The Southborough Health Department has coordinated a speaker series for parents and guardians of children of all ages. Raising Resilient Kids: What To Do When You Don’t Know What to Do will be led by Castlebrook Counseling Executive Director Kerrie Toole, LICSW at Algonquin Regional High School auditorium from 7-8:30 p.m. Mark your calendars for the following topics:
- Thursday, January 5: Your Child’s Emotional Superpower Explained. Learn about the biological developmental stages your child’s emotion-processing centers go through during preadolescence and adolescence. Learn about the contributing factors to high emotional reactivity and what you can do right now to decrease the intensity. Parents are understandably confused by their kids’ responses to strong emotions, which can often become self-destructive or avoidant. Learn how the developing brain responds to stress, and the mechanisms that different “coping” behaviors have on overwhelming emotions and how they often become habitual. With this information, you will be able to approach your child when they are overwhelmed in ways their brains can absorb.
- Thursday January 12: No Such Thing as a Bad Feeling: Why our Best Intentions can Backfire and What to do Differently. It’s painful to watch your child struggle with intense emotions – what can you do to help them? Learn why your efforts to help can often backfire, and what to do differently. You see that your child is suffering, but when you try to help, things only get more explosive. You’re walking on eggshells, afraid that anything you say or do will only cause your kid to melt down again. Learn how what you’re saying is being heard in unintended ways, and what to say and do differently to teach your child better ways to cope with their emotions
- Thursday, January 19: The Magical Skill of Validation: The #1 Technique Every Parent Needs to Know. Learn specific skills and strategies to implement when your child is experiencing strong emotions. This is a guide for what to say and what not to say. The technique of validation is a game changer to families! It is the most powerful tool we have to de-escalate intense emotions (theirs AND yours!) to make more effective decisions about how to cope.
Parents can attend all three sessions or the ones of most interest to them.