Medway has a new parent organization, Medway T.H.R.I.V.E., and it’s aimed at providing wellness-related programming and resources to families. The acronym stands for Tools necessary to foster Health, Resiliency, Inclusiveness, Vitality and Empowerment in Medway’s youth.
“Under this name, it’s really our first year,” says Ryan Sherman, Director of Wellness for Medway Public Schools. “Before that, there was a great group of energetic Moms who were bringing a number of wellness-related programming for our parents. When I started, we worked to expand our scope and solidify a partnership between parents and schools.”
One of those Medway Moms, Moira Keating, an active member of Medway’s PTO and parent of three, says, “Medway’s PTO community has been very fortunate to have a fairly high level of engaged parents with great energy, a ‘let’s try it’ philosophy, and the organization to make things happen.” A few years ago, says Keating, the group “identified a growing interest and need to provide some parent enrichment in the evenings on various topics. Admittedly, at first it was a new angle to invite new faces to PTO meetings. For example, one early offering was a nutritionist for parents of picky eaters … and for another early program we invited former School Resource Officer Detective Donald Grimes from Medway PD (now retired), to speak with our parents about the increased use of devices amongst our kids.”
Keating points to two programs that generated tremendous interest and attendance from Medway’s parent community, including:
Chris Herren (January 2015) which drew over 500 people from 18 local communities (https://vimeo.com/79305689), (http://thpprojectpurple.org/the-project/)
Screenagers: Growing Up In The Digital Age (September 2016) – which filled the MHS auditorium. (https://www.screenagersmovie.com/)
“With the hiring of Dr. Sherman and the inception of Medway’s new T.H.R.I.V.E. committee, we have identified our (4) priorities for 2017-18. Our goal is now to source and deliver impactful and informative programming to the Medway community in various forms,” says Keating.
Sherman explains those four priorities as emotional wellness, digital citizenship, celebrating differences and substance use prevention.
This year T.H.R.I.V.E. will be bringing at least five parent enrichment programs to Medway, the first of which is Minding Your Mind. Minding Your Mind’s primary objective is to provide mental health education to adolescents, teens, and young adults, as well as parents, teachers, and school administrators. It will be presented to interested parents and community members on October 11th at 7 p.m. The presentation is free and will be held in the Medway High School auditorium.
“The parenting landscape has changed dramatically, especially in the past 4-5 years, and as parents many of us are challenged by the alarming realities of social media that is woven into almost every aspect of our lives if we allow it to be, for example, the lack of conversation, addictive behaviors, parent controls, disturbing apps available to our kids, cyberbullying, sexting, etc.,” says Keating.
Sherman says that the schools are coordinating student and faculty programs to coincide with what the parent programs, thus reinforcing for the family tools they can use.
“Literally same day, Medway high school students will get the Minding the Mind presentation in school. The goal is to cultivate a conversation; that learning and mutual parent-child partnership takes place and they receive information in the same way,” he says.
Keating says one of Medway T.H.R.I.V.E.’s goals is to expand its footprint to reach more caregivers and families through a variety of media. She envisions offerings going beyond simple lectures to such ideas as “a book club to address a specific topic such as anxiety in children, a morning coffee chat for those who may be unable to attend an evening program, an evening panel of local experts that would be taped and available on cable to help parents navigate the world of social media and short documentary film on addiction…”
“The world is changing. We all know that, and our students are facing different wellness-related challenges than our parent group did, and we’re facing these challenges in school,” says Sherman. “We have to change what skills we teach and how we teach skills and help parents support children in this new environment.”
Sherman says that the new partnership reinforces the mission of the school. “Part of our mission is raising healthy children and healthy citizens. If they come to school feeling healthy and safe and ready to learn, they’re going to do better academically.”
In addition to the Minding the Mind event targeted to middle and high school parents on October 11th, T.H.R.I.V.E. will also present a similar program for elementary parents on November 15th.
If you would like to stay apprised of Medway T.H.R.I.V.E., visit its Facebook page.
Issue Date:
October, 2017
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