LAFAYETTE, Ind. (WLFI)- Stress and anxiety is high at this time. From COVID-19 to social unrest, navigating how to talk about these topics with your kids can be tough to tackle. That is why Franciscan Health's Community Health improvement team is offering resources for parents to do so.
"We identified in our communities that our families really needed more support that there were a lot of things that had changed in society and resources were a little harder to come by," said Kate Hill-Johnson.
Kate is the Administrative Director of Community Health Improvement at Franciscan Health. She says they saw that parents, health providers, and teachers were struggling with how to handle these ever-changing times. That is why they put together a 5-week virtual series to provide education on how to head back to school.
"Its skills, its information, and its resources to kind of counteract the negative," added Hill-Johnson.
The series also tackles childhood trauma and shows parents signs that a child may be experiencing anxiety or stress.
"More sleeping than usual or isolating themselves, acting out having different types of behaviors then you have seen before, that's generally signs of anxiety,” added Hill-Johnson.
Along with teaching parents how to recognize anxiety, it also shows them ways that they can help children cope with what they are facing.
"Whether that's something to talk about at the kitchen table when you are eating dinner or it's something to do outside to promote exercise or physical activity,” said Katie Schmitz the Administrative Director, Community Health Improvement at Franciscan Health in Lafayette. “There are definitely applied strategies that families can use within these virtual series."
The classes are free to anyone who want to take part in them and up to 450 people can take part at a time. A live question and answer portion takes place after the class is over. For more information on how to register for the classes click here.
