When successful businessman Joe Baldo looked around his community, he wanted to do more than simply succeed in business; he wanted to give back. Like the idea behind the movie Pay It […]
Higher Ground Youth and Family Services
Healthy Awareness: Psychology of Altruism
As an undergraduate at CSU- Fullerton, I worked as a teacher’s assistant for Deanna Kuhn in her developmental and experimental psychology classes. The labs she directed centered on one theme: altruism. Like […]
Healthy Awareness: The Power of Attitude
The other day, while walking through Craig Park, I passed a woman wearing a T-shirt that read, “I have an attitude.” This made me stop and think—what exactly did she mean by […]
Healthy Awareness: From Stress to Support: Healing Loneliness Through Community
Loneliness often stems from feeling disconnected from the people and communities around us. A survey conducted in August earlier this year with a sample of 3,199 participants found that 61% felt lonely […]
Healthy Awareness: Social Morality and Democracy
Nelson Mandela once said, “No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they […]
Healthy Awareness: Nurturing Independence: A Fresh Perspective for Parents
One of the most challenging stages of development for parents is adolescence. During this time, teenagers are on a journey to discover who they are and where they fit in the world. […]
Healthy Awareness: Aftermaths of the COVID Pandemic: A path to recovery
In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, society has begun to shift its focus from the tumultuous lockdowns and isolation of the past to a more hopeful narrative of recovery and healing. […]
The Inspiring Journey of Daniel York
Resilience is the ability to recover or adjust to misfortune and change. I interviewed Daniel York because he is an individual who exemplifies resilience. He is an elder law attorney practicing estate […]
Fond Memories at Fullerton’s Laguna Lake: A Family’s Journey Through Nature and Learning
Jo Ann Brannock reminisces on several fond family memories spent at Fullerton’s Laguna Lake over the years. Take a read: “As I walked around Laguna Lake the other day, I thought of […]
Fond Memories Emerge from Laguna Lake: A Personal Journey Through Generations
Jo Ann Brannock retells several fond family memories held at Fullerton’s Laguna Lake: As I walked around Laguna Lake the other day, I thought of all the fond memories of the past […]
Baseball Season: A Timeless Tradition Resurrected
It is that time of year in which baseball season is here. Many baseball fans remember the 1908 song “Take Me Out to the Ballgame.” It was popularized by Harry Caray, the announcer for the Chicago White Sox. In 1976, he sang it during the […]
Healthy Awareness: A Successful Approach to Homelessness
“One Person Can Make A Difference” by Gerald G. Jampolsky, M.D., discusses how ordinary people do extraordinary things: “More and more people are hearing an ‘inner calling,’ a voice from within stating […]
Healthy Awareness: Looking Back at Technology
One of the highlights of my life was obtaining a master’s degree in 1975. Given today’s technology, it’s hard to believe I used a card catalog to find past research in my […]
Healthy Awareness: Appreciation and Love
I grew up in a family with high expectations of us. There was no praise, reward, or appreciation for achieving what was expected of us as kids. Perhaps it was a generational era where being […]
Healthy Awareness: Young Lives Redeemed
I wrote about purpose in the last edition of the Fullerton Observer. According to an article in American Psychologist (2023), purpose is a central, self-organizing life aim that can be evaluated on the dimensions of: […]
Healthy Awareness: Having a purpose in life
My husband and I had been married for over 57 years when he died six years ago. How was I going to go on without him? I retired from teaching and gave […]
Healthy Awareness: Understanding & Preventing Suicide
Suicide is the second leading cause of death for people ages 10-14 and 20-34, according to the American Psychological Strategic Alliance Program (2024). It is the point of no return. There are […]
Healthy Awareness: A Spiritual Connection
Both animals and humans communicate their emotions and needs through behaviors. Verbal words are not necessary, although some animals have shown the ability to communicate with sounds that resemble human speech. Many […]
Healthy Awareness: Gifts We Give Our Grandchildren
Positive parenting, where the parents are caring and sensitive to their children’s needs but set limits and encourage responsibility, has been shown to be important in children’s lives. Children who experience this […]
Healthy Awareness: Making Marriage Work
Marriage, like all partnerships, requires effort. In the United States, an estimated 50% of marriages end in divorce, and about 33% find it challenging to maintain romantic relationships. As I look back […]
Healthy Awareness: How to Find Companionship When You’re Older
Jeffrey Bernstein, Ph.D. (2024), found love after turning 50, as did many of his clinical clients. He emphasizes three essential considerations when pursuing love and companionship. First, being older can provide one with […]
Healthy Awareness: What are those little houses with books about?
Walking around Fullerton, have you ever noticed those house-like structures on posts in some of the front yards? They are the Little Free Library. According to Wikipedia, the late Todd Bol built […]
Healthy Awareness: Barbie’s Ken and Males Today
What is the world like today for men? The analogy of the movie Barbie shows Ken in the “Real World” getting recognition and respect, whereas, in Barbie Land, he is subservient to […]
Healthy Awareness: What Does Love Have to Do with it?
Recently, I was at my book club, and Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin was the book of discussion. The main character, Sadie, was interested in the fact that she […]
Healthy Awareness: What I Learned from “Barbie”
I was not going to see the movie Barbie because I thought it was for teenagers, which I am not. After hearing a presentation at Fullerton College, however, I decided that I […]
Healthy Awareness: Let’s Talk About Estrangement
Once Thanksgiving gets here, the days fly by, and the rest of the holidays are quickly upon us. This is the time to get together with neighbors, friends, and family. Trying to […]
Healthy Awareness by Jo Ann Brannock, Ph.D.
Thanksgiving is next week, and I want you to think of the word itself in reverse: “giving thanks.” Isn’t that the true meaning of Thanksgiving? It is a special time to think […]
Healthy Awareness: What I learned from the Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative Report from UCSF
I want to share the University of California San Francisco report published in June 2023 on the latest findings on homelessness’s. This report is impressive for the following reasons: it is the […]
Healthy Awareness: Recovery Road
Recovery Road, founded on May 5, 2020, by Robin Rush and many others in her backyard, focused on feeding the hungry with food and self-esteem. In the middle of Covid, she saw […]
Healthy Awareness
WHY ARE WE SO POLARIZED? In his book, Why We’re Polarized, Ezra Klein reviews how political parties such as the Republicans and Democrats have become so divided in recent years. Such division […]
Healthy Awareness
Romatic Scams There are a lot of scams out there today; however, the number one is the romantic scam which are now considered “the crime of the 21st century.” Romantic scams are […]
How to Achieve Happiness in 2023
In my last article in December, I finished by leaving you with three questions: Why am I here? (everyone is here for a reason); What am I supposed to be doing?; and […]
