Janel Falcon

My journey into mental health began with my family history. Growing up, I watched family members on both my mom's and dad's side experience difficult situations including single-parent households and domestic violence. Both of my parents broke those cycles, and my brother and I were fortunate not to experience what they went through. I always attributed that to their resilience, and I realized I really wanted to help kids like what my mom and dad went through. When I was getting ready to graduate high school, I talked to my counselor about this, and she told me it sounded like social work. I didn't even really know what social work was at the time. I went to junior college, then Cal State Fullerton, and then USC. At each school, professors inspired me and guided me on the next steps. I had anticipated stopping at my bachelor's degree, but once I really got into the field, I understood that I really needed my master's degree to make a difference and needed to become licensed. All of my jobs have been at nonprofit agencies working with children, teens, and adolescents. Over time, I started to get into crisis work, and I realized that was kind of my thing. I really like the fast pace of it. I've been with my current nonprofit for 12 years, starting as a licensed clinician in the crisis intervention program and eventually becoming the supervisor and then director. My program is a 24-7 mental health crisis program focused on at-risk children and adolescents who have experienced crises like self-harm, suicidal ideation, homicidal ideation, or child abuse. We provide rapid stabilization, crisis intervention, safety planning, and coping skills to prevent out-of-home placement and keep the family unit intact.