About

Introducing the Health & Wellness Center

The Health & Wellness Center at the Boys & Girls Club of Palm Springs is a welcoming place where students can enjoy activities and educational programs on topics such as making healthy choices, how cannabis use affects the growing mind/body, and more. They can also take part in fun youth-led projects to develop leadership skills, learn how to create healthy foods and snacks in the Center’s demonstration kitchen or sit in the quiet reading nook checking out materials in the resource library.

Fulfilling a Need

In January 2021, the City of Palm Springs – serving as lead agency along with the Boys and Girls Club of Palm Springs – secured a California Board of State and Community Corrections Cohort 2 Proposition Health and Safety Grant Award which provided funding for the Center. One of the primary goals of the Center is to house a Cannabis Education Center (CEC) within this wellness facility to address adolescent cannabis use and its effects on young brains and growing bodies. When it comes to the discussion of drugs, some people may think cannabis is mild and not as dangerous as other drugs. However, when it comes to the younger brain, early cannabis use points to severe cognitive consequences.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the teen brain is actively developing and continues to develop until around age 25. Cannabis use during adolescence and young adulthood has the potential harm the developing brain.