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“Working with Families in Times of Crisis”
• Ari Hoffman MA, LPC• Psychotherapist• 720-446-6506;
www.CommunityReachCenter.org 303-853-3500
Ed-u-cate Your Kids! Come on!!
Education
- How to appropriately answer questions about difficult topics
- How and when to make children feel better when they are upset
The Brain and the Heart
Tell children what they need to know and nothing more
Why do you want to know?◦ Sex, Drugs, and Rock & Roll
Have you heard? The walls are thin and Charlie is listening Blood and Fire
◦ Acts of People◦ Acts of G-d
The Brain
Safety Consistency
◦Trust, Trust, and more Trust Physical Touch Cuddling vs. Coddling You take up space in my hard drive Kiss the tears
The Heartor
How and When to make a child feel better
Ignorance is only bliss until someone asks you a question
Prepare, prepare, prepare◦ Make like a boy scout
Educate Thyself
Crisis Survival GuideGlobal and Personal
Your Challenge:How to relax on an inflatable life boat in the middle of the ocean with no food or water surrounded by sharks
Interrupt reactionary brain processes
Promote proactive brain processes
Your Solution:
Your (and my) Brain
On stressOff Stress
Survival oriented Decisions without
thought More likely to
include: anger, upset, stress
Will save your life in a tiger attack
Critical Thinking Thoughtful
Future oriented Patient
Calm Effective
Will save your life in situations that
involve chronic stress
Reactive vs. Proactive
Anything that makes you happy, calm(er), and/or relaxed:◦ Friends◦ Music
◦Beautiful things ◦ Hobbies◦ Deep Breathing
Ways to kick your proactive brain in to action:
Stress/Anxiety/Anger
“When you go out to battle against your foe…”
Proactive thinking/ Calm
You can be a firefighter too!!
The difference between you and a firefighter
Self CareYou can leave the lecture now because you
won’t do this anyway
The calling is noble but not any nobler than you are◦ Discretion and valor
Scene Safe???◦ Am I protected
3 am parties not by choice
The Messiah Complex&
The Parenting Reality
Hey! Let me
help you
Parents and Caregivers alike must take care of themselves.
If you want to do this work well, you don’t have a choice.
All’s fair in love and war, so cheat!
98% vs. 2% Eat well
◦ Less: sugar, poison (caffeine), processed foods, soda (G-d save us)
◦ More: fruits and vegetables, nuts, water (what’s water?), eggs, poultry, meat (it should also look like meat)
Exercise◦ You will be smarter, nicer, and better looking
Cheat List
Go out with friends Laugh
◦ Jim Gaffigan “hot pockets”◦ Jeff Dunham “Walter”
Hobbies ◦ Things you enjoy doing for the sake of doing
them. Get counseling (we don’t normally bite and
when we do its not that hard) Sleep
Cheat List, cont.
Ahem!!!!
Only answer what your child needs to know
Make sure the child knows he or she is cared for
Look at beautiful things and try to engage the proactive part of the brain
Take care of yourself!
In sum:
To learn more about services and programs available at Community Reach Center,
please visitwww.CommunityReachCenter.org
or 303-853-3500
