Parent Education Series 2023-2024

2023-2024 Parent Education Series #3: Exploring The Ages and Stages of Children's Social/Emotional Development

An interactive training led by Meg Bezucha

Wednesday, February, 7

6:30 p.m.: Reception with light refreshments

7:00 p.m.: Parent Ed Talk

 

On Wednesday, February 7 is the third evening in the 2023-2024 Parent Education series. Spend the evening with Walden’s emotional support person, Margaret (Meg) Bezucha, a Marriage and Family Therapist who specializes in working with children and adolescents. The focus of the night will be “back to basics” of exploring emotional milestones and how we, as adults, can encourage and promote healthy development and growth in kids.

This event will be held in the Toby Hayward Community Room. We will begin with refreshments and mingling at 6:30 p.m., followed by the Parent Ed talk at 7:00 p.m. Child care ($15/child including pizza dinner) will be available with advance registration. 

About Meg Bezucha

Meg is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist in private practice and also serves as Walden's social emotional specialist. She works with children, adolescents, and adults individually as well as with couples and families. Her practice covers a wide range of issues from learning issues, conflict/divorce issues, anxiety, self-esteem, and depression to trauma, substance abuse, and its impact on individual family members, as well as identity issues and LGBTQI+ issues. She is a relational, strengths-based therapist and uses cognitive behavioral, family systems, and existential approaches to help with each person’s individual needs. Her goal is to encourage and teach children and adolescents to express themselves in a safe and appropriate way so they can healthfully experience the full range of their feelings. She encourages contemplation, reflection and authentic expression while also helping kids to raise their awareness of themselves and in relation to others, based in an understanding that emotional issues can manifest and impact people much later on in life if they are left unaddressed.

Meg holds a Masters Degree in Clinical Psychology from Antioch University, where she specialized in Child Studies. Before her career as a therapist, Meg also earned a Masters Degree in Education from The University of Massachusetts and dedicated twenty years to various educational roles, including teaching high school English and working in special education. In addition to her educational background, Meg earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Writing and Publishing from Emerson College and has contributed to poetry and literary magazines. 


 

2023-2024 Parent Education Series #2: Consent, Crushes, and Safety

An interactive training led by Emmalinda Mclean, Co-Founder of More Than Sex-Ed

Thursday, January 25 

6:30 p.m.: Reception with light refreshments

7:00 p.m.: Parent Ed Talk

 

On Thursday, January 25 is the second evening in the 2023-2024 Parent Education series, led by sexual health educator Emmalinda MacLean.

Emmalinda will lead a discussion to an adults-only audience on Consent, Crushes, and Child Development. This workshop will outline healthy and age-appropriate social-emotional development in early elementary school students, as expressed through friendship and crushes. Participants will gain skills for discussing relationships and attraction, emphasizing consent and respect for boundaries, and laying groundwork for future conversations as children grow. We’ll practice responding to sexual topics without instilling shame or fear, while communicating your family’s values, and keeping the door open to further discussion. 

This event will be in-person in the Toby Hayward Community Room. We will begin with refreshments and mingling at 6:30 p.m., followed by the Parent Ed talk at 7:00 p.m. Child care ($15/child including pizza dinner) will be available with advance registration. 


 

2023-2024 Parent Education Series #1: Being & Belonging - Exploring Identity and Understanding Affinity Groups in School Communities

An interactive training led by Monique Marshall - Antiracist, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Trainer

Tuesday, November 14 

6:30 p.m.: Reception with light refreshments hosted by Walden Equity (W.E.)

7:00 p.m.: Parent Ed Talk

 

The foundation of a Walden education is viewing the classroom as a learning community. As such, a guiding question for this work is, how do we create and curate a space that nurtures true belonging for all students?  

To kick off this year’s Parent Education series, we invite parents and caregivers to experience first-hand how we build these brave spaces of belonging where students are fully seen and heard. Please join us in this interactive workshop led by Monique Marshall, expert DEIJB trainer and a long-time friend of our community. All participants will experience Walden's process of belonging through a variety of exercises and group conversations. We will also explore and unpack the reasons behind offering affinity groups based on social and cultural identities to strengthen our community.

If you attended last year's workshop, bring a friend, and come again! Although there will be some review of prior content, Monique will build on last years' experience to support the Walden community in the development of a robust understanding of the need for race-based affinity in schools.

The evening will begin with mingling and refreshments hosted by Walden Equity (W.E.) at 6:30 p.m., followed by the Parent Ed talk at 7:00 p.m. Child care is available for K-6 students for $10/child and includes a pizza dinner.

About Monique Marshall

Monique is the founder and principal of Monique Marshall Strategy and Consulting LLC.  As an innovator and thought leader in anti-bias/anti-racist education, Monique has worked for over 30 years with faculty, students, parents and community members to develop and sustain equitable spaces of learning and belonging. Monique is especially passionate as an anti-racist educator about working with communities dedicated to the long-range goals of organizational change at the individual, interpersonal, institutional, and cultural levels. 

Monique was previously an educator at Wildwood School in Los Angeles where she started the schools’ first K-5 student diversity group, led the parent diversity group, and was a founding member of the school’s Multicultural Leadership Team. Monique is also a founding board member of SoCal POCIS (Southern California, People of Color in Independent Schools).  The organization is dedicated to supporting students, families, faculty, and staff of color in independent schools as well as offering a variety of annual programs for Los Angeles area independent school educators and families.  Monique has presented workshops at numerous national conferences including the annual NAIS sponsored POCC (People of Color Conference), the bi-annual Across Colors conference, PEN (Progressive Educators Network), CES (Coalition of Essential Schools), The Young Child Expo & Conference, as well as at many independent and public school pre-K-college communities.