Salt Lake City – Cook Center for Human Connection, a non-profit organization dedicated to mental health and suicide prevention, has partnered with Loudoun County Public Schools (LCPS) to bring ParentGuidance.org to schools and families in LCPS. LCPS community members now free Families have access to a variety of online mental health resources that can help children thrive, including:
- one for one parent coaching Individualized for your family;
- online On-Demand Classes Taught by a licensed therapist. and
- Real-time, interactive Family Mental Health Series Webinars hosted by experienced experts – available Fall 2024
“Talking about mental health and other concerns is key to understanding,” says Jennifer Evans, LPC, M. Ed., director of Student Mental Health Services at LCPS. “Through ParentGuidance.org's parent coaching and webinars, we aim to help parents address important mental health and development topics to support their children. Parents will gain tools and strategies to talk to their children and engage in and normalize important conversations about mental health.”
The Cook Center's model focuses on protective factors for youth mental health and suicide prevention, in which schools and parents play a key role. Although only two years old, ParentGuidance.org has already been adopted by 229 school districts and 3,617 schools, serving more than 2.4 million families across 37 states.
“ParentGuidance.org is a powerful tool that helps families become the first line of support for their children,” said Anne Brown, President and CEO of the Cook Center for Human Connection. “By providing education, resources and direct support to families, we are helping the people who love and care for their children the most: their parents,” she said. We are very proud to partner with an outstanding school district like Loudoun County Public Schools that demonstrates that they truly care about the role parents play in the well-being of their children.”
In 2021, the American Academy of Pediatrics and other national health care partners declared child and adolescent mental health a national emergency, calling for health care professionals to “care for young people experiencing rapidly rising rates of depression, anxiety, trauma, loneliness, and suicide.” “It has a lasting impact on them, their families and their communities.” Mental health factors have become a formidable barrier to learning, especially since the pandemic, and the national imperative to transform students' mental health and wellbeing has been strengthened. Research shows that school-based mental health and suicide programs that engage parents are the key to all interventions. It has been proven that it can increase effectiveness.
Loudoun County Public Schools families can register directly through ParentGuidance.org or visit the department's Student Mental Health Services page for more information. To learn more about the Cook Center's work and resources, visit CookCenterforHumanConnection.org.
About the Cook Center for Human Connections
The Cook Center's mission is to bring together the best organizations, programs, and products to prevent suicide, provide mental health support, and strengthen the human relationships essential for people to thrive. The foundation's current focus is supporting children, families, and schools through youth mental health resources and aiming to eliminate suicide. This work is carried out through a variety of grants to schools, programs for parents and global resources to raise awareness of the support needed for those affected by mental health issues and suicide. Free resources created to support children's mental health and suicide prevention include My Life Is Worth Living™, a first-of-its-kind animated series about teen mental health and suicide prevention, and Mental Health, which gives parents tools to have important conversations at school. Includes the resource ParentGuidance.org. house. Content includes free, on-demand classes taught by licensed therapists and family mental health nights hosted by experienced professionals. Learn more at CookCenterforHumanConnection.org.
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