Press Releases

Creating Safe Relative Homes for Children in Foster Care

Recent legislation to overhaul the foster care system and ensure that youth and families receive necessary services and supports has presented a new way of streamlining the process for resource families who are either related or close to the child who was placed out of the home. As part of the Continuum of Care Reform, […]

Second Chances to Make a Difference

When Sonia Rodriguez was a client at a mental health agency, she never thought her path would lead to helping other individuals with similar experiences. Having been involved in a domestic violence relationship for seven years, Sonia understood what it was like to have post-traumatic stress disorder and anxiety. Now a peer partner at El […]

How finding a vision set the direction for a new life

Without any real purpose or direction when she was in college, Sonya Cha, El Centro de Amistad multidisciplinary assessment team (MAT) program coordinator, found herself majoring in international business, even studying abroad in Korea. After meeting college friends who were spiritual and attending several services, Sonya became “more open to the spirituality part of me.” […]

How to help children with loss during the holidays

With all seasons we experience transitions. Perhaps in California we don’t see the seasons manifested so distinctly as in the East Coast yet we feel them inside. The fall is a season of internal reflection. We make room for this mental activity when the long summer evenings have been replaced by the changing of the […]

Carving a Role to Serve Beyond the School Fence

Raised in San Fernando not far from El Centro de Amistad (ECDA), Board Member David Moreno started working in Pacoima in 2006 while pursuing a bachelor’s degree in sociology with a social welfare option. He has invested 11 years of his career in the Pacoima community and doesn’t see this changing any time soon. David, […]

Why a Long and Slow Process Can Yield a Lifetime of Rewards

Serafina Moushel earned her master’s degree in business administration at National University and worked in the mortgage banking industry for a number of years. Yet, she felt a heartfelt calling to work with people and help them. “I know it sounds very cliché. Yet I’m interested in our brain and how we behave, why we […]

Why Routines Produce Good Habits

Summertime offers a free flowing approach to the long summer days for families with children. Challenges may also arise for parents who struggle with extended daycare, the additional expense of meals, and occupying their children’s time. By the time August rolls around, we welcome the routines set at the beginning of a school year. Not […]

Understanding Severe Mental Illness to Rebuild Lives

On July 6, The Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act was passed in the House of Representative. The bill will help to address gaps in the nation’s mental health system by providing more hospital beds for people living with a mental illness who will need short-term hospitalization. Introduced by Rep. Tim Murphy (R-PA), a […]

Changing the perception of mental illness

Raised in nearby Pacoima, Luis Cervantes knows too well the needs of the community. So when he was approached in 2013 to join the El Centro de Amistad board of directors, he recognized this was an opportunity to alter the way people perceive mental illness and “to destigmatize the community that we serve,” Luis says, […]