About Us
About Us
Neckup Checkup is a mental wellness organization supporting prevention, recovery, and health maintenance. We offer a wide range of services to help you maintain wellness in your life and/or the lives of your loved ones. Our innovative health-building processes ensure that a person can access the type of health they deserve by removing avoidable barriers. At Neckup Checkup we meet our community where they are. Health disparities make it difficult for some members of our community to access, maintain and sometimes even know services are available. We are available in schools, homes, and workplaces as well as virtually. With health disparities posing a risk to minorities, LGBTQ, and youth it is imperative that health services transcend the limitations of health disparities. Starting with annual NUCUs, tracking mental health progress allows for conscious health-related decisions.
Mental health is not simply the presence of illness, it is the ability to secure and maintain health: physically, mentally, and emotionally.
Our Story
We were founded in 2016 by two mothers trying to figure out how to monitor their kids mental health. They were both accustomed to scheduling annual wellness visits for their combined 8 children and were doing their best to stay on top of nutrition, sleep and physical activities to help keep the kids healthy. Founder Joronda Montaño had just had a new infant and noticed that the pre-visit questionnaire was different for the baby than her toddler and elementary kids. Questions that seemed to ask about happiness and engagement were replaced with stepping on the scale and blood pressure cuffs. The kids were doing well physically but who was going to keep track of their minds and emotions? When she realized there was no such process before the crisis stage she began looking into realistic solutions. Katrina Ontiveros already had teenage kids at that time. She was concerned about what she was seeing among teens during and afterschool. Katrina was an events coordinator for exchange students from all over the world. She saw mental health concerns from teens from just about every continent. Joronda felt the need was too important to be ignored shared her idea to change the way parents monitor their kids mental health. It was that critical meeting that forged the co-founding of Neckup Checkup
Once the pair started diving into the problem what they discovered was frightening. 50% of mental illness shows up by age 14 but is not diagnosed for 10 years. In fact, one out of five kids has a mental illness (National Institute of Mental Health). In the first few years of development they found more reason to monitor kids mental health regularly. ER visits were no longer about physical bumps and bruises. The majority of kids (78%) showing up in the emergency room was for mental health issues. They became more passionate about promoting mental wellness for their own children and thought every family should have access to mental health checkups.
Checkups can be a first step and healthy living is available in other stages. Prevention, recovery and maintenance make up the other core focuses for the organization. Joronda and Katrina believe it is essential to invest in your health in order to enjoy a life full of joy, gratitude and satisfaction. It's this belief that guides our approach. We are a trauma informed organization providing prevention, recovery and maintenance service for mental wellness. Curious to find out more? Get in touch with one of our team members today.
Meet The Team
Our Advisory Board
Our Board is comprised of some of the most dedicated, inspirational protectors of mental and health. Every team should have an advisory team like this.
Our Services
We know that access to health and healthcare is a challenge for some communities. and health disparities increase their burden of disease. Only 15% of youth receive mental health services and when they are from minority families, identify as LGBTQ or are being raised by grandparents and family members the rate is even lower. So the important thing about our services is we meet you where you are. At school, home, work, or if you are on the go, Neckup Checkup is available face-to-face or virtually (online or by phone). There is a wellness service for youth, parents, and professionals working with youth and families. Prevention and education are meant to keep everyone in the mindset of stopping an issue before it occurs or becomes too difficult to manage. Personal Wellness Development services begin with our assessment and signature NUCU (Neckup Checkup) to identify where to begin in the wellness circle. Participants have access to wellness planning and support through day programming focused on client needs. Well, visits with Peer Support are offered for individual support because we care and we are on your team to help you reach your goals.
Our Programs Recent Impact
