Author: jewelsangels

Pride month is celebrated every June. It demonstrates that the LGBTQ community is proud of who they are, and they should not have to be ashamed or feel stigmatized for their sexual preferences. There are celebrations, parades, parties, and fun events in which everyone can come and show their pride, by helping them support themselves or a friend.

Pride month is just as important as mental health month because it is important to know that just because you aren’t heterosexual does not mean anything is wrong with you. The same with mental health, just because you have a disorder or a mental health condition, doesn’t matter. Your mental health and your sexual orientation does not define you. It is a PIECE of you, a piece of the larger puzzle that creates a human being.

Support for the LGBTQ community has really made strides in the past decade. I remember when legal marriage passed in the state of California, I was super happy. I am all for human beings having the freedom to pick who they want to be with, based on love and attraction and not simply based on their sex. It is never okay to make someone feel as if they are not good enough, as if they are not ‘normal’ and to stigmatize someone. We are all human beings, and there are more important aspects to consider. Are you kind? Are you dedicated? Are you trustworthy and loyal? Our society has become consumed with judging everyone based on shallow principles that do not speak to a person’s character.

Having PRIDE for who you are is so important. Embrace yourself & don’t let others drag you down or make you believe you are less than you are. In honor of June, GO PRIDE MONTH!

THE BENEFITS OF HORSE THERAPY

This past weekend, I had the wonderful opportunity to volunteer at a horse rescue ranch in Chino Hills.  I have to say that I was quite impressed with the presentation while walking up to the front office.  The grounds were immaculate with a peaceful energy surrounding me.  I felt welcomed.

As I listened to the team members, I noticed two horses in the corral to the right of me and a donkey.  They were playing, almost showing off for us; happily trotting around their corral, gently nudging one another with their noses.  It brought tears to my eyes, it was so cute, for they were so full of life, spilling over with joy.

But their lives hadn’t always been that happy, for once they were on a truck headed to a kill farm, to be slaughtered.  Prior to their new home, they had endured tremendous abuse and neglect, filling their lives with emotional scars.  Most of these horses will heal, but there will always be some, with different personality traits and circumstances, that will never completely heal.

We’ve studied the positive effects an animal brings to an individual or a family.  It has been said that a person will live longer when they have a fury companion because they love unconditionally and communicate using non-verbal communication.

Horse therapy seems to be a new study, but is it?  Horses have a long history, going back to the time to the cowboy days.  Native Americans found a spiritual connection with these wonderful animals long before anyone saw the great benefits these majestic animals bring.

Can there be a connection between people, primarily teenagers and horses?  Can a damaged teen find healing from an animal; subsequently a horse?  Someone once told me that a horses’ temperament is like that of a teenager going through adolescence.  Their moodiness and stubborn attitudes, making them almost intolerant to be around.

This connection is what sparked our interest and motivation to start the Jewels’ Angels Ranch.  We want to give rescue horses a second chance at love and peace, whereas, we also want to bring this to our teens in our programs.  They need a place where they can feel safe again.  A place away from the city and the stresses of school and social media.  A place where they can be a kid again.  A place where a teen will benefit from our horses, by educating them about self-love, self-care, self-esteem, confidence, copying skills, acceptance, and empowerment.

Isn’t it time for us to dream again, dream for a better tomorrow, in the hopes of bringing a better tomorrow for the young people in our community?  This was Jewels’ dream and now it is ours.

I do believe the human spirit can be healed, but it takes a lot of trust and time.  This is what our ranch and our horses will offer them; patience, kindness, and compassion.  It won’t happen overnight but with time they will find the acceptance with in them that they never knew they could have and that is called self-love.

We don’t walk this journey alone!

Addressing teen suicide – Jewels’ Angels Ranch  GoFundMe Link  :

We started The Jewels’ Angels Foundation, Inc. shortly after losing Jewels to suicide in 2016.  She was only 14 years old.  Our mission statement is helping teens see that they are not alone with depression and educating on the awareness and prevention of suicide.

Our goal is to save teens and other families from having to go through losing someone they love to suicide.  This gave us the idea to start-up the Jewels’ Angels Ranch, by offering supportive, co-ed groups, led by dynamic, responsible, and well-trained leaders, teaching teens the ability to learn about themselves individually through acceptance and personal growth.

Targeting teens, between the ages of 13 – 18 years old, with depression and mental illness, our program provides a healthy and healing atmosphere for the teen to bond and connect with a horse trained for emotional healing, with an emphasis on educating about the importance of establishing a healthy, mental well-being, as an alternative to making poor choices; by providing them with a sense of belonging and self-love.

But we can’t do this without proper funding and we need your support to make Jewels’ dream a reality.  

We have provided an itemized list of costs to start our ranch (organizational costs) and to cover the first year of operational costs:

Organizational Costs:

Purchase property (land):  $200,000

Cost to build center (includes excavate & slab):  $51,273

Costs to build stables / barn / fencing / corrals:  $142,800

Permits / Build well / Sewer line installation / Electrical:  $34,286

Purchase horses / feed / care & maintenance:  $22,335

Operational Costs:

First year operational costs:  $66,308

Overhead costs:  $9,946

This ranch is desperately needed in our community with teen suicide on the rise.  Teen suicide rates and teen depression have increased with each passing year and especially among teen girls, nationally.

According to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, teens between the ages of 15-24 years of age have a suicide rate of 14.46 in 2017.

Teen suicide between the ages of 15-24 is the second leading cause of death among the age group.

This needs to stop and we can make a difference, but we need your help!

School districts play a huge role in students’ lives. After all, it is their responsibility to protect our children / their students to the absolute best of their ability, even if it may mean them looking bad.

Bullying, for example, has shown its ugly face at too many schools, in the past decade. How are the school districts handling this outbreak of hostility? Many of them have picked up the anti-bullying campaign, but what are their tactics for handling this problem? Do they bring the student accused of bullying into their offices and confront them, along with their parents to discuss the seriousness of the situation?  Or is the school district weary of publicizing it to the student and their parents and for what reasons?

School districts have a reputation to uphold. They don’t want to look bad or as if they are to blame, in some way, for the bully’s behavior, so perhaps they keep it quiet and handle it in their own way, rather than confront it through a one-on-one confrontation. I’m sorry, but a school rally, preaching about anti-bullying isn’t going to fix it. Yes, anti-bullying rallies are good for bringing awareness to the student-body, but they do not stop the bullies in their tracks, nor do they make it undesirable to be cruel to another student. This is attained through direct communication.

The truth is, many schools experience bullying and a huge reason for this is because there are no distinct consequences established for bad behavior. Most kids will do things that they know they can get away with, without getting into trouble. However, if there were more consequences enforced for their bad behavior, perhaps, those same students may be less likely to act out through bullying.

Bullying is a serious crime, especially in today’s age, where the bullying can continue even after all the students go home…thanks to social media and cell phones. The day when we preached “words don’t hurt” are over, we all know that they do hurt. The school is obligated to protect their students, by making them feel safe, at least while the children are in school and on their campus, because all students have the right to feel safe while away from home. It is our responsibility as parents, friends, teachers, and especially administration, to stand up for students who are being bullied, and let them know we care and that there will be something done about it. The bully will be brought into the office with their parents and if the situation does not correct itself, the student who is bullying will be suspended and or expelled.

Drastic changes need to be made. The school districts are simply not doing enough to deter students away from bullying. As a community, we need to practice and teach kindness to others, and set a good example for the younger generations; by enforcing, that being mean to another human being is not okay and will not be tolerated! It is also important, as parents, to teach our children, in home, to be kind and that under no circumstance will bullying be accepted.  Remember, children follow our lead, so make sure to practice what you preach.

Please, spread kindness! The world needs it ❤

Join us for the annual Coachella Valley Out of the Darkness Community Walk, sponsored by the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP) in Palm Desert, California.

When: Saturday March 23, 2019

Time: 9:00 am – 12:00 pm

Event:

• Walk to honor and in memory of a loved one lost to suicide
• Honorary Bead Ceremony
• Celebration of Life Speech – Speaker: Jayne Wilkinson

Come and join us or you may donate to the cause by following the link below:

Donation Button to AFSP Website

Teenagers, Poetry, and Explicit Language

Should a teen be allowed to view and/or listen to explicit music, poetry, books, or should parents shield them from this? Different types of poetry and music convey subject matter that may be very mature, and perhaps not something that a teen may often come across or speak about in their own circles.

For example, the book, Milk and Honey by Rupi Kaur,  its subject matter is extremly heavy; perhaps, the content may not be good for them and their well-being? Or is it good because a lot of these teens can relate to the words being written? This particular book of poems speaks about rape, absent fathers, the confusion of love, being used, and many more serious subject matters. Some parents may find this to be too graphic, not wanting their teens to be exposed to the seriousness of the content; however, there may be other parents who understand that it may be a way for them to relate and a form of self-expression.

A huge part of being a teenager is feeling as if they are all alone with their experiences and that they are the only person who is going through something (ex. rape or an unstable family home). Teenagers shouldn’t have to feel alone with these experiences, and it’s not healthy.

Subsequently, it is healthy to realize that others are experiencing the same situations, feelings, thoughts, experiences and poems like these and it may console them like a comforting friend. Such as someone similar to them who has experienced similar events. How did they react? How were they able to pull themselves through the rough time? How did they seek help and healing?

While the content is serious, it is also real. These poems, songs, and /or lyrics are another persons’ real-life stories and their lived experiences. It is also reality that teenagers today go through these same kinds of experiences. Perhaps, shielding your teenager, who may be hurting from something they’ve gone through and not feeling comfortable talking to an adult about it; may be making them feel even more alone.

Some parents may think that by guarding their children and teenagers, from unpleasant things in the world, will make the unpleasant experience not real, but this is not true.

The adolescent years are full of expression, knowledge, confusion, and finding out who they are and who they want to be. The beauty of being able to relate to life through art — poetry, music, and reading, in ways, allows them to choose what is best for them, based on their own lives. This is an important aspect of their developmental stage and helping them to navigate through tough times and life.

WHAT IS HAPPINESS?

The definition of happiness is the state of being happy.  It is one of our many emotions. As any emotion, we all have varying definitions to how we feel and what our emotions personally mean to us.  Society puts so much pressure on us to be “happy”, but since it is an emotion, one cannot simply flip a switch and be happy.  An emotion comes and goes, such as anger, sadness, joy, or frustration. We may not have the choice to disregard negative emotions, however we do have the choice to control how these emotions make us react or behave.

Everything has an opposite effect.  We can’t find happiness with out knowing sadness and vice versa.  Happiness isn’t a state of bliss, it’s simply an emotion.  We won’t feel it forever, nor will we feel sadness or anger forever; if we understand this, we won’t be so disappointed with the fading of a happy emotion.  Yes, it was wonderful in the moment, but it WILL return.

We all have our own idea of what happiness means to us.  We may think we are happy when we have a lot of people around us, we think money will make us happy, perhaps a certain person makes us happy, or happiness can be as simple as the sweet fragrance of a flower.  Happiness comes from within you and if you are searching for happiness externally, such as solely from another person or environment, then we will always be disappointed.  It’s not an external feeling, that’s why it’s called an emotion, because it comes from within YOU.

Perhaps you feel broken and feel as if you will never be happy again; this is where you need to believe in yourself and take life day by day… maybe that’s being too optimistic, for now let’s just take it moment by moment. There’s always hope for the future- you don’t know what it holds!

The Jewels’ Angels Foundation would like to wish everyone the happiest holiday season and a very peaceful New Years!

We would also like to thank all those who helped to make Santa’s Angels a success this year, bringing over $500 dollars worth of gifts to the Corona-Norco Rescue Mission.  Our goal was to bring joy into those lives needing a little help during this time of year and together we made it happen.

Peace and love throughout the year and always remember, you are not alone in this journey called life.