Individual Wellness is our Commitment .
Dr. Carlos Fernandez
BOARD-CERTIFIED ADULT, CHILD AND ADOLESCENT PSYCHIATRIST
Dr. Fernandez is a dual board-certified Psychiatrist who effectively has been treating patients with a wide range of psychiatric conditions, including schizophrenia, major depressive disorder, bipolar disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, and anxiety. He has experience working in TeleHealth, outpatient, inpatient, emergency room, consult-liaison, government and correctional locations throughout California including county, community, and private settings. His holistic approach to care focuses on treating patients in a compassionate and culturally sensitive manner, through psychopharmacology interventions, and dynamic therapeutic interventions.
Our Mission
Pacific Gardens Behavioral was founded to help address the limited access to mental health care services to Healthcare professionals, First Responders and Law Enforcement officers in the correctional community. Quality behavioral care and emotional wellbeing is provided by mental health professionals that work alongside these professionals.
Pacific Gardens Behavioral, is unique as it is individual driven. In today’s fast paced life, individuals might not have the opportunity to visit with a mental health professional every week or every two weeks. We work at Pacific Gardens Behavioral with each person to meet their life obligation challenges, and schedule visits based on a person’s availability and life considerations. Only scheduling visits that are needed or requested.
Our History
During Dr. Fernandez’s clinical experiences in multiple healthcare and correctional settings, it became apparent that there is a large number of healthcare professionals, first responders and correctional officers across the United States who are unable to access personalized care from a behavioral health professional that works in the SAME environment and understands their unique challenges.
I have worked my entire professional career in the healthcare and correctional community. I have developed a deep understanding of their unique employment and personal stressors. Through the development of my personal relationships and stories from healthcare workers, first responders and law enforcement officers, I’ve come to understand the daily challenges they face, ranging from PTSD, depression, relationship challenges, anxiety, and suicide.
I have seen firsthand the frustration these professionals face, when they are unable to connect with a mental health professional that they can’t relate to and understand their perspectives.
- Dr. Fernandez
-Pacific Gardens Behavioral is a comprehensive private tele-behavioral health practice, that focuses on providing tailored mental health for individuals.-
Current research demonstrates
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Healthcare Professionals
“The COVID-19 pandemic has introduced additional elements of fatigue, strain, stress, loss, and grief for healthcare workers. Many healthcare workers experienced increased workload in the face of short staffing and shortages in critical personal protective equipment.”
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Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
“The Center for Mindfulness in Corrections states, “COs often compare starting their shift to entering a combat zone; making it quite common for them to shift into hyper-vigilance. With this state of hyper-arousal, the body is flooded with adrenaline, noradrenaline and cortisol - a primary cause of chronic stress related health risks.”
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Suicide
“Jail officers are particularly vulnerable to suicide, burnout, depression, chronic physical health issues, and premature mortality. “
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Depression
“Depression among correctional officers is extremely prevalent at 31% as compared with an estimated 9% for general population of other workers.“
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Mental health problems and burnout among healthcare workers
“The report, published in July by The Society of Occupational Medicine (SOM) and funded by the RCN Foundation, has shown that even before the pandemic, challenging working conditions led to widespread mental health problems for nurses and midwives, who are already at greater risk of stress and burnout than those in most other jobs.”
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Anxiety
“One of the primary causes of stress for correctional officers comes from working in overcrowded and understaffed prisons. Such conditions often require officers to work mandatory overtime and inconsistent rotating shifts. Moreover, perceived and actual threats of physical violence are a daily occurrence for officers.
To compound matters, ongoing and ever-changing administrative demands result in tension with coworkers and / or supervisors that contribute a surprising amount of stress.”
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Personal health
“…Being in a constant state of hypervigilance, a switch that they cannot simply turn off when they go home for the day. The high blood pressure from the “constant state of fight or flight,” in the words of the co-founder of the American Correctional Officer Intelligence Network, leads to heart attacks, ulcers, and reduced life expectancy.”
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Mental Health Issues Affecting First Responders
“First-responders are more likely to self-medicate than the rest of the population. They’re consistently faced with high-stress situations, and it is their job to remain calm, compassionate, and productive, even in the midst of the most challenging and heart-wrenching situations.”
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Family Life
“For most officers, workplace demands extend beyond their job roles to include a lack of career advancement, inadequate pay, demanding hours, shift work, interacting with a challenging offender population on a regular basis, and ongoing exposure to the potential for danger. The combination of these stressors has deleterious effects that can spill over or manifest as poor job performance, low job satisfaction, and even elevated risks of social or family issues including divorce, mental health problems, and physical illness.”
Our commitment to mental health advocacy
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I am an independent Custody Health Advocate working to foster emotional and mental well-being with members of the correctional community.
I don’t work for any insurance company, “I work for you”.
I don’t work for any third party medical group, “I work for you”.
I work with you, and only you to develop a collaborative approach towards your exclusive mental health goals.
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Discreet
Professional
Individualized
Comprehensive
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Access to behavioral care with a professional that is aware of employment stressors, work environment, and challenges Healthcare workers, First Responders and Law Enforcement Officers face daily.
Access to various tools to evaluate, diagnose, and treat personal challenges.
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Engaging with individuals in a convenient and respectful manner from the privacy and comfort of their preferred location.
Access a board-certified psychiatrist on demand.
Work on developing more fulfilling relationships and the freedom to go about your daily life without the burden of overwhelming emotional distress.
Dr. Fernandez is a dedicated, dual board - certified Psychiatrist that specializes in providing behavioral health care to healthcare workers, first responder professionals and law enforcement.
After learning about the challenges that healthcare workers, first responders and law enforcement face working in their unique work environments and the limited awareness of mental health professionals in employment assistance programs have pertaining to their job specific stressors, Dr. Fernandez created Pacific Gardens Behavioral to help meet their needs. Dr. Fernandez has worked in the healthcare setting and the custody setting for several years and understands firsthand the needs of those front like health workers and law enforcement in and out of the work setting and the impact each job can have on an individual’s life outside of the professional setting (. i.e. strain on personal relationships, etc).