Mental health is a growing concern for families. Children and teenagers have been particularly affected by the challenges posed by the pandemic. In addition, adolescence is a pivotal period in life when a lot of learning comes from social situations.
In addition to the support provided directly to children and teens, there is a pressing need to support parents who are facing changes and situations where there is neither an instruction manual nor a one-size-fits-all answer.
The Conseil des écoles publiques de l’Est de l’Ontario (CEPEO) has been offering the Parents-Action initiative for nearly five years; more recently, Parents partenaires en éducation (PPE) joined CEPEO in this initiative to offer an even more comprehensive range of resources and services for parents.
In 2021-2022, Parents-Action offered CEPEO parents more than a dozen webinars and talks on hot topics such as managing anxiety; cultivating good mental health; sexual and gender diversity; basic learning about First Nations, cultivating, and maintaining good family relationships; school transitions; learning disabilities; bullying; managing emotions, etc.
In order to offer these webinars, CEPEO and PPE first drew on the resources available within their own organizations. CEPEO’s mental health and wellness specialists have made themselves available on several occasions to offer parents webinars on special topics and to present the services and expertise that are available free of charge to students in their schools. Several partners were also called upon to present topics of interest and contributed to the development of the extensive Resources section of the Parents-Action website.
At the dawn of the summer season, the Parents-Action team is already planning a new series of webinars for 2022 2023 on current affairs and topics of interest to parents. Parents are encouraged to contact the team at all times via the website to provide suggestions on how to better meet their needs.
At CEPEO, school support is provided in partnership with families, and that is why Parents-Action remains an integrated and constantly evolving initiative.
Visit the website for more information and useful resources.
This story is part of the June 2022 Ovation. This story is also available in French.