A trusted, prevention-focused youth mental health organization serving San Diego schools and communities with a holistic, relationship-based support that helps individuals thrive emotionally, socially, and academically
Statistics have continuously raised the alarm about the state of mental health across the younger generation. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that one in three students has experienced poor mental health, while a staggering forty percent said they have felt persistent sadness and hopelessness.
Verenice Hernandez-Herrera witnessed those numbers negatively affecting the students she taught for more than twenty years as an educator and school counselor in the San Diego, California region. That experience pushed her to create WishWell, a San Diego organization whose work answers mental health needs like no other.
The Premise of the Journey
Across more than two decades, Verenice sat in the same classrooms, shared the same hallways, and counseled the same students struggling with their mental health. That vantage point taught her to read what she calls the “whole child,” along with its social and emotional needs. Above all, the founder of WishWell is a devoted mother of three teenage children, a journey that proved how much it truly takes to raise a child with confidence and resilience.
Yet as a mental health expert, she kept running into the same problem: therapy centers. The ones she found tended to look the same, grey walls, leather couches, and a clinical setting that, above everything, intimidates the very people it is designed to help. Her vision was different, distinct from the gloomy centers she had always known.
So she created WishWell, a counseling and empowerment center for kids built on a single premise: that a child should want to walk in. WishWell is vibrant by intention. Its coaching rooms feel less like waiting rooms than like spaces for dialogue, and an interactive area invites parents into the work instead of leaving them in the hallway. Colorful murals cover the walls, naming feelings out loud, from Calm to Grief to Joy, so that the hardest emotions to say become the easiest ones to point to.
“WishWell exists to remind young people that setbacks do not define them but growth does.”
Most of all, there is the language a young person reads before anyone asks them a single question. I am safe here. My feelings matter. I am enough. I am learning and growing. I can ask for help. None of it is decoration. It is the philosophy of the place, said out loud by a mother who knows how much encouragement matters to raise a stable, confident teenager.
Inside WishWell
WishWell answers a need that is not abstract. Verenice had watched too many students carry the weight of their mental health quietly, struggling with depression, anxiety, and isolation, stuck in what they believe is a hopeless, never-ending cycle.
WishWell was purposely designed to reach them before the crisis. To win this race, the approach is deliberately holistic and refuses to pull apart a young person’s mental health from their environment, relationships, and community. For Verenice and her team, a struggling teenager should never be treated as a problem to be isolated and fixed, but as a whole person shaped by everything around them.
Their work is divided into several areas, starting with one-on-one coaching. WishWell provides extensive individualized coaching for students, focusing on emotional regulation, resilience building, confidence development, and goal setting. By creating a safe, consistent space for young people to process challenges, strengthen coping skills, and build healthier patterns of thinking and behavior, WishWell gives them a handful of resources to help overcome their current and future challenges.
Beyond one-on-one support are school-based workshops and programs. By partnering with schools, the organisation delivers interactive workshops targeting mental health awareness, stress management, healthy relationships, communication skills, identity development, and conflict resolution. Designed to be engaging, practical, and relatable, they give students immediate tools they can apply in their daily lives.
WishWell has also extended to hosting and participating in community events, workshops, and outreach initiatives, including a district-wide partnership with the Sweetwater Union High School District. Collectively, these efforts create spaces to connect with families, educators, and community members, building a large network united to support youth wellbeing.
The Belief Behind the Vision
At the heart of WishWell is a singular belief: that mental health care should be as accessible and as normalized as education itself. No child thinks twice about being taught to read or to solve an equation, and that is precisely what Verenice Hernandez-Herrera believes mental health deserves. Beyond that belief, WishWell’s vision extends into schools and communities where emotional wellbeing is intentionally woven into everyday life instead of being treated as a separate, last-resort concern.
The school she imagines is one where mental health is understood as foundational, helping young people develop the relationships they need to thrive emotionally, socially, and personally.
An Influence that Uplifts
WishWell’s impact is considerable. More than 350 students have received one-on-one coaching, centered on personalized work on emotional wellness, confidence, and goal setting.
Its mission also extends across approximately thirty school sites, spreading into the San Diego Unified School District and the Chula Vista Elementary School District, with campuses in National City and as far as East County. WishWell’s expansion brings consistent support into the places where young people already gather, and it comes at a crucial time, when the need for mental health support is growing quickly across the region.
Yet the most meaningful impact does not sit within numbers and partnerships, but within lived experiences and tangible achievements. Without a doubt, WishWell’s outcome is one that uplifts young people.
“I am extremely excited to have such a positive and empowering place in our community. I love everything that they do and truly believe in their curriculum and philosophy.”
Katia, WishWell Parent
“I cannot express enough gratitude for the positive impact that Wishwell Therapy Center has had on my child’s life.”
Maria, WishWell Parent
This is what WishWell is all about, an organization whose gratitude is the kind of evidence no metric can truly capture. And the region understood it. WishWell received the 2026 Small Business of the Year Award for California’s 80th Congressional District in Sacramento, recognized alongside Assemblymember Alvarez. The City of San Diego went further and officially declared May 15th WishWell Day, honoring the center’s work with youth, families, and schools across the county. This spring the organization opened a new office in the Eastlake area of Chula Vista, with additional coaching rooms and a family area built to feel inviting, celebrated at a grand opening with County Supervisor Aguirre and Councilmember Inzunza.
Meeting the Need
These achievements did not land on their own. They were piloted by a relentless commitment to a vision that will continue to benefit many in the region. Nonetheless, WishWell, like many organizations in the mental health and youth development space, has been meeting the scale of the need with scarce resources. Demand for mental health support grows at an exponential pace, exceeding the budgets and hours available to answer it.
WishWell’s work asks for constant adaptation, creativity, and collaboration, embedded in a willingness to respond with sustainability and real depth across many school sites. For Verenice, this discipline is the daily condition of the work, and the steady practice that keeps its impact real.
An Invitation
WishWell’s energy is, by design, all about good vibes and positivity, spreading care and support through empowerment, guidance, and understanding. Its message to any young person is simple: we see you, we hear you, and you are not alone. The center is a safe space for anyone struggling with their mental health, and for anyone who just needs a little guidance on navigating life.Founder Verenice Hernandez-Herrera invites educators, families, and community members to join in reimagining what youth mental health support can look like, a vision rooted in compassion, early intervention, and consistent care. Together, the promise goes, no young person has to feel like they are navigating life alone.
Additional resources
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=wishwell+empowerment+center
Official website: www.wishwellcc.com
Instagram: @wishwellcounseling
Facebook: Wishwell Counseling Center
LinkedIn: wishwell-empowerment-center
More about WishWell’s programs and services is available at www.wishwellcc.com.
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