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Parenting Pressures: Navigating Challenges and Achieving Balance
Event Details
Parents are under more pressure than ever, with increasing work demands, societal expectations, concerns about children’s safety and the influence of social media, and often the added burden of caring for their own parents. This event, presented in conjunction with Positive Directions, will explore these current realities, sharing ways for parents to stay present and take care of themselves.
The event will feature a panel of local mental health experts, followed by small-group discussions that will allow participants to ask questions, share resources, and receive guided support.
Why You Should Come
Because being a parent is hard, we can all use some help and a few tips to help us achieve a better balance. The purpose of this panel is to address current parental realities. Panel members represent a number of different stakeholders, allowing for a multifaceted exploration of a range of topics, including: parenting youth in Westport’s achievement culture; balancing work life and parenting; balancing responsibilities among parents; parents caring for their own parents; the role of social media influencers; and impactful current events.
Speakers at This Event
Jennifer Benoit, Licensed Mental Health Counselor, is a retired special educator for the Greenwich Public Schools. Through Kids in Crisis, she currently serves as the TeenTalk counselor at Staples High School.
Lindsay Blass, PsyD, is a Westport-based clinical psychologist in private practice who works with children and adolescents for evaluation and therapy. She also works with parents on a consultative basis to help them understand how best to support their children while navigating their own life stressors.
Melanie DeLapp, Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, is the clinical director at Positive Directions. She specializes in the treatment of childhood and adolescent anxiety, specific phobias, eating disorders, OCD, and school refusal/avoidance. She is trained in the SPACE model (Supportive parenting of anxious childhood emotions) developed at the Yale Child Study Center by Dr. Eli Lebowitz.
John Markette, Licensed Professional Counselor, is the center director at Causeway Collaborative's West Hartford location. Click here for more.
Liz Hanlon is a Master of Social Work student at Fairfield University. She is the Bedford Middle School PTA liaison for Coffee & Conversation, which invites local community organizations and mental health professionals to discuss current topics with the parent community. Liz worked in the pharmaceutical advertising industry.
Moderator: Margaret Watt, MPH, MA, is the prevention director at Positive Directions and has held various regional leadership positions in mental health and substance misuse. She is a board member of the CT chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Health (NAMI CT).
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