Our Valley Learning Community kicked off a new 4-part series on Resiliency, Protective Factors and Practice on October 30th with over 80 participants attending online and at sites in Stanislaus, Merced, Fresno and Tulare counties. For this initial convening (Growing Resilient Fathers), we invited some local practitioners who have a wealth of experience and perspective on father engagement. Our panel presenters, Lamar Henderson, Paul Prado and Justin Margolis shared the “why” behind their work, as well as practices to build resiliency in fathers. They also discussed their key learnings and strategies to help professionals understand the unique needs of fathers and ways to strengthen and support each father’s journey. After the presentation, our participants connected to explore what sparked their interest, and identified some strategies they plan to use to engage fathers and promote family strengthening. Based on their learning, participants also committed to try something new in their work with fathers, and share results with each other to begin to build resiliency practices across the Valley Region. If you’d like to check out more on Father Engagement, click the link below to view one of our webinars on YouTube – Engaging Fathers in Practice: https://youtu.be/ApNhuQf9R4s
Next up in our series is Resilience Practices for Children and Families with Trauma, presented by our guest speaker Jennifer Johnson. Jennifer is an LCSW and instructor with the Social Work Department at CSU Stanislaus. Jennifer joined us in May to help us understand the impact of trauma on the development of children and we’ve invited her back again to look at hands-on strategies to build resilience as a response to trauma. Jennifer is energetic and engaging, so you won’t want to miss this Learning Community on December 11th! Our live hub will be in Stockton, with remote sites in Bakersfield, Visalia, Fresno and Merced. To see more details and register, go to https://strategiesca.asentialms.com/catalog/?type=ilt&sc=Valley1219
