Struggling With 2021? 'Wellness Without Walls' Is Here To Help

MALIBU, CA — The COVID-19 pandemic opened up a Pandora’s box of struggles for so many. From physical health to mental health to financial struggles to the lingering trauma of the Woolsey Fire, many in the community are having a difficult time managing the stress and navigating the bureaucracy that comes with trying to get help.

The Boys and Girls Club of Malibu’s recently opened a Wellness Without Walls program is a one-stop-shop to help SMMUSD students and families, and anyone who lives or works around Malibu and Santa Monica, deal with the myriad challenges of 2021.

The Wellness Center, which is located in the building of the old Juan Cabrillo Elementary School, offers free virtual or in-person assistance to families and individuals seeking assistance securing food, housing, employment, or physical and mental health services. Thanks in part to a grant from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, the center is able to offer qualified social workers who can provide a variety of counseling or social support services. Four professionals with different clinical expertises oversee a team of masters level students providing either short or long-term support.

The counseling team also works closely with school psychologists in the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District to support students struggling either emotionally, behaviorally, or academically. Peggy Zherdev, director of social support services at the Wellness Center, said that they have received many referrals for students struggling to adjust to online learning.

“That’s actually the number one referral that we receive from teachers and the school psychologist,” Zherdev said. “We try to look at the whole family approach, and try to figure out what’s happening not only with the student and getting them connected to counseling, but helping better support the parents through parenting skills programs, or support for the parents to better help them parent through this time that’s just so challenging for everyone.”

In addition to offering family counseling and parent support groups, the center also offers support groups for students focused on anything from building self esteem, preventing drug and alcohol abuse, or how to manage stress, bullying, trauma, and more.

But even during a time of numerous mental health challenges for students and their families, Zherdev said lingering stigma is still preventing people from seeking help. “The stigma is still really challenging to address,” she said. “Mental health and access to mental health services, people still really avoid that, and that’s making it difficult, even though services like ours are no cost to the community. We have the capacity to take on new clients, and we’re not the only ones like that. We have space available, and people are still not referring themselves into programs that could help them.”

The center also provides support in a number of other potentially sensitive areas, like obtaining unemployment benefits, elder services, support for domestic abuse, or navigating the bureaucracies related to housing or healthcare.

The center provides direct help to people applying for county assistance, and helps refer others needing more specialized, long-term care to the necessary services. Zherdev said that one of the center is also providing some shopping services for seniors afraid to go out during the pandemic.

The center is open from 9-6 Monday through Friday, but says it will try its best to accommodate different schedules. For now, it is operating by appointment only. To start the process, fill out the appropriate form on the Wellness Center website, call 310-457-6801, ext. 74141, or email wellnessinfo@bgcmalibu.org.

“You can call us directly here, so we can give you a call back if you’re just trying to better understand our services, or even just to have someone to talk to initially about what’s going on,” Zherdev said.