After the coronavirus pandemic shut down schools and ushered in a new era of “remote learning,” the parents in Ana Briones Gonzalez’s San Jose neighborhood became increasingly worried about their children’s mental health and well-being.
Briones Gonzalez– president of the Cadillac Winchester Neighborhood Association at the time — said residents had questions about how to deal with anxiety and depression and how to help their children navigate the challenges they were facing. But they didn’t know where to turn. For many in the small, predominantly Latino community, there was a stigma surrounding mental health issues, along with a lot of misinformation — all which made it difficult to get out information about resources and care.
“(It’s) not only that their kids have these issues that they’re dealing with, but the parents as well have signs of anxiety and they don’t know how to deal with that,” Briones Gonzalez said. “The residents… want to understand how to communicate with their kids and understand the signs of anxiety. They want to understand depression, they want to understand wellness…but where are they going to get these resources? A lot of people have felt a loss of hope because they want all these things, but none of it’s being presented.”
Briones Gonzalez helped partner the community with the San Jose State University Healthy Development Community Clinic, which offers free health services to underserved communities. Together, the clinic and neighborhood association put together a health fair offering outdoor activities and information about health resources at a local park. The clinic also has held cooking and nutrition classes and provided childcare during community meetings.
Created in 2022, the Healthy Development Community Clinic has served over 3600 children, youth and families across Santa Clara County through free speech and hearing screenings, mental health services, parent education, support groups, nutrition workshops, community programs and other health and wellness services. The clinic also offers resources for the immigrant and LGBTQ+ communities.
The clinic — staffed by SJSU graduate students under the supervision of clinical researchers — partners with local schools and communities to expand access to health care for underserved communities across the county while also training university students to become service providers.
The clinic is hoping to raise $50,000 through Wish Book to support health screenings, mental health resources and community education programs for more than 150 people from underserved communities and training and educational experiences for over 50 university students.
Cara Maffini, a professor in San Jose State University’s Department of Child and Adolescent Development and co-founder and director of the clinic, said when the clinic launched, students and faculty discovered that community members mostly wanted a safe space to connect with each other.
“A lot of folks really wanted to talk or wanted to learn,” Maffini said. “A lot of caregivers wanted to learn different parenting strategies. They were just struggling and wanting more information and a lot of youth wanted safe places to connect with each other and with meaningful adults.”
An occupational therapy doctorate student at San Jose State, Tanny Tani led a caregiver group for parents of children with speech difficulties. She helped parents learn more about child development, emotional regulation and how to create stable routines and reduce caregiver burden. But she said a big part of the caregiver group was to create a space for parents to lean on each other and relax with snacks, board games and mindfulness activities.
“It was nice for them to be able to connect in those areas because they have that experience that we don’t,” Tani said. “Being able to bring these parents together and create this little community was really nice.”
Briones Gonzalez said that a year after the clinic connected with her community, the relationship is still going strong.
“It slowly became more of a lasting relationship,” she said. “They come to the meetings and they are recognized by the people in the community and they appreciate them and know who they are. They built a very strong relationship with the residents, not just the association.”
Briones Gonzalez thinks the Healthy Development Community Clinic is successful because of its emphasis on building trust and routinely showing up in the communities they partner with. She said the clinic’s staff and faculty emphasized that they were there to support the neighborhood association rather than tell them what to do, and listened to the community’s residents about what resources they needed most.
“They have been very respectful,” Briones Gonzalez said. “They’re there to hear us and willing to help whenever they can, but also willing to step aside and just see us grow and advocate for our needs and still have our own voice in this.”
Director Maffini said that’s key to the clinic’s work, especially in San Jose communities with immigrant residents who may be on edge amid immigration enforcement activity.
“It’s a really complicated landscape right now, but what we have found is that when we build intentional relationships and develop those relationships — showing up time over time — it really helps to build trust,” she said.
Maffini said another challenge the clinic currently faces is funding, with many community members assuming that because the clinic is part of San Jose State University, it has unlimited resources. But she said while the university provides some funding, the clinic is responsible for the majority of funding and relies heavily on donations and grants — many of which have been slashed under the Trump administration.
Maffini said the most important thing the clinic is doing is continuing to create safe spaces for residents.
“People need places to feel safe now more than ever,” Maffini said. “It goes back to those community relationships and we just keep showing up…It’s creating safety in the community even in really unsettling times.”
ABOUT WISH BOOK
Wish Book is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization operated by The Mercury News. Since 1983, Wish Book has been producing series of stories during the holiday season that highlight the wishes of those in need and invite readers to help fulfill them.
WISH
Donations to the Healthy Development Community Clinic at San Jose State University will allow it to support health screenings, mental health resources and community education programs for more than 150 people from underserved communities, as well as training and educational experiences for over 50 university students. Goal: $50,000
HOW TO GIVE
Donate at wishbook.mercurynews.com/donate or mail in this form.
ONLINE EXTRA
Read other Wish Book stories, view photos and video at wishbook.mercurynews.com.
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