------Funding provided by the Ministry of Education through the PRO Grants

 

Father John Redmond CSAC
Speaker Series for Parents

Presenting:

Avrum Nadigel, MSW, RSW, B.Comm

Adolescent/Family Therapist and Consultant

as our Guest Speaker 

 

¯  Parents from the Father John Redmond School Community and from our neighbouring schools are invited to attend

 

¯  Avrum Nadigel will speak on "The Gift of the Adolescent Symptom: How teenage acting out heals families". He will describe how families can adapt and grow in response to issues with their teenagers and be a better family as a result

¯  Avrum Nadigel has been an adolescent and family therapist for over 15 years in Montreal, Vancouver and Toronto. He has extensive experience working with youth in a mental health setting, with a specialty in Mood Disorders and Addictions

¯  The goal of the Father John Redmond Speaker Series is to support and strengthen parenting efforts in our community

 

¯  Join us, meet other parents and give your parenting skills a lift

¯  Light refreshments will be served from 6:30
       

 

Date: Time:
Place:

 

Tuesday October 6, 2009
7 pm

Father John Redmond
Secondary School and
Regional Arts Centre

28 Colonel Samuel Smith Park Drive
Etobicoke, Ontario  M8V 4B7

 

 

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John Westland

Sick Kids Substance Abuse Program

 

¯  Parents from the Father John Redmond School Community and from our neighbouring schools are invited to attend

 

¯  Our speaker is a representative from the Substance Abuse Program at Sick Kids

¯  Mr Westland will talk to us about the warning signs of Substance Abuse parents should be aware of, what to do if we have concerns and how to keep the lines of communication open with our children to deal with any possible issues.

¯   The goal of the Father John Redmond Speaker Series is to support and strengthen parenting efforts in our community

 

¯  Join us, meet other parents and give your parenting skills a lift

¯  Light refreshments will be served from 6:30
       

 

Date: Time:
Place:

 

Tuesday May 12, 2009
7 pm

Father John Redmond
Secondary School and
Regional Arts Centre

28 Colonel Samuel Smith Park Drive
Etobicoke, Ontario  M8V 4B7

 

 

 

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Father John Redmond CSAC
Speaker Series for Parents

Presenting:

Dr. Tatyana Barankin

as our Guest Speaker 
 

¯  We invite parents from the Father John Redmond School Community and from our neighbouring schools to attend

 

¯  Dr. Tatyana Barankin will speak on 'Nurturing resilience in children and youthÕ. Resilience is defined as ÒThe ability to recover quickly from illness, change, or misfortune; buoyancyÓ

 

¯  As parents we want the best outcomes for our children. We need to now how to foster and nurture resiliency in our children so they can deal effectively with the problems, pressures and issues they will face in their life

 

¯  The goal of the Father John Redmond Speaker Series is to celebrate and strengthen parenting efforts in our community

 

¯  Join us and give your parenting skills a lift

 

Date: Time:
Place:

 

Tuesday October 7, 2008
7 pm

Father John Redmond
Secondary School and
Regional Arts Centre

28 Colonel Samuel Smith Park Drive
Etobicoke, Ontario  M8V 4B7

 

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Notes From the Presentation:

 

 

"Nurturing resilience in children and youth"

 

Objectives:

o   Improve knowledge of resilience and risk reduction

o   Strategies for coping with stress

 

á   Resilience comes from different factors – person, family, school etc

á   Stress does not affect everyone the same

á   Role of parent is to buffer/protect

á   The capacity to effectively resolve problems leading to mastering and positive self-esteem

á   Parents need to be supportive

á   Resilience is the ability to recover from adversity and grow from the experience moving forward

á   Teach your teenagers to be reflective of errors and how to avoid them in the future

 

Risk Factors

á   Divorce, illness, death of parents, being bullied, unpopular with peers

 

Protective Factors

á   It is dynamic – the individual, family environment shapes teen

á   Goal is harmony in the childÕs life

á   Moral and cognitive development

á   Physical and emotional development

á   You want your child to develop a sense of remorse and other emotions

á   Children must be nurtured like a plant

 

Individual Factors

á   Their temperament

á   Learning their strengths – helps with positive self-esteem

á   Their feelings and emotions – some teens are easily frightened – differences in modulation their emotions

á   Each child is unique

á   Their adaptive skills

á   Social Skills

á   Their physical health – chronic conditions impact – they may become frightened and anxious. Life threatening allergies can cause anxiety. The emotional aspects of their physical health may affect their ability to deal successfully with life

 

Resiliency Building Tips

Temperment

á   Be aware of and recognize the differences in your childrenÕs temperament

á   Provide cooling off time for teen – the amount depends on their individual needs

á   Gradually and sensitively expose shy children to social groups and encourage them to nurture friendships

 

Feelings and Emotions

á   Encourage teens to express their feelings

á   Parents need to respond with respect to teens emotions

á   Foster empathy

á   Coping with sadness/anxiety, anger/conflict by modeling the skills needed

á   Communication very important

Cognition

á   Counter negative thoughts with positive ones

á   Encourage reality grounded optimism

á   Recommended reading ÒThe Optimistic Child: A Proven Program to Safeguard Children Against Depression and Build Lifelong ResilienceÓ by Martin EP Seligman

á   Resilience is part of optimism – glass half full or half empty?

á   Self-discipline – they have to internalize controls – they have to know what to do themselves, not just get told what to do and follow instructions

 

Social Skills

á   Parents must model social skills through appropriate language and behaviour to challenges in their lives

á   Encourage children to understand the impact of their behaviour on others and themselves

 

Family Factors

á   Bonding within family unit

á   Communication

á   Family structure

á   Parent relations and style –

o   Authoritarian – do because I say so

o   Authoritative – I am in charge but lets discuss          

á   Parents health issues and how it is handled within the family

á   Competence and resilience can vary in different areas of their life – strengths and weaknesses

á   Communication skills – listen to your child when they talk about their life/day – pick up clues

 

Protective Family Factors

á   Secure attachment

á   Supportive extended Family

á   Warmth and affection

á   Open communication

á   These help the teen deal with future stress and problems

 

Increased Risk Factors

á   Divorce, family break-up

á   Over critical and controlling

á   Lack of structure within family unit

á   Harsh discipline

 

Social Conditions

á   Socio-economic situation

á   Media influences

á   Access to education and healthcare

 

Resilience is an active dynamic mindset

Process of change and dealing with life when being resilient

1. Pre-contemplate

2. Contemplation and preparation

3. Action

4. Rewards/maintenance

 

Be positive.

 

 

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