16 The Best of Monterey Bay® Family 2024-2025 State of Mind Mental fitness is becoming an increasingly important part of wellness, especially for young people. By Caitlin Fillmore S tretch your body when you wake. An apple a day keeps the doctor away. Make time for family dinner. While daily movement and a healthy diet are oftrepeated bits of wellness advice, local experts urge an adoption of “mental fitness” as a simpler way to consider the equally essential everyday activities that boost mental and emotional well-being for youth and adults. While not necessarily a new concept, mental fitness supplements the traditional health education students have received in classrooms and doctors’ offices for generations, says Molly Hansen, a licensed marriage and family therapist (LMFT) working in the Community Health and Prevention Program at the Ohana Center for Child and Adolescent Behavioral Health, part of the Montage Health system. “We’ve found using the term ‘mental fitness’ helpful because it’s easier to understand in the same way we understand “physical fitness,’” she adds. “It’s not about being positive and happy all the time. Rather, through understanding we can gain strength and perspective to face life’s adversities and embrace the joy and wonder that life can offer as well.” Data shows that as many as 1 in 4 children and teenagers will deal with a psychiatric illness. The good news, however, is that most of these illnesses are not just treatable, but preventable. The focus on prevention, instead of treatment, makes mental fitness a fresh approach that is resonating with families. “Mental fitness offers a prevention approach to mental health, which is Montage’s Ohana Center for Child and Adolescent Behavioral Health opened in Monterey on Dec. 15, 2023 and served 109 young patients on day one. Most patients receive care on an outpatient basis, but the center also has 16 residential beds. Daniel Dreifuss
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