Evanston Township High School District 202 issued the following announcement on Oct. 2.
“When the World Feels Like a Scary Place: Essential Conversations for Anxious Parents and Worried Kids,” a conversation between Abigail Gewirtz, Ph.D. and Renee Dominguez, Ph.D., will be on Thursday, October 8, beginning at 7:00pm via Zoom. The event is free and open to the public, suitable for ages 12 and up. Registration is required.
In a complicated world, big issues make both parents and children anxious—from disturbingly routine active shooter drills at school, to distressing news about climate change, COVID-19, social justice issues, and violence. It’s all too easy for parents to feel at a loss for how to equip their child to deal with it all in a healthy way. In When the World Feels Like a Scary Place: Essential Conversations for Anxious Parents & Worried Kids, Abigail Gewirtz, Ph.D., an award-winning child psychologist and leading expert on families under stress, offers parents a clear and practical guide to discussing these sensitive topics in a calm, reassuring, and productive way that will help kids comprehend and process the world around them.
Dr. Gewirtz sets the stage by giving parents tools to understand their own feelings before turning to their children’s. Here she explains how world events can affect parenting, why a parent’s background and personal experience affect their responses to stress, and how a parent’s anxiety transmits to their children. This is followed by a series of real-world essential conversations, actual dialogue scripts, talking points, prompts, and insightful asides. Each is tailored for different ages from three to eighteen, and guides parents towards a constructive conversation without sparking anxiety in their children.
Dr. Gewirtz is the director of the Institute for Translational Research in Children’s Mental Health at the University of Minnesota. Her career has been devoted to developing and testing award-winning, skills-based parenting programs to promote children’s resilience. Dr. Gewirtz has consulted for and presented to national and international organizations, including the U.S. Congress and UNICEF.
Dr. Gewirtz will be interviewed by clinical psychologist Renee Dominguez, Ph.D., executive director of Family Service Center, a local not-for-profit community mental health agency that provides counseling, crisis response, outreach, and education to the Wilmette, Glenview, Northbrook and Kenilworth communities. She previously served as the clinical director of the Chicago Child Trauma Center at La Rabida Children’s Hospital where she spent over a decade working with traumatized children and their families on the South Side of Chicago.
The October 8 webinar is sponsored by Family Action Network (FAN), in partnership with Evanston Township High School D202, Baker Demonstration School, Bennett Day School, Catherine Cook School, Chiaravalle Montessori School, Compass Health Center, Family Institute at Northwestern University, Family Service Center, Family Service of Glencoe, Foundation 65, Fusion Academy, Glencoe D35, Haven Youth and Family Services, Kenilworth D38, Lake Bluff D65, Lake Forest Country Day School, Latin School of Chicago, Loyola Academy, Mindful Psychology Associates PC, Near North Montessori School, New Trier High School D203, New Trier Parents’ Association, North Shore Country Day School, Pope John XXIII School, Porter-Gaud Parent Association, Regina Dominican College Preparatory High School, Rogers Park Montessori School, Roycemore School, Northwestern University School of Education and Social Policy, Science and Arts Academy, St. Athanasius School PTO, Stevenson High School D125, The Alliance for Early Childhood, VillageMD, Winnetka D36, Wintrust Bank, Wolcott College Prep, and Woodlands Academy of the Sacred Heart.
The event will be recorded and available later on FAN’s website and YouTube channel. A bonus after-hours event is also available to webinar attendees. For more information, visit www.familyactionnetwork.net.
Original source can be found here.
Source: Evanston Township High School District 202
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