events High 5-A-Thon at Dana Hills High to support mental health awareness

Laguna Niguel News - Aliso Viejo News - 4/20/2017

The High 5-A-Thon promoting mental health awareness rolls into Dana Hills High School on Saturday.

From 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., the Extraordinary Lives Foundation will encourage residents to walk around the Dana Hills track and give each other high-fives in advance of National Mental Health Awareness Month in May.

Mara James, the event's organizer, hopes eventgoers will become more comfortable with discussing mental health challenges.

"If you don't deal with them when they're small, they can escalate into something big," she said.

James, who received a bipolar diagnosis in 2014, said she was inspired to start the Extraordinary Lives Foundation to support mental health for young people.

"The sooner we can work with students," she said, "the sooner we can help them heal before things spiral out of control."

Tickets for adults are $20. Teens age 18 and under pay $10, while kids under age 5 enter free.

Information: el.foundation