Commentaries from the Edge

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Commentaries from the Edge

Keren Goldberg

96 episodes

5 days ago

Views on many subjects where we can discover new understandings. Cover photo by John Goldberg.

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Society & Culture

All content for Commentaries from the Edge is the property of Keren Goldberg and is served directly from their servers with no modification, redirects, or rehosting. The podcast is not affiliated with or endorsed by Podjoint in any way.

Views on many subjects where we can discover new understandings. Cover photo by John Goldberg.

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Society & Culture

Episodes (20/96)

Commentaries from the Edge

THE CENTER FOR THE STUDY OF LOS ANGELES with Director Fernando Guerra, Ph.D

Los Angeles, the City of promise, a history where people came to start life anew, native born Americans and people from around the world. Once again, Dr. Fernando Guerra is a guest on the podcast program for the third time. This year 2025 is closing, a year like no other in Los Angeles. Dr Guerra, Founder and Director of the Center for the Study of Los Angeles (StudyLA) at Loyola Marymount University, a distinguished local University, has been on the frontlines engaging residents and community leaders regarding the impact of this turbulent year. It began with unprecedented wildfires, walls of fire never seen before decimating two historic neighborhoods. Then as June arrived, the United States Federal government descended upon the City disrupting the life of the City with raids conducted by Immigration Agents in tandem with the military National Guard. They came to a City still in grief and stunned by the fires’s destruction and began spreading fear and terror among immigrant households with a focus on Latino neighborhoods. StudyLA faced these calamities with their traditional method of surveying to find information that could make a difference in the operation of a City facing multiple and unexpected challenges. Listen to Fernando Guerra and learn what the people of Los Angeles are thinking and what kind of remedies Dr. Guerra is suggesting to solve these festering problems. He began the Center inspired by his teaching of young college students. Now he is even more determined to foster civic leaders of the future ready to be agents of change for a better and more equitable City and world.

TO CONTACT - Dr. Fernando Guerra, email, StudyLA@lmu.edu

2 weeks ago

39 minutes 56 seconds

Commentaries from the Edge

The Play, AUGUST 29, at a time of America In Struggle with Guest Evelina Fernandez

It is the Summer of 2025, a time like no other in Los Angeles, California. There is drama on the streets, especially in Latino neighborhoods, where masked men jump out of unmarked cars and grab people who look like they might not have citizenship papers. It is at this time that the Latino Theatre Company has decided to mount their famous play, AUGUST 29, originally premiered in 1990, about a crisis and a killing in 1970 in East Los Angeles, a mostly Mexican American - Chicano area. Listen to Evelina Fernandez, founding member of the Latino Theatre Company now celebrating their 40th year, who knows the history of abuse toward Latinos in Los Angeles and cities across the USA, and can give first person tales of the back story of the play, AUGUST 29. The theatrical work created long ago inspires us to contemplate where we are as a society in 2025..

AUGUST 29’s last performances at the Los Angeles Theatre Center (LATC) in downtown, Los Angeles are August 22, 23, and 24. Performances will be held in other venues throughout September. It is being produced in partnership with the students of the Los Angeles City College Theatre Academy.

CONTACT: LATC Ticket Office for performance information, (213) 489-0994

FREE ADMISSION

2 months ago

39 minutes 17 seconds

Commentaries from the Edge

THE OFFICE OF LIFE, JUSTICE AND PEACE at the L. A. Catholic Archdiocese

A visit to the Los Angeles Catholic Archdiocese gives the opportunity to enter a world envisioned by the L. A. Archbishop Jose Gomez, and Pope Francis just days after his passing. And how can we describe that vision? One way is to picture the great power of a Church with a following of five million across the expanse of Parishes in Southern California, dedicating this power to making a better life for all, Catholic and non-Catholic. The vision manifests itself clearly in the subject of this episode - the Archdiocese Office of Life, Justice and Peace. Michael Donaldson, Office Director, and Jeanette Gomez Senerviatne, Director of the Whole Person, are carrying forward all that Pope Francis and Archbishop Gomez would hope for. They are addressing the most pressing issues in every community they serve, giving voice to the voiceless, collaborating with and creating partnerships to bring supportive resources to individuals and families. Listen to how their programming acts as a showcase for good emanating from a global city like Los Angeles. At this time, as the three of us sat together in conversation, grateful for Pope Francis, we are dedicating the episode to him, and remembering the way he brought us to focus on the suffering while celebrating the joy of life. The Office of Life, Justice and Peace will continue developing projects and activities in that spirit. “Hope never disappoints”, is what he said in his last Easter message to the world. TO CONTACT: Mpdonaldson@la-archdiocese.org - for Michael Donaldson JSeneviratne@la-archdiocese.org - for Jeanette Seneviratne

6 months ago

48 minutes 2 seconds

Commentaries from the Edge

MENTAL HEALTH ON THE FRONTLINES, Francisco Tan

As the podcast theme of community emergency outreach programs at the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health (LACDMH) comes to an end for the month of December, 2024, it is clear that creative innovation is making a difference. In this episode, Francisco Tan, Psychologist and head of the LACDMH Psychiatric Mobile Response Team (PMRT) takes us into the field with his description of what his program does and how his Teams function. We learn about his eight Teams that include various skilled professionals who may include a Social Worker, a Nurse and a Community Health Worker, perhaps a Peer, someone with lived experience who has dealt with emotional distress. The Teams of PMRT are available 24/7 and can be reached by calling the LACDMH Access telephone number, (800) 854-7771. Members of a Team are ready to respond wherever the person is located to provide a multipurpose service - to evaluate, to collaborate with other agencies and resources, and to provide consultations and linkages for continued services when necessary. The overriding goal for the PMRT, as well as for all the programs in the Emergency Outreach and Triage Division of LACDMH, is to promote the opportunity for people to remain in their community with necessary supports. It is the most satisfying outcome for those in a mental health crisis. As this 2024 year draws to an end, we hear the bells ringing - “Goodwill Toward Humankind and Peace on Earth”. The LACDMH 24/7 access number for help is 1-800-854-7771 The National Suicide Crisis Line is #988

10 months ago

36 minutes 33 seconds

Commentaries from the Edge

MENTAL HEALTH ON THE FRONTLINES, Episode #15 with Miriam Brown, L.C.S.W

Miriam Brown leads the way at the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health (LACDMH) with the broadest view of the ways the department can and will respond to a long menu of emergencies in a City like Los Angeles, California. Her expertise, and even more, her dedication, has brought her to the position at LACDMH of Deputy Director of the Emergency Outreach and Triage Division. Her many years of work in this field has made LACDMH an innovator and a model leading the way for mental health departments throughout the USA and beyond. Miriam admits you have to have a certain kind of personality to face the demands and difficulties of mental health community outreach work with emergencies that are presented to her staff every day on a 24/7 basis. These emergencies often require close cooperation and training with Police, Fire, Public Health, and Probation departments, community organizations and not least of all, School Districts. She has spent decades forging links to all these important partners in responding effectively to those in need. The width and breath of what she overseas with her staff is enormous. Here are a few examples; threat assessments reported by a school official, a criminal act committed due to a mental illness, a family argument out of control, a person displaying high risk behavior. Miriam wants us to understand that this outreach is a reflection of the aggressive way LACDMH is reaching into all corners of the Los Angeles community hoping to help people avoid incarceration, hospitalization, encouraging ways people with mental illness may be able to function in the community with necessary supports. She brings the necessary wisdom and devotion to these varied tasks and with her steady leadership makes a healthier and better Los Angeles. The LACDMH 24/7 access number for help is 1-800-854-7771 The National Suicide Crisis Line is #988

10 months ago

31 minutes 57 seconds

Commentaries from the Edge

MENTAL HEALTH ON THE FRONTLINES, Reuben Wilson

The Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health (LACDMH) has developed a robust way of delivering vital services to people suffering from a mental health crisis. It has grown over the years and rests firmly in 2024, in a campaign called - “Who Do I Call for Help”? It is a campaign for the community introducing a national number #988, available 24/7. That number is a key part of the LACDMH program, the Alternative Crisis Response Unit. It is an alternative because it frees Police and directs these type of calls to people who have the expertise to bring support to the crisis. Reuben Wilson is the LACDMH head of that Unit and responsible for coordinating the many teams of people and community resources ready to respond to the incoming calls. He comes to that position with over a decade of experience working with personnel responding to crisis as a Deputy Mayor with the former Mayor of Los Angeles. The Help Line, #988 is linked to the staff of the Didi Hirsch organization and in partnership with LACDMH, begins the process of bringing trained caring to callers in emotional crisis. The continuing message to the public is that there is a Countywide system in place providing - someone to call, someone who will respond and somewhere to go if treatment and further care is needed. Reuben explains how this safety net for those in emotional crisis works as he readies to spread posters and cards across the vast region of the sprawling County of Los Angeles, California, advertising that help for all in need is a call away. 9-8-8, for support with suicidal crisis or mental health-related distress. The LACDMH 24/7 access number for help is 1-800-854-7771 The National Suicide Crisis Line is #988

10 months ago

32 minutes 5 seconds

Commentaries from the Edge

MENTAL HEALTH ON THE FRONTLINES, Bac Luu at the LAPD Headquarters

Here is some good police news. Here is a tale of lessons learned from past mistakes. Here, come and listen to ways institutions, organizations, work cultures and people always have the potential to change for the better. Bac Luu, a leader with the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health (LACDMH), is heading a program that is embedded in the offices of the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD). In this episode he takes us into a world where LACDMH and LAPD have forged a beneficial partnership decades in the making. It is most importantly a benefit to the community as this partnership makes the job of policing and the job of helping people in crisis a chance to have more positive outcomes. It all began back in 1993, when mental health staff came to work side by side with police in a program called Systemwide Mental Health Assessment Response Teams (SMART) and a companion program, Case Assessment Management Program (CAMP). These programs bring to the streets and into homes, a team of a Police Officer and a Mental Health Professional where it is so often needed. In the last dozen years this approach has grown with Los Angeles, California looked at around the nation and the world as a model for creating important teamwork. Time has seen these teams grow in this City with expanded hours of joint training and with a deepening awareness of what both policing and mental health have to offer one another. Bac Luu is a leader we can learn from and who has built on the accomplishments of a pioneer in the field, Chuck Lennon. We can only hope that such a successful partnering grows in the coming years as the need for the teamwork only is increasing as a benefit to all communities. The LACDMH 24/7 access number for help is 1-800-854-7771 The National Suicide Crisis Line is #988

10 months ago

41 minutes 58 seconds

Commentaries from the Edge

MENTAL HEALTH ON THE FRONTLINES: Elizabeth Cope

A few years ago the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health (LACDMH) went forward to create new kinds of services in unchartered waters. What developed was a courageous and innovative program called, Street Psychiatry-HOME (Homeless Outreach Mobile Engagement) Team. It was courageous because certain techniques to help seriously mentally ill people living on the streets had never been tried before. Innovative because a Psychiatrist was bringing care outside to the streets, and The Team was made up of various disciplines - Nurses, Social Workers, Peers - all working as one to save lives. This episode is the final one of a four part series on the story of this program’s successes, with Elizabeth Cope, the Administrator and Co-Manager of 220 staff who are spread throughout the Los Angeles, California area. Here is another program leader with the same kind of dedication and enthusiasm that is bringing positive results and awards of recognition for their excellence in serving the unhoused. The program model takes will, takes funding and takes vision to implement in stemming the tide in Los Angeles and other locales, of people pouring onto the streets to live under freeway passes, tents and other ways, unable to be housed, living in dire circumstances. The LACDMH is investing in this model with the department’s motto as an operating attitude - Hope, Wellness and Recovery. The LACDMH 24/7 access number for help is 1-800-854-7771 The National Suicide Crisis Line is #988

11 months ago

41 minutes 29 seconds

Commentaries from the Edge

MENTAL HEALTH ON THE FRONTLINES: Episode #10 with Dr. Shayan Rab

Dr Shayan Rab goes where Psychiatrists have rarely gone, into the streets where the unhoused of Los Angele, California, strive to survive. He uses the word - majestic - to describe his daily work experience, a word that means beauty and dignity. It is how he sees the opportunity to save a life and to change systems to respond to this USA humanitarian crisis. Through the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health (LACDMH), he began what he calls a journey, walking into the streets finding ways to treat individuals who are on the brink of losing their capacity to continue living because of their mental illness. In 2018, when the program started at LACDMH, called The HOME (Homeless Outreach Mobile Engagement) Team, he was the only Psychiatrist with a multidisciplinary staff including a Nurse, Social Worker, Medical Caseworker and Peer. Since then because of the program’s successes it has received enough support to expand to 17 Psychiatrists with over 200 staff, fanned out to all parts of the large geographic area of Los Angeles with Dr. Rab as a Medical Director. It is not enough that he only does his daily work, he has become a missionary speaking about and showing how the various parts of a community can work together to solve what seems an impossible problem. Listen to this episode and you will hear how he seems to be what can be called the right person at the right time, able to move among the most dire circumstances of the unhoused, building their trust with dedication and bringing the attitude of LACDMH’s Motto - Hope, Wellness and Recovery. In his approach and spirit, he pioneered a model of Street Psychiatry, giving that to the community of Los Angeles, around the country and to the citizens of the world. The LACDMH 24/7 access number for help is 1-800-854-7771 The National Suicide Crisis Line is #988

11 months ago

36 minutes 49 seconds

Commentaries from the Edge

MENTAL HEALTH ON THE FRONTLINES: Episode With Dr. Yelena Koldolskaya and Isidro Alvarez

We are continuing with a series of episodes on Street Psychiatry, learning about various parts of the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health (LACDMH)’s program called The HOME Team. Guests on this episode are key to the program’s successes, treating people like in an open air hospital to save lives. They are Dr. Yelena Koldolskaya, Psychiatric Supervisor and Medical Director over a team of people working in the southern region of Los Angeles, California, and Isidro, Alvarez, Medical Caseworker. Together, we learn from them what happens when they meet someone with no housing in a critical condition who refuses to receive treatment. They monitor the person over time, and hope to create a partnership of care with them to see if they have to move the person into involuntary care, what is called a Conservatorship. This means that someone like a family member if possible, takes control over their life decisions as a way of preventing them from dying on the streets. It is an extreme decision and requires a Court decision. Dr. K. as she is commonly called, and Isidro, work together in this part of the HOME Team’s programming. Both of them see people in circumstances most never experience. Listen to the story of the woman living on the bus bench and what happens when Dr. K’s skills as a Medical Director and Isidro with his expertise in the Conservatorship process, come to address the woman’s dire situation. It is an example of a HOME Team success. Like in many cultures, there is the saying, “when you save one life, it is as if you have saved an entire world”. The LACDMH 24/7 access number for help is 1-800-854-7771 The National Suicide Crisis Line is #988

11 months ago

31 minutes 51 seconds

Commentaries from the Edge

MENTAL HEALTH ON THE FRONTLINES: Aubree Lovelace

In Los Angeles, California, there is a smaller City within a City. The smaller one is the City where its citizens live and die on the street. The numbers are staggering. At the last approximate count, there were over 75,000 people trying to survive unhoused and, at the same time, thousands who are dying. Only a few years ago the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health (LACDMH) started a pioneering and creative response to this widespread area crisis. It is a program referred to as Street Psychiatry and often called a “radical solution”. It is radical because the medical and therapeutic care given to those in critical need is offered on the streets, creating a kind of outdoor emergency room. Listen to the guest on this episode, Aubree Lovelace, Chief Administrator over the HOME (Homeless, Outreach, Mobile, Engagement) Team and learn about those LACDMH staff making an effort to save lives, just in an usual day’s work. The Team is made up of Psychiatrists, Social Workers, Nurses and Peer members. You will be hearing from several HOME Team staff in upcoming episodes. Each of them individually and together, face those living in the streets in the most critical situations. They are people with such a severe mental illness that they have lost the ability to take care of their most basic needs. Referrals to all the benefits and services of the HOME Team program usually come from other homeless outreach providers and also Police Officers, family members and community members. The program has grown because of the HOME Team’s successes which means having a person on the street accept medicines that reduce their mental illness enough that they may begin to accept help toward housing and even reunification with family when possible. It is a humanitarian war out there on the streets of Los Angeles and funding to expand an army of dedicated mental health staff to offer services can prevent the more costly events that bring homeless to the hospitals, clinics and jails. The LACDMH 24/7 access number for help is 1-800-854-7771 The National Suicide Crisis Line is #988

11 months ago

33 minutes 29 seconds

Commentaries from the Edge

MENTAL HEALTH on the FRONTLINES: Dr. Sarah Church

As the last series of podcast episodes highlighting the new CARE Court, a Superior Court of the State of California, initiated in December of 2023, our guest is Dr. Sarah Church, Supervising Psychologist of the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health (LACDMH), who has stories to tell. She has watched individuals with mental illness begin to grow and to turn their life around as they benefitted from the CARE Court programming. She further reminds the listeners how a Petition filed for someone with mental illness is reviewed by the Presiding Judge of the Court as the first step in someone qualifying to receive this menu of services. These services in CARE Court in partnership with LACDMH are available from various government agencies such as Public Health and the Public Defenders offices as well as many community organizations. Sarah’s role is to act as a liaison to those collaborators, and to support her staff who are on the frontlines offering care. Listen to her stories and with her we can celebrate the success the program is having in helping people with mental illness enter into a continuum of recovery and hope for the future. To Learn more about CARE Court and how to Petition for someone in need: Go to the website, www.LACourt.org/CARE

12 months ago

34 minutes 11 seconds

Commentaries from the Edge

MENTAL HEALTH On the FRONTLINES: Dr. Nilsa Gallardo and Felipe Andalon

We continue our podcast episodes on CARE (Community Assistance, Recovery and Empowerment) Court, a judicial place that creates a path to healing and rehabilitation for individuals suffering from untreated mental illness. A pillar of making this Court an agent for change rather than a place for punishment, is the partnership with the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health (LACDMH). The guests on this podcast episode, Dr. Nilsa Gallardo, Program Manager, and Felipe Andalon, Mental Health Case Worker, are staff from the department who are able to paint the picture of inspiring stories. Their dedication and expertise can bring success to those with mental illness coming before this Court. CARE Court as a new endeavor begun in December of 2023, with Nilsa the Administrator overseeing aspects of LACDMH’s involvement, and Felipe working each case determined to build trust and bringing an often skeptical client toward a more hopeful life, are mental health pioneers fostering new insights and coordinated services for those with serious psychotic disorders. To learn more about CARE Court and how to Petition for someone in need:Go to the website, www.LACourt.org/CARE

12 months ago

33 minutes

Commentaries from the Edge

MENTAL HEALTH ON THE FRONTLINES: Harold Turner, Urban NAMI

In shining a light on some new developments in services at the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health (LACDMH), CARE Court is a perfect example. Launched in December of 2023, and funded by the State of California, the department has joined an exciting collaboration of government agencies and community organizations fostering a wide systemic change. The CARE stands for Community Assistance, Recovery and Empowerment and in this episode you will hear from a leader who heads an organization that gives that community assistance. Harold Turner is the Executive Director of the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) Urban Los Angeles. NAMI was started by a group of families over 40 years ago to find answers on how to help family members with mental illness and to support one another. Today, there are 600 chapters across the U. S. renown for providing education and support groups. With CARE Court, Mr. Turner with his members accompanies families to Court and helps them navigate the mental health, health and legal systems, to develop an effective plan of recovery and empowerment for those who qualify for the services from this new kind of Court. He brings to this important programmatic development experience as a Father of a mentally ill child, and as a community leader on the Workgroup of the State of California CARE ACT, a member of the LACDMH Commission, and as an Executive Director of NAMI Urban LA, with decades of effective advocacy for the improvement of mental health treatments. LACDMH values the collaboration with Mr. Turner and his organization working together to foster recovery for those living with mental illness. To Contact NAMI Urban LA, go to the website, www.namiurbanla.org, tel. (323) 294-7814, write - 4305 Degnan Blvd. Suite 104, Los Angeles, CA 90008

1 year ago

46 minutes 35 seconds

Commentaries from the Edge

MENTAL HEALTH ON THE FRONTLINES: Judge Scott R. Herin

A persistent struggle in a metropolitan area like Los Angeles, California, is the struggle to treat persons with mental illness before it becomes severe. In the United States mental illness since the covid pandemic has become more of a crisis. On any given day in Los Angeles, someone is coming before the Courts having broken the law while experiencing a psychotic disorder. In December of 2023, a new approach was launched to bring services rather than punishment to such an individual. It is called CARE Court. CARE stands for - Community Assistance, Recovery, & Empowerment, and perhaps the key word is empowerment. The process establishes for anyone who qualifies, the opportunity on a voluntary basis to be surrounded by services with the collaboration of the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health, Public Health, the Public Defenders/Independent Defense Counsel offices and other community agencies. In this podcast episode we hear from Superior CourtJudge Scott R. Herin, who with Judge Rene Gilbertson, are the presiding Judges over this innovative program to promote wellbeing and empowerment rather than punishment. Listen and learn how a person may qualify for the program with a special petition to the Court and the ways that an individual’s plan for recovery is navigated and monitored. CARE Court in its early stage, is a program with hope, giving those with mental illness a chance to thrive in the community.

1 year ago

12 minutes

Commentaries from the Edge

MENTAL HEALTH ON THE FRONTLINES: Jaime Gomez

As the special series on the podcast program continues, this is the final episode exploring Peer Resource Centers at the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health (LACDMH). We are visiting with Jaime Gomez on the Eastside of the City, a Supervising Community Health Worker who relishes that his programming specializes in reaching out into neighborhoods. In other words, instead of being located at a particular building, Jaime and his team use parks, libraries and schools to connect with individuals, families and the elderly who are in need but may never visit a traditional office for mental health services. In their unique way of being accessible and available, Jaime explains how they have an opportunity to help people where they are, and make them realize that having emotional difficulties for themselves or a family member are part of being human. He feels this approach is a way to break the stigma of mental illness and encourage people to receive help. In this episode, listeners around the world will wish that they could be at the place wherever Jaime and his team organize what they call, COFFEE WITH A SIDE OF HEALING, a relaxing and innovative way of encountering mental health services. The LACDMH 24/7 access number for help is 1-800-854-7771 The National Suicide Crisis Line is #988

1 year ago

39 minutes 27 seconds

Commentaries from the Edge

MENTAL HEALTH ON THE FRONTLINES: Roslynn Adolphus

The podcast series highlighting outstanding and innovative programs at the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health (LACDMH) continues with a visit to another Peer Resource Center located in South Los Angeles, California. This Center is part of a sprawling complex at the Martin Luther King Jr. (MLK) Hospital, in an area renown for a lack of services. In a welcoming space expressed by both staff and its decor, the Center is on the ground floor of a building that provides an array of mental health services. Listen to this episode and you will hear from Roslynn Adolphus, Supervising Community Health Worker, who describes the menu of activities and support awaiting anyone who walks in the door. This includes art classes, parenting groups and special attention for youth in those pivotal years of 18 to 25 years old. This Peer Resource Center at the MLK Hospital, sits on the border of Watts and Compton, neighborhoods predominately Black and Latino with residents often struggling to manage to survive the demands of daily life. The Center staff, like Roslynn, are ready to meet those in need wherever they are, whether it is just a place that offers them comfort or to provide some of the basics like food and clothing. The Peer Resource Centers are a model for how to make our communities better during these troubling times. They provide a path to the motto of the Mental Health Department, “Hope, Recovery and Wellbeing”. The LACDMH access number for help is 1-800-854-7771 The National Suicide Crisis Lifeline is #988

1 year ago

32 minutes 48 seconds

Commentaries from the Edge

MENTAL HEALTH ON THE FRONTLINES: Tosha Sweet and Tammy Lofton

The launching of a new series of episodes on this podcast, COMMENTARIES FROM THE EDGE, is covering important aspects of innovative and powerfully effective ways of supporting and promoting mental health. The projects, beginning with what is called the Peer Resource Centers, are part of the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health (LACDMH) in California. Given that many people will not enter into offices that are part of a traditional governmental program, with the operation of these Centers you have, “a welcoming place where everyone coming for help is greeted by others who also have faced emotional difficulties” - surrounded by warm and caring individuals with the “lived experience”. In these two episodes you will hear from outstanding staff at LACDMH, Catherine Clay and Joseph Cuevas in Episode #1 and Tosha Sweet and Tammy Lofton in Episode #2. Each of them will be describing the kind of successes in mental health programming that is possible, and through their stories show how this approach is needed in neighborhoods across all communities. The LACDMH 24/7 access number for help is 1-800-854-7771 The National Suicide Crisis Lifeline is #988

1 year ago

31 minutes 35 seconds

Commentaries from the Edge

MENTAL HEALTH ON THE FRONTLINES: Catherine Clay and Joseph Cuevas

The launching of a new series of episodes on this podcast, COMMENTARIES FROM THE EDGE, is covering important aspects of innovative and powerfully effective ways of supporting and promoting mental health. The projects, beginning with what is called the Peer Resource Centers, are part of the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health (LACDMH) in California. Given that many people will not enter into offices that are part of a traditional governmental program, with the operation of these Centers you have, “a welcoming place where everyone coming for help is greeted by others who also have faced emotional difficulties” - surrounded by warm and caring individuals with the “lived experience”. In these two episodes you will hear from outstanding staff at LACDMH, Catherine Clay and Joseph Cuevas in Episode #1 and Tosha Sweet and Tammy Lofton in Episode #2. Each of them will be describing the kind of successes in mental health programming that is possible, and through their stories show how this approach is needed in neighborhoods across all communities. The LACDMH 24/7 access number for help is 1-800-854-7771 The National Suicide Crisis Lifeline is #988

1 year ago

34 minutes 39 seconds

Commentaries from the Edge

SOUTH AFRICAN APARTHEID: A First Person Account, with Chaplain Ruth Belonsky, MJS

There is courage and there is sacrifice, and Ruth Belonsky’s life is an example of both. Born into the world of Apartheid in South Africa, she grew up in an area called East London near Cape Town, segregated like everywhere in that Country. A child of immigrants from Germany, she believes that hearing stories of how her family escaped from the Nazis, motivated her to seek ways to end the laws separating people by race and color. As a young adult she entered politics and was elected to her City Council, all the while secretly participating in what were illegal activities that brought Blacks and Whites together. Listen to her telling of harrowing stories, and to her outspoken commitments against Apartheid, which eventually led to her and her family being forced to leave South Africa to save their lives. Today, in Los Angeles, California, she continues a life of social activism bringing people together across faiths and races to create a more just society.

1 year ago

32 minutes 13 seconds