Parents and Caregivers, YOU MATTER.

Join Schlow Library in partnership with Jana Marie Foundation to talk, share, and learn in a casual lunch and learn discussion group. Bring a lunch to enjoy!

Compassion resilience involves maintaining empathy, strength, and hope in the face of life’s challenges; it encourages us to respond productively and compassionately to ourselves and others. Our discussions will explore the role of compassion in parenting, especially how to build compassion resilience in the face of the inevitable fatigue that comes from continual caregiving and caretaking. Parents and caregivers (of partners, spouses, friends and adult children included!), will learn that at the core of resilience is preventing fatigue by fostering self-compassion. Included in the conversation will be the chance to reflect on questions such as

-How can you manage compassion fatigue and increase your emotional energy and resilience?
-Are you keeping in mind your family values and goals when you parent/care give?
-Are you practicing self-compassion first (and last!) before you do anything for those for you love and care for?
-Have you tried taking compassionate action steps as you respond to those you love and care for?
-Do you know what to confidently say "yes" to and what to confidently say "no" to?
-Are your expectations of yourself and others reasonable?

Parents and caregivers will leave "lunch and learns" not only refreshed, but with a toolkit of behaviors and practices supportive of their peace of mind and self-care. After attending the sessions, one participant reflected, “I have some concrete steps that I can take to keep on improving in my parenting approach,” while another simply stated, “I am not alone.”

Discussions are based around an eight-week course, Compassion Resilience for Parents and Caregivers certified through the WISE Initiative for Stigma Elimination and developed in Partnership with Rogers Behavioral Health. Christine Hughes of Jana Marie Foundation and a certified Compassion Resilience for Parents and Caregivers instructor will lead the discussions.