Connecting individuals and families with mental health resources, development, and community in the Antelope Valley and beyond.
Live Oak Mental Wellness Project is working to make mental health support more accessible. From spreading information about improving your mental wellness at home to connecting you to a clinical therapist to partnering with others in the mental health field to create new resources in person and in print, we want to help you learn how to make your life the very best it can be.
Our Work-in-Progress
In our work in the Antelope Valley over the past two and a half years, we’ve seen a need that is bigger than we can fill on our own: a need for suffering people to gather with others in their community who are dealing with similar difficulties in life.
🦸♀️ We see the many other caring organizations who share our commitment to serving our valley, supporting clients in navigating the services available and working to stay connected to each other to stay up-to-date on which services are currently offered where and whether they have space for new clients. But we all run into the same issue: those who need support outnumber those who have the experience or training necessary to provide it.
📗Our solution: To develop easy-to-use, research-based workbook curricula for support group cohorts.
The first set of what we hope will be many is called Processing Grief in Community.
🫂 Our goal is that anyone, from licensed clinician to well-meaning passerby, can pick up this guide and lead an effective grief support group if they have the space and the heart to do so.
We want this information to be accessible to as many people as possible, so we are writing for three age groups in both English and Spanish:
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Adults
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Adolescents & Transition-Aged Youth (13-24)
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Children
🙋 Ready to be a part of something meaningful?
There are three significant ways you can help us through these early stages!
📃Offer your voice, offer hope:
If you have navigated the difficult path of significant loss and feel called to offer a beacon of hope to others, we would be honored to hear from you. By sharing a piece of your grief journey through a Lived Experience Essay or an Artistic Expression (like a painting or a poem), you can meaningfully show others that they are not alone. To learn more about contributing, email us at connect@liveoakmentalwellnessproject.com.
💲 Invest in healing:
Your financial donation directly supports us in developing and sustaining this much-needed resource and more to help connect and heal members of our community. Every contribution, big or small, makes a tangible difference. You can support our work at givebutter.com/LiveOakSpring2025
🔄 Spread seeds of hope:
Help us increase our reach and ensure this upcoming resource touches the lives of those who need it most. Sharing our social media posts (Facebook | Instagram) or the link to this page within your network is a simple yet powerful way to amplify our message and connect us with organizations and individuals who can benefit from the tools we are working hard to create.
Thanks to a directed giving donation, Live Oak Mental Wellness Project was able to distribute such high-need items as socks, body wipes, toothbrushes with toothpaste, and T-shirts, as well as mental-health-supporting books for children, teens, and adults. For Timelist's free raffle for participants, we were delighted to contribute a sturdy water bottle and "Artful Reflections: A Gratitude Journal. Packed with Art, Activities, Inspiration, Self-Care, Stress Relievers, and a Boatload of Stuff to Help You Feel Good and Live Your Best Life" by Marjorie Mobley, hand-picked by our Board President and Community Engagement Chair Arleth Castañeda, featured above!
Our Community Engagement
We were delighted to be a part of TimeList Group's Spring Into Action Community Resource Fair. This event focused on supporting our neighbors who struggle with housing insecurity, aligning with TimeList's vision to empower individuals, families, and communities affected by incarceration and poverty, fostering a future where every person has access to educational opportunities, essential resources, and supportive services. They envision a world where barriers to success are dismantled, promoting healing, reunification, and resilience through comprehensive programs in education, reentry support, housing, and violence prevention. Together, they strive to build strong, thriving communities that uplift and transform lives.
Our Worksheets
You don't know what you don't know, and Live Oak Mental Wellness Project is here to empower you to make use of the many reliable mental health resources the Internet has to offer. We vet our sources by ensuring that the posts are current, the information can be corroborated elsewhere, and the authors are experts in their field (i.e. credentialed mental health clinicians and/or doctors in the subject matter). As we work to make mental health support more accessible, we want to pass along only the very highest-quality information and encourage you to seek out more!
Please feel free to download our worksheets below (or catch us handing them out in the community!), and be sure to visit our sources' sites to gain more knowledge about each topic!
Get Rid of ANTs: Transform Bad Thoughts So You Can Keep Growing!
Automatic negative thoughts are normal, but when they happen more frequently, they can run your life. You can learn more about ANTs from the article “Automatic Negative Thoughts (ANTs): How to Identify and Fix Them” on MentalHealthCenterKids.com.
Learn more about becoming more positive, confident, and making better decisions in the video "The Secret to Defeating the ANTs in Your Head!” from Mindstars Kids.
Form New Patterns: Build Your Resilience to Improve Your Mental Wellness
Cognitive reframing is a technique used to shift your mindset so you're able to look at a situation, person, or relationship from a slightly different perspective. You can learn more from the article "How Cognitive Reframing Works" on VeryWellMind.com.
Brené Brown's book Atlas of the Heart identifies and categorizes 87 Human Emotions & Experiences. You can download the chart on her website, brenebrown.com.
Intentional Breathing to Help Your Mind and Body
Practicing intentional, slower breathing can calm the body and promote relaxation even during times of stress, providing a natural means to support mental resilience. Learn more from the article "How Breathing Affects Mental Health: The Science Behind Calm" on breatheology.com.
Belly Breathing is the basis for many meditation and relaxation techniques. Learn more from the article "What is Diaphragmic Breathing?" on healthline.com.