Kat Flowers was almost at her boiling point.
She didn't get much sleep the night before. The dog was barking. She let him out. The sprinklers were on. He got soaked. She was trying to make breakfast. Her 8 ½-month-old son Luke was having a difficult morning. Her husband was on a work call.
“So,” she says. “It was the perfect storm.”
But then she remembered something — a tool she picked up from attending free classes at Ohana, Montage Health’s mental health program for youth and their families.
“I stopped what I was doing, then took a few deep breaths,” says Flowers, who learned the technique in one of Ohana’s classes called Cultivating Peace in the Home. “I explained to Luke, ‘Mama is feeling tired and frustrated. When I’m feeling strong emotions, I can use tools to calm myself down.’ Then I told myself out loud, ‘This, too, shall pass.’”
Ohana isn’t just for kids being treated here; we also want it to be a true resource for the community. When we support and lift up all parents in Monterey County, that has a ripple effect on our children and ultimately our entire community.
— Krista Reuther, assistant director of Ohana’s prevention team
“We’re in the community providing free education in hopes of preventing youth and families from reaching a point of crisis,” says Brittney Borlik, a therapist on Ohana’s prevention team. “We’re doing it through the building blocks of mental fitness — the idea that there are things families can do to diminish mental health challenges or eliminate them altogether.”
The shining star is the Raising Resilient Families series, with regularly recurring classes offered virtually and in person at Ohana's campus in Ryan Ranch.
The first class in the series, for caregivers of children of any age, is Cultivating Peace in the Home (formerly called Serenity Now).
“It provides the building blocks of the series,” Borlik says. “It focuses on the ways parents can maintain their own sense of self-regulation.”
Think Kat Flowers and “stop.”
The next three classes in the series — Raising Resilient Babies, Raising Resilient Children, and Raising Resilient Teens — guide parents on how to do just that. Maya Enista-Smith, another class participant, benefited from Raising Resilient Children when her family went through a hard time.
“My mom had just passed away and I wanted to learn tools to take care of myself and my children during this difficult time,” Enista-Smith says.
She wanted to build resilience in herself and learn tips she could use with her daughter, now 9, and her son, 11.
“There’s a saying that you’re only as happy as your saddest kid,” she says. “It’s been a hard year for all of us, and as a daughter and mother, I want to model for them the investment in my mental and emotional health.”
Enista-Smith says she has now signed up for Raising Resilient Teens.
Meeting kids and families where they are
In addition to free classes, Ohana licensed marriage and family therapists Molly Hansen and Brian Boles work with middle schools in Monterey Peninsula, San Benancio, and Pacific Grove school districts to meet the students where they are.
They provide classroom presentations as well as an elective eight-week curriculum based on a prescription of mental fitness — adequate sleep, managing stress, time in nature, self-compassion, movement, and social connection.
“We try to put emphasis on implementing daily healthy habits to help reduce emotional vulnerability,” Hansen says.
Boles, meanwhile, focuses on dads in addition to his middle school outreach. He started and facilitates a support group for new and expecting dads.
“I’m a father myself,” Boles says. “I have a daughter who is 17 months old. There are so few services out there for fathers.”
Why are dads underserved?
“I think it stems from the way men have been socialized in our culture,” Boles says. “Men tend to seek help less, but I think that’s slowly and gradually shifting now.”
One of Ohana’s newest additions is a couples support group for those with babies 12 months old and younger, meeting every other month at the Ohana campus.
“Ohana isn’t just for kids being treated here; we also want it to be a true resource for the community,” says Krista Reuther, assistant director of Ohana’s prevention team. “When we support and lift up all parents in Monterey County, that has a ripple effect on our children and ultimately our entire community.”
Free classes, workshops, and support groups
Ohana offers free community classes (virtual and in-person) including mental fitness classes, parenting workshops, and support groups.
View Ohana classes and more
