Challenging and Timely Issues

Supporting Parents During Stressful and Uncertain Times

When parents are under stress or burdened by worry and uncertainty, it affects every aspect of their lives. Many child and family professionals are challenged to nurture and respond to families under stress. This training helps professionals identify and understand the stressors facing the families with whom they work and provides tools and strategies for helping parents manage during these times. Additionally, the training focuses on ways professionals can get the support and care they need in order to do their jobs effectively. (6 hours)

Working with Teen Parents

Being a parent is a difficult job for every adult, but teen parents face even greater challenges as they continue to grow up with their children. Participants in this workshop will learn the typical cognitive and social developmental trajectory for adolescents and then discuss how this process is made even more complicated when a teen becomes a parent. Participants will also learn strategies to overcome these challenges when working with teen parents and review relevant web and book resources to share with teen parents. (3 hours)

Bullies, Targets, and Bystanders

Bullying is a common experience in schools and communities. Professionals are frequently concerned that children will be or are being bullied by other children, or may be bullying others themselves. Certainly all children are witness to some form of bullying during childhood. Children’s experiences place them in this bystander role more frequently than in the role of either bully or victim. This training focuses on what professionals can do to identify warning signs of bullying and what they can do to keep children from becoming (or help them overcome being) either a bully or a target of bullying. Developing specific social and emotional skills in children helps them to build and project a strong self-image and avoid getting caught in the cycle of bullying and victimization. The training help professionals create a climate that helps prevent bullying as well as teach children how to intervene appropriately as a bystander. (6 hours)