This one-hour workshop will provide psychoeducation on the causes of anxiety, addressing the very real fears today’s teens are facing and the ways those fears can begin to grow out of control. We will take into account environmental concerns such as global warming, school shootings, radicalizing politics, and academic pressures, as well as the impact of intergenerational trauma. Participants will be given opportunities to share strategies for managing anxiety that have worked for them, as well as the barriers they find when trying to live the life they choose alongside their anxiety. This workshop can be delivered virtually or in-person.
Supporting Jewish Teens Navigating Antisemitism
A Workshop for Parents and/or Professionals
This 1.5 hour interactive workshop addresses working with teens who are experiencing or recognizing antisemitism in their lives. It can be adapted for professionals working with teens or for parents and caregivers of teens. The goal of this workshop is to support adults to recognize their own feelings and reactions to antisemitic incidents, to cultivate space between their experience and that of the teens in their lives, and to identify useful strategies and perspectives in responding to these incidents with their teens. Before the workshop, participants will send the facilitator examples of antisemitic incidents that have been impactful. This workshop can be led virtually or in person for up to 20 participants.
Navigating Child Anxiety as a Parent/Guardian
Do you have a child aged 6 to 17 who experiences frequent or ongoing anxiety? This six-week group offers tools and strategies for parents as they support their children through anxiety.
The program’s approach is informed by the treatment model, Supportive Parenting for Anxious Childhood Emotions (SPACE), and aims to strengthen strategies and community around parenting anxious children.
SPACE is a parent-based model for addressing youth anxiety developed by Dr. Eli Lebowitz at the Yale Child Study Center. The model follows a structured path to increase parental support and to decrease parental accommodations for the child’s anxiety.
In this six-week group, we will introduce the central concepts of SPACE to parents, including what we mean by “accommodations for anxiety,” and how to creatively implement personal boundaries, share reassuring statement, and recruiting and engaging supportive people. The goal is to build connections between parents of anxious children, share tools and resources for navigating the impact of anxiety on families, and support your children’s resiliency.
The group will be guided by Shaida Hossein (she/her), OTD, Director of Counseling and Mental Health Education and Rebecca Coates-Finke (she/her), LMHCA, P-RDT, Teen and Young Adult Mental Health Counselor.
The Anxiety Toolkit for Staff Supporting Students (Virtual)
For many students, the turmoil and unpredictability of the past couple of years and the change of going back into the classroom have magnified their anxiety. Although 65% of students say they prefer in-person learning, school comes with stressors as well as benefits. In this workshop for staff supporting students, you will be able to:
- Recognize anxiety and how it presents in elementary-aged and/or middle-school students
- Identify if a student needs help with anxiety
- Gain strategies and resources to support students who feel anxious
- Design activities specifically to destigmatize and lower anxiety levels
Treat Yourself Like Your Own Best Friend (Virtual)
When you feel overwhelmed, your first instinct may be to first remove things that help your emotional, mental, and physical wellbeing to focus on responsibilities, but recognizing this is when we need self-care even more as an act of survival. Introducing, maintaining and building self-care into your daily life can get us through difficult times; we can go from surviving to thriving.
Right now, we are adjusting to a new phase of pandemic life, and it is critical to be thinking holistically about our wellness. In this one-hour, interactive workshop, you will have the opportunity to explore why self-care is important, recognize ways to care for yourself, and practice building a resiliency mindset. You deserve self-care, and we all can benefit with finding tiny ways to be kinder to ourselves.
Youth Mental Health First Aid (Virtual)
This free, virtual training (4.5 hours) gives attendees the skills to provide initial support to adolescents (ages 12-18) who may be developing mental health or substance challenges, or who are in crisis. Participants will have the opportunity to decrease stigma around mental illness and substance use, increase mental health literacy when working with young people, and serve as a vital link between youth and appropriate professional help.
Mental Health First Aid (Virtual)
This free, virtual training (5.5 hours) teaches attendees about mental health issues, how to identify a person who may be in crisis, and how to start a conversation with a someone who may be experiencing a mental health challenge. This interactive course focuses on increasing participants’ confidence levels to help individuals in distress. It also prepares participants to identify multiple types of professional and self-help resources.
Intro to Youth Mental Health Workshop (Virtual)
This two-hour workshop is intended for high school students and adults who support them. Participants will learn about mental health issues affecting teens and young adults, how to link students to mental health support as well as crisis and non-crisis resources. Participants will also learn about self-care, and how to further improve their mental health knowledge.
Suicide Alertness for Everyone (safeTALK)
In this training, participants will learn the TALK steps (Tell, Ask, Listen, and KeepSafe) to prevent suicide by recognizing signs, engaging someone, and connecting them to an intervention resource for further support.
This four-hour course is open to anyone 15 years or older.
National Website: safeTALK
Talk Saves Lives (Virtual)
This introductory training teaches the warning signs and risk factors for suicide and how we can help prevent this leading cause of death. Participants will learn national and state suicide statistics, the causes of and risk factors for suicide, information about effective prevention, how to offer help and identify people at risk.
Open to all ages.
National Website: Talk Saves Lives
