WINDSOR, Vt. – 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 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., “Coping Through the Covid-19 Crisis,” 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., “Coping Through the Covid-19 Crisis,” 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 U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs’ National Center for PTSD, stepping down in 2014 to become a Senior Advisor to the Center.
Dr. Friedman has over 45 years of experience as a clinician and researcher with approximately 350 publications, including 28 books. He is a Distinguished Lifetime Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association, past-president of the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies, past-chair of the APA’s DSM-5 and DSM-5-TR PTSD Work Groups, and past-chair of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Anxiety Disorders Association of America.
There is a registration fee for each session. To register, please visit Windsor County Mentors’ event page at www.wcmentors.org/event.html. For further information, contact Windsor County Mentors at 802-674-5101 or email Executive Director Matthew Garcia at matthew@wcmentors.org.