PARENT/
GUARDIAN TRAINING WORKSHOPS
The Genesis CDC Parent/Guardian Training Workshops offer educational opportunities for parents and guardians to learn about child development and well-being. The workshops provide valuable insights and skills in child rearing, communication, behavior management, and other relevant topics. Led by experienced trainers, these interactive sessions aim to equip participants with the tools and resources to support their children and promote positive family dynamics.
Explore Our Different Workshops
Anxiety and depression among children, teens, transitional-age youth (18-24), and adults are at an all-time high. If left untreated, these mental health outcomes can often lead to suicide, substance abuse, and serious mental health issues.
With the age of social media, online bullying, unrealistic comparisons to others, and FOMO, our society is at an all time risk of losing several generations. As children get older and become adolescents (the toughest developmental stage in a person’s life!), the need for independence, testing boundaries, and taking risks is exacerbated.
Additionally, this is also the time when communication usually breaks down between youth and parents/guardians. As parents begin to lose control over their children’s choices, the natural tendency is to lock down tighter.
This workshop will provide opportunities to talk about symptoms, interventions, resources and support groups to help families dealing with these types of issues.
The goal of this workshop is to identify our unique ways of coping with difficult life experiences while learning to explore new, helpful ways to identify and manage our feelings.
Attendees will be taught how to identify and name their feelings/emotions and how the body and mind respond to stress.
We will discuss how negative thought patterns and triggers from our childhood play a role in how we behave today. We will discuss alternatives to mitigate and change these patterns to reduce future generational trauma and despair.
Participants will learn common symptoms of trauma and stress in adults while exploring strategies for self-care, including: self-grounding techniques, ways to take time out to care for themselves, a list of identified “Span of Control Activities/Strategies”, and a “Mini Self Care Plan
It is very important to understand the challenges, obstacles and pitfalls that teens and young adults face to help them successfully navigate through these uncertain times. This workshop will highlight the key findings from the Center of Disease Control’s (2022) research study about Substance Abuse, Anxiety & Depression, Suicide, and Prescription Drug Use among teens and Young Adults.
- Explore the linkages between usage, the impact on brain development, and subsequent risky behaviors.
- Attendees will learn to identify symptoms, introduce evidence-based interventions, and explore culturally-approrpriate strategies to begin open conversations and access to resources.
In Part II of the workshop, attendees will gain an understanding of how students deal with threats of violence, risk factors in sexual behaviors, and other stressors that impact their lives.
- This workshop will also discuss school avoidance, sexual violence, bullying and safety issues on campus through a trauma-informed and cultural lens.
- As the Homeless crisis continues to rise, we will discuss the impacts of housing insecurity on children, teens and, Transitional Age Youth.
- Attendees will learn about protective factors to mitigate some of these obstacles.
- Lastly, we will discus the importance of parental participation in their children’s lives and how parental involvement can support student success and positive outcomes.
This workshop is designed to help attendees understand and develop strategies to use Social Media wisely as a tool while avoiding the negative impacts on mental health.
CDC research has shown that excessive use of social media can lead to adverse mental health outcomes such as anxiety, depression, bullying, trauma, exposure to racism and hatred.
Misinformation, racism, privacy issues and the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) make it increasingly difficult to distinguish truth from lies. Learning to fact check information and analyze the truth will be essential in the future to ensure students and parents are good digital citizens.
Attendees will learn how to check the social media apps they are currently using to gain a better understanding of their individual rights, privacy, and how social media usage negatively impacts their individual and interpersonal relationships.
According to the US Surgeon General, “We are now facing a severe health crisis with our young people”.
Many teens and adults have experimented with Vaping and using e-cigarettes, e-juice, marijuana, and THC to address their fears and anxieties. As tobacco companies have labeled these products as ‘non-addicting, nicotine free, and a way to stop smoking’, teens and adults have been misinformed by these companies in an attempt to expand their customer base.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, some of these behaviors went underground. However, school districts, students, and parents are now overwhelmed with dealing with nicotine and marijuana addiction.
A better understanding of the mental and physical health impacts of symptoms will enable participants to intervene faster to help children, teens, Transitional Youth (18-24), and adults in our communities.
Systemic racism exists and our children see and feel it every day. What type of world do we want to leave behind for the next several generations? Our children look to us as role models and emulate our behaviors.
- Workshop participants will begin a journey of self and family exploration starting with current issues of social unrest, unconscious bias, systemic racism, and inequity; then, participants will learn about the emotional consequences of these social issues including but not limited to PTSD, PTSS, cognitive dissonance, and the Fight Flight Freeze process.
- We will discuss how parents/adults can proactively help their children understand what it means to become an “Anti-Racist” and become an “Upstander vs. Bystander”.
- Participants will engage in discussions involving how parents, guardians, and other adult figures can consciously model positive behaviors when they see injustice and inequity.
- This workshop will equip participants with a better understanding of the interplay between social media and social issues, and provide resources for families as they try to navigate these issues.
In this workshop, participants will develop a better understanding of different types or trauma and how their personal experiences can be addressed.
- We will define the different types of traumas, common triggers, and symptoms to monitor.
- We will learn about adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), how trauma impacts learning, the brain, relationships and attachments, behaviors, and long-term health outcomes.
- In addition, we will discuss the interpersonal consequences of trauma (i.e. disruption of relationships and poor attachments to others) and academic outcomes (i.e. how trauma impedes learning and retention).
- Participants will practice replacing negative labels and thoughts with positive trauma-informed statements.
Designed to help parents help their children cope with stress, anxiety, or panic feelings. Specific tools such as breathing techniques and ways to talk to children that are anxious are practiced. Parents will learn what anxiety symptoms look like and how family members can help.
- The workshop provides a safe space for parents to validate their concerns about their children, and share ideas. In addition, we will discuss the different types of anxiety, and how it affects learning and physical and mental health.
- Parents/Guardians will explore self-care and resiliency interventions to help decrease anxiety in children, including how to stop intrusive anxious thoughts.
- Parents will receive lists of resources and materials, and web links to use after the training to develop a plan for themselves and their families.
This workshop is designed to help parents, caregivers, and educators take better care of themselves.
- Participants will learn about the common impacts of trauma and stress on adults and explore and share strategies for self-care.
- Individuals will learn self-grounding techniques, and how to take time out to care for themselves.
- We will explore resilience and self-care, create a safe space to acknowledge and validate our responses in a time of crisis, and discuss the collective grief which we are all experiencing due to, mass shootings, COVID-19, natural disasters, and social injustice.
- Participants will leave with a list of identified “Span of Control Activities/Strategies”, a “Mini Self Care Plan” and a list of resources and handouts for further exploration.
- We will learn how to reset boundaries, and limit your child’s exposure to negative images and social media. We will explore strategies to re-engage your family in positive activities, and how to help your child identify and name, and tame their emotions.
- Finally, we will discuss various resources available from schools, mental health and community-based agencies, and technology-based apps to address feelings of anxiety and stress.
The goal of this classroom presentation is to identify our unique ways of coping with difficult life experiences AND to explore new, helpful ways to manage our feelings.
- We will be talking about emotional regulation strategies and how the mind & body responds to stress.
- Throughout this workshop, we will practice a few mindfulness techniques as a way to keep us connected and calm– while also bringing awareness to our thought patterns and exploring how our thoughts impact the way we feel and behave.
- Lastly, we will work towards setting an intention to use coping skills in a meaningful way as we move forward with our daily lives.
Adolescence is the toughest developmental stage in a person’s life! The need for independence testing boundaries, and taking risks is all part of normal adolescent development, it’s also a time when communication breaks down between youth and parents/guardians.
- This presentation will help parents/guardians and adult mentors find ways to coach their pre-teens and adolescent through the turbulent challenges they are and will face during their teen years. We will explore the common symptoms of anxiety and depression in teens; understand how COVID-19 Pandemic has exacerbated those feelings during this extraordinarily difficult time in their lives.
- We will discuss the importance of working with your teen in setting boundaries, teaching your youth to become a good digital citizen, and implementing technology-free days to help manage and de-stress from negative images and social media.
- We will explore ways to re-engage your family in positive activities. Parents can learn to encourage questions when they don’t have all the answers.
- Finally, we will discuss various resources available from schools, mental health- and community-based agencies, and technology-based apps to address feelings of anxiety and stress.
Parents will learn about today’s challenges facing children and teens and the importance of self-care. Attendees will be led through a self-care reflection exercise to identify their own social, emotional, and physical needs. Attendees will discuss Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACES), and explore the impact of childhood trauma on learning.
- Parents will learn how to set realistic boundaries, and successful strategies to talk with their children.
- We will explore the International “Choose Love Program” to address social, and emotional learning. Major components: Courage, Gratitude, Forgiveness, and Compassion in Action.
- Participants will learn specific self-care tips to help mitigate negative feelings, how to build coping skills, and explore available local and regional resources.