On February 19, the Barbara A. Mouton Multicultural Wellness Center (The Mouton Center/TMC), located at 903 Weeks Street in East Palo Alto (EPA), CA held an Open House to celebrate new programs and partnerships forged over the past year. These new programs include:  meaningful peer support groups; enlightening workshops; spiritually-centered walking group; drumming; spirituality growth and discussion group; Pacific Islander Parent Project; Pride Center drop-in hours; Wellness Recovery Action Plan in Spanish and English; multicultural support group; birthday celebrations; special cultural events; PI information and referral services; Wii game tournaments; ukulele lessons; financial and utility assistance as well as food distribution. TMC staff also provide linkages to mental health services and hosts special programming for individuals dealing with serious mental illness.

The Mouton Center is operated by One East Palo Alto Neighborhood Improvement Initiative (OEPA) and funded by San Mateo County Behavioral Health and Recovery Services with Mental Health Services Act (MHSA) funding. Established June 2009, the center has served over 1,600 clients and family members. It is a place where EPA residents who are consumers of mental health services and their family members come to receive various types of support for their efforts to achieve wellness and recovery. The facility’s multicultural environment is designed to affirm the inherent worth and dignity of individuals served in a community that reflects and celebrates the diversity of East Palo Alto. Over the years, TMC has offered a safe space where consumers and family members congregate, pursue leisure activities and explore alternative views and practices about health and wellness in the context of their cultural roots and heritage.

OEPA is a youth-focused, community-based intermediary nonprofit whose mission is to develop resident leaders, broker resources and services, build the capacity of individuals and organizations, and advocate for change, leading to the improved social, physical, spiritual, educational, and economic well-being of East Palo Alto, CA. The Mouton Center is supported by OEPA-led mental health initiatives funded by MHSA and conducted in partnership with BHRS. These initiatives include the East Palo Alto Behavioral Health Advisory Group, East Palo Alto Partnership for Behavioral Health Outreach and Behavioral Health Advisory Group Ambassador Team.

All are welcome at The Mouton Center on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays 1:00pm – 8:00pm. For more information, please call (650) 330-1040/(650) 388-8433 or email cmccall@1epa.org.