It can take a village to raise children into healthy adults, which is why the District 200 Mental Wellness Collaborative is rallying around parents, providing a safe place to talk about often-difficult topics at “Parent University,” a free three-hour session for parents to be hosted on Wednesday, April 19.
The event, which has been hosted in prior years, is back in-person for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic, which has left residual issues for students as they navigated shutdowns and remote learning.
“We think the need is there more than ever,” said Carla Sloan, supervisor at River Forest Township, saying numerous studies have been conducted, including one conducted by The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, noting a rise in levels of sadness amongst high school girls.
“We see a dramatic rise in anxiety and depression amongst teens, things like school refusal are way up,” Sloan said. “Parents know they are on the rise, and they are just trying to stay on top of it a little bit.”
A collaboration across many community organizations, including River Forest Township, Oak Park Township, Oak Park and River Forest High School District 200, Oak Park Elementary School District 97, and the Metro Suburban Chapter of the National Alliance of Mental Illness (NAMI), the D200 Mental Wellness Collaborative has been organizing “Parent University” for the past few years, including virtual events during the pandemic to provide helpful resources. This Spring’s session is a great way to get parents to talk about the topics they often try to avoid, said Sloan.
“It can be challenging, raising kids in today’s world, and there are a whole host of topics that parents want to learn more about, but they might not know how,” Sloan said. “If you call attention to certain areas of mental health or substance use, in a positive way, parents might come out and hear experts talk about it.”
For the first time, “Parent University” will be hosting a keynote speaker, bringing in more expert voices to the conversation.
Keynote speaker Dr. Doug Bolton, director of School Consultation, founder of Formative Psychological Services, and a licensed clinical psychologist, will be presenting “Self-Regulation & Resilience: Supporting Our Children in Their Hardest Moments,” to help parents understand hard moments through the lens of emotional regulation, providing them with strategies to help children cope in the moment as well as developing coping skills for the future.
Parents will also get five breakout sessions including “I Will Survive: How to Help Your Teen Through a Breakup,” and “Keep Calm and Carry On: Managing Expectations and Your Own Stress to Help De-escalate Your Child.”
There will also be a two-part workshop on “launching your senior,” presented by Kris Johnson, director of student services at OPRF, that will provide parents with “practical tips and strategies” to help their graduating students.
The popular event brought in nearly 200 people at one time, and Sloan said they hope to be able to start rebuilding to where it was before having to go virtual.
“The virtual ones were OK, and they worked well for the time,” Sloan said. “But by the third or fourth one the excitement was waning. We wanted to go back to that excitement that we felt before the pandemic in-person. There is nothing like being in a room with other parents, with people who are going through the same things you are.”
Calling it a “good investment” of time on a weekday night, Sloan said they are opening the event up to parents with children of all ages.
“You don’t really want to wait until your child is in 11th grade to be concerned about what is going on in 11th grade,” Sloan said.
“Parent University” will be held on Wednesday, April 19 at Oak Park and River Forest High School, 201 N. Scoville Ave. from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. The event is free and open to all parents in the community, including home-schooling families, with registration highly encouraged. To register, go to https://tinyurl.com/ParentURegister.