Instructor
RN • Psychiatric nurse

Kathy Marden
MWC Education Committee, MHM-6 Instructor
MFT

Mari Mender
MWC Education Committee,
MHM-6 & HS Instructor
RN • Psychiatric nurse
Medical consultant
Mental Health First Aid instructor

Zev Nathan
MWC Education Committee
PhD, MD • Psychiatrist
& Medical consultant

Pam Reeves
MWC Education Committee, MHM-HS Instructor
MD • Retired psychiatrist
& Medical consultant

Janis Spracher
MWC Education Committee, MHM Scheduling Coordinator
6th grade teacher

Rachael Steidl
MWC Education Committee, MHM Website
MA • YouthWell Coalition &
Youth Wellness Connection

Cesli Vierra
MWC Education Committee, MHM-6 Instructor

Choux Wingert
MWC Education Committee, MHM-6 Instructor

Julie Solomon
MWC Education Committee, MHM-6 Instructor
Website designed by Rachael Steidl with support from Ann Lippincott and Christy Morse (2018),
with acknowledgment and appreciation for the many years of
foundational conceptual and creative design work by Francis Cosworth.