Thursday, Oct. 22 at 7 p.m. – WINDSOR – Families, caregivers, and health professionals are seeing the devastating mental health impact that the Covid-19 pandemic is having on youth. The isolation, worry, and uncertainty of the past six months, coupled with anxiety over the challenges of a new school year, are causing changes in behavior among children that raise concerns about their wellbeing.
Windsor County Mentors, the youth mentoring organization that serves all of Windsor County, will host two virtual seminars with renowned guest speaker Matthew Friedman, M.D., Ph.D., a leader in the fields of psychiatry and PTSD research. These seminars – Coping Through the Covid-19 Crisis – will be geared to two audiences, one for parents and caregivers and one for health and human services professionals, as described below:
Thursday, Oct. 22, 7-8:30 p.m.
A talk for parents and caregivers about normal and excessive reactions to pandemic-related stress and isolation.
Thursday, Oct. 29, 7-8:30 p.m.
A discussion for professionals about normal and excessive reactions to pandemic-related stress and isolation.
For both audiences, Dr. Friedman will discuss how we react to prolonged isolation and will frame what are considered normal reactions to stress as compared to excessive reactions, up to and including PTSD.
He will also discuss helpful supports and interventions. In each seminar there will be time for audience participation and general discussion.
Matthew Friedman, M.D., Pd.D., is Professor and Vice-Chair for Research in the Department of Psychiatry at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth. He served for 24 years as executive director of the US Department of Veterans Affairs’ National Center for PTSD. There is a $10 registration fee for each session. To register, visit Windsor County Mentors’ event page at wcmentors.org/event.html. For further information, contact Windsor County Mentors at 802-674-5101.
