The mission of The UCLA Family Commons is to inspire families and communities to discover their unique potential for well-being. We offer a welcoming environment filled with classes, events, coaching and excitement about creating healthy, engaged lives.

We envision a world where all possess the tools they need to move through the world with confidence and innovation—for life. Healthier families make stronger communities, and healthier communities make stronger families. When children and parents take charge of their own well-being, they build both.

Joanne Williams

Home: Santa Monica (5 blocks from The UCLA Family Commons)
Younger generation: 2 nephews – Matthew, 21, and Michael, 23; 2 Ugandan “nephews” – Ivan, 18, and Herbert, 16.
Little known fact: Lived on a sailboat in Redondo Beach for 3 years
Unhealthy habit she’s at peace with: Crispy french fries and Diet Coke – especially from The Apple Pan at W. Pico & Westwood

For Joanne Williams, wellness is about waking up every morning enthusiastic and looking forward to what the day holds. It’s about energy – the energy to be active, to do well at work, to interact with all kinds of people. And it’s a sense of comfort with herself – mentally, physically and emotionally – that gives her confidence she can meet whatever challenges may come her way.

Connections are important to Joanne. Her friends provide a wonderful support network, and she’s very close to her brother and two nephews who live in Florida. She never felt the call to be a mother, but bonds easily with children. “They’re so vibrant, and they’re changing all the time,” she says. “They teach you to let go of whatever your perceptions are of how things should be done.” Joanne sees that being young is scary at times, and she gets a lot of satisfaction from helping the children in her life find their way.

She still glows when speaking of the young people she met in Uganda, where she traveled recently as part of The UCLA Family Commons’ Global Buddies program. “Throwing my arms around any of those kids was a pleasure,” Joanne recalls. As testimony to the impression these youth made on her, she is contributing toward school fees for two boys who otherwise wouldn’t be able to complete high school. Adding Ivan and Herbert to the web of connections that enrich her life seemed only natural, and Joanne delights in hearing from both by email.

Joanne attributes much of her wellness to the luck of good genes. Her friends tell her she has way more energy than they do, and many are 15 or 20 years younger. But she does a lot to help those genes along. Joanne was never an athlete growing up – she jokes that if the softball team chose her, they’d have to use her as a base. However, she discovered golf 15 years ago and now gets in 18 holes almost every weekend. She also works out 3 or 4 times a week, either with a trainer or on her own. Combine that with watching what she eats, surrounding herself with positive people, and seeing a health practitioner who blends Western medicine with homeopathy and other traditions, and you have a recipe for lifelong well-being.