Today, girls around the world are feeling overwhelmed, anxious and stuck as they navigate through their teen years. These feelings are only worsened with the COVID-19 pandemic, the recent election, an absurd amount of school work and so much more. These external factors heighten current feelings of anxiety and depression. The Colorado Wellness Center for Girls (CWCG) is here to help by offering a “highly effective wellness-based program that helps girls improve their total well-being.”
Around 10% of the global population suffers from mental illness, and nearly 20% of children are impacted by a mental disorder. With these numbers, CWCG believes that mental health has reached an epidemic level, and that “we all know and love someone who is struggling.”
The CWCG provides a unique approach to mental health care by offering interventions based on the six domains of wellness. This includes the nutritional, physical, educational, psychological, relational and emotional aspects of health and wellness. CWCG’s vision is to “provide an innovative and impactful model of care that fills a much-needed gap in the sector of adolescent wellness-based care.”
The program specifically targets women ages 12-21 who are experiencing depression, anxiety and the overall daily struggles of being a female in society. The program lasts four months and goes from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., Mondays through Fridays.
They offer a variety of wellness-based mental health services, such as yoga and meditation, academic support, coaching, physical fitness, nutrition help and individual and group therapy sessions. These practices are available daily as a consistent four-month program, individualized sessions or an after-school program.
The founder and executive director of the program, Andrea Philleo, is a licensed social worker. CWCG enrolled the first girl in Dec. of 2013, and the organization has grown dramatically since then. Philleo’s main goal with starting CWCG was to provide a space for girls who need time to feel relief, regroup and restore themselves.
With Philleo’s extensive education and research, she has formed the best and most effective wellness-based practices that focus on overall health and mental wellbeing. Philleo believes that adolescent girls need support outside of traditional mental health therapy. Philleo acknowledges the internal feelings young women may be feeling that are not noticeable to the public, like nervousness, increased heart rate, a sense of panic, hopelessness and long-lasting sadness.
CWCG offers a variety of resources, additional services and free consultations on their website. CWCG incorporates the six pillars of wellness to help girls feel good from the inside out.
