Family Wellness Series

Wentworth-Douglass Hospital's Women & Children's Center is offering a series of educational workshops for adults & children to help shape healthier and stronger families.

All sessions are free and open to the public. Space is limited and registration is required to attend.
Childcare for ages 2-14 is available during each session, but pre-registration is required.

For more information, call (603) 609-6964.

TOPICS

September 27, 6:00-8:00 p.m.

The Gift of Anxiety and Depression Prevention: Skills We Can (and Should!) Be Teaching Our Children

Presented by Lynn Lyons, LICSW

Untreated anxiety in children is one of the top predictors of depression in adolescence and young adulthood. The good news? Research proves that teaching children and teens certain cognitive and social skills makes a big difference in preventing the development of these struggles. This workshop will give parents and educators several specific ideas for incorporating these skills into parenting and education in ways that are fun, uncomplicated, effective and designed to help all kids move forward into challenges and new experiences.

October 3, 6:00-8:00 p.m.

Raising Kids You’ll Love to Live With

Presented by Bonnie Harris of Connective Parenting

Children really do want to please us no matter what. Learn what gets in their way and what we can do about it. Perception shift is all it takes to follow what you know is right. Instead of thinking that my child is being a problem, I understand that she is having a problem. Once connection is made, problem solving, not punishment, can be used to teach true accountability.

November 7, 6:00-8:00 p.m.

Food Monsters: Encouraging Healthy Meal Habits

Presented by Dave Goff and Leigh Davenport, RD, LD, CNSC, of Wentworth-Douglass Food & Nutrition Services

This workshop will focus on helping families navigate issues such as picky eaters and common food irritants. We will host a food tasting, a cooking demo and everyone in attendance will leave with recipes for foods they love! This workshop will offer a lecture for parents focusing on solving common food challenges while children will have an opportunity outside the lecture to try new foods. Afterwards children can bring their families around to show them the foods they enjoyed.

December 5, 6:00-8:00 p.m.

Safe Social Media Workshops for Parents & Teens

Presented by Tina Raczek & Loren Hallet from Media Power Youth

Parents – will develop media literacy skills as we take a critical look at how media influences our behaviors and actions. We will focus on positive uses of media and devise ways to reduce the negative impacts of usage. Parents will be empowered when they discover the digital world that their children live in every day and how they can become involved and informed about their child’s online life. It’s not going away, let’s learn all we can to enable us to make smart media decisions for our families.

Students – We will engage youth in an interactive workshop where they explore techniques used by media makers and marketers to sell powerful messages. Students learn how media tells stories and how to decode the sub-text of mass media. We will also demonstrate how media can affect our behavior, thoughts and actions. We won’t be tricked! We will learn strategies to use on and off line to make positive choices throughout life.

January 9, 6:00-8:00 p.m.

Bullying, Empathy, and Monkeys

Presented by Jeff Frigon of the Browne Center

Empathy is directly linked to bullying; the more empathy we have, the more likely we are to be kind to one another and not bully (or be bullied). By building healthy, empathetic communities and understanding the connection between empathy, fear, vulnerability, anonymity, and bullying, we can act in a preventative rather than a reactive way. This workshop will explore what the research shows to be effective and why using an interactive, multimedia approach.

February 6, 6:00-8:00 p.m.

Support Your Child’s School Success

Presented by the Parent Information Center of Concord NH

This session offers practical support to parents of children with disabilities who want to help their children succeed at school. The workshop will include tips and strategies to assist parents in understanding what schools expect of them and how to work with the system. We will also discuss ways that parents can reinforce what children are learning at school.

The Family Wellness Series is sponsored by the Wentworth-Douglass Foundation.

Thank you to the following organizations for their support of the Family Wellness Series: