Are you looking for simple strategies to support the mental health and well-being of the children in your life? Join Lindsay Ruddick, MSW, RSW, Social Worker and Family Therapist who will present on the topic of attachment and connecting with children through art. Lindsay will demonstrate attachment-based art activities that can be used in personal or professional settings and explain how we can use the activities as we interact with the children in our lives. Participants (and kiddos) are more than welcome to participate in the art activities as you learn. Register Here

Event Info

Date: February 10th 2022
Time: 12:00pm -1:00pm
Platform: MS Teams

About Lindsay

Lindsay has a Masters of Social Work from the University of Calgary (2015). She has worked as a family, individual and couples therapist for over eight years within a community setting. She practices narrative based therapy and she is drawn to alternative forms of therapeutic practice such as art-based interventions. Lindsay is an artist herself and enjoys using painting and creating as a form of self-care and expression. She is also a mom to a toddler who keeps her very busy. 

For any questions or accessibility needs, please contact Pamela Villafranca 

In our Wellness Weekly, mental health roundup feature we curate some of the best writing on the web related to health and wellbeing. Here is some recommended reading for this week.

• Whit Honea writes about the role of fathers in opening conversations about mental health. In this Washington Post article, Whit argues that “dads are shaping modern conversations about masculinity and men’s mental health”, and that doing so challenges the definition of masculinity as “detached stoicism.” Read Why Fathers Must Talk About their Mental Health.

• Dr. Christine Carter, Sociologist and author writes about the effects of being surrounded by interpersonal drama. She argues that “the 24/7 drama isn’t pointing us towards meaningful lives. And it keeps us from the stillness and reflection and deep conversation that make our lives meaningful.” Dr. Carter also outlines the three typical roles in a conflict (victim, persecutor, rescuer) and presents three tips to avoid taking on these dysfunctional roles. Check out, How to Ditch the Drama in Your Relationships.

• Have you ever interacted with a new person and left with the impression that they didn’t like you? Perhaps you felt you didn’t present yourself well. Or that the other person was being highly critical. Dr. Alice Walton writes in Forbes about some new research around the “liking gap”; a phenomenon were people almost always feel that their conversation mate’s opinion of them is lower that it actually is. Read, People Like You More Than You Think.

My 4-year old’s “Spidey Sense” always seems to kick when I am in the grip of stress, even when I try to hide it from him. I know he can tell if I’m frustrated, or anxious, or worried, or panicked, even if I do my best to seem cool and “together”. Sometimes he takes advantage of the moment and fuels the fire by acting out, and other times he offers an awesome leg hug. Either way, he notices.

Knowing that my kids see me not just at my best but also my worst is normal, but it can be hard. I think that for many of us, it’s an emotional battle to allow young people to see us truly struggling, whether in anger, sadness, disappointment, or stress – without feeling shame.

Have you ever read the work of Brene Brown? If you haven’t come across her yet, you are in for a bit of a life-changer.

Brene is a “researcher-storyteller” who has opened up the conversation about vulnerability, shame and human connection. Among many other things, Brene has written a beautiful Manifesto on Wholehearted Parenting that can be printed as a poster (for free!)

What I really, really love is her call to parents – and indeed to anyone who cares for young people –to model struggle and strength so that kids and youth can witness how we navigate those challenging, and sometimes ugly, emotions.

The Manifesto also talks about making a commitment to model self-compassion and embrace imperfections in front of children.

When my daughter sees me forgive myself (sometimes by me actually saying, “Darn it. I forgot to call my dentist back. That’s okay – I forgive myself!) – it registers in her mind that this is something she can try too.

As we work through giving ourselves grace to be wholehearted with our kids, I know many parents also struggle with age-appropriate language, especially when confronting more serious struggles such as depression or anxiety. I recently came across a news article that provides some advice about this and I encourage you to give it a read and let me know what you think.

http://globalnews.ca/news/3425035/parents-this-is-how-to-tell-your-children-youre-dealing-with-depression-anxiety/

I’ll leave you with the invitation to check out the Wholehearted Parenting Manifesto.

And, to check out more of Brene Brown’s amazing work, go here: http://brenebrown.com/

Leave a comment and let me know what you think about this topic!