By Mary O’KEEFE

A summer speaker series begins on Tuesday, June 25 sponsored by the Crescenta Valley Substance Misuse Prevention Coalition, aka CV Cares.

“CV Cares is a project of The Impact Foundation LA (IFLA), which was created and given the status of a 501(c)(3) non-profit and 509(a)(2) public charity back in 2021 to provide local professional resources for anyone struggling here in the Crescenta Valley,” said Victoria Malone, executive director IFLA and program director for CV Cares.

The goal of the speaker series is to highlight important topics like drug misuse and mental health. The series will bring specialists in these fields who will speak on mindfulness, mental health, fentanyl use and neurology.

The speaker series is also a way to introduce CV Cares to the community. CV Cares/Coalition was awarded a grant by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that confirms its status as a drug free community program.

“We want to [help support] the Professional Resource Services IFLA began with,” Malone said. “The IFLA created a Resource Partners Catalog of Professional Services [with professionals] from psychiatry, psychotherapy, hypnotherapy. [It also] includes well-being service partners [in fields] such as yoga, acupuncture, nutrition and so much more. We know that without a sense of positive and healthy lifestyles and practices [people] can easily find themselves feeling anxious [and] depressed and begin to isolate themselves or worse: self-medicate with substances.”

Tuesday’s speaker will be Carmela Tunzi, founder and owner of Mind Flow Hypnosis and Sherman Oaks Hypnosis.

There is a misconception with some people regarding hypnotism. Movies often portray hypnotized people on a stage clucking like chickens or doing strange things after being put under; however, Tunzi said, that is not reality.

“We address the mindset. I am teaching how to change [people’s] perception through visual exercise,” she said.

She shared an example of how “mindset” can work.

“Somebody wakes up in the morning with the belief they are not good enough or are not feeling they will be heard,” she said.

Tunzi added this is a negative mindset the person has developed through self-meditation.

“With the [hypnosis] exercises I am able to help people shift their self belief and increase their confidence,” she said.

It is teaching people to self motivate.

“We are actually self hypnotizing ourselves all the time,” she said.

Examples include athletes who do this when they are on the field or on the court. A basketball player who is heading for the hoop doesn’t think about missing the basket but instead focuses on scoring.

One of the issues she finds with teens and young adults is fear of the future. Some have anxiety as they approach college or graduation. In many instances Tunzi can teach someone to focus on the positive to overcome the negative.

The first in the CV Cares speaker series will be at the La Crescenta Library, 2809 Foothill Blvd. in the community room. The free presentation is from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. Seating is limited.