Centerstone to host free stress and grief during the holidays webinar

Centerstone will host a free webinar entitled Stress and Grief During the Holidays on Tuesday, November 15 from 1-2 p.m. CT via Zoom. CEUs are available.

The holidays can bring so much joy but also, for some, great pain. Exploring topics of grief and holiday stress, Dr. Melissa Flint will provide practical education and guidance about how we can carry both the joy and sorrow we hold in times of loss into the holiday season and find pieces of peace and hope during this time of the year.

Objectives of the webinar include:

• Identify and self-assess levels of expectation about the holiday season (“perfect holiday syndrome”)
• Learn about two or more reasons why people might feel more out of control during the holidays
• Describe ways that our grief can manifest during the holidays
• Identify at least two ways to prevent feeling burned out during the stress of the holiday season.

The presenter of the webinar will be Melissa Flint, Psy.D., FT, CCTP. Dr. Flint received both her masters and doctoral degrees in clinical psychology from the Arizona School of Professional Psychology at Argosy University. Dr. Flint serves as a tenured professor in the clinical psychology program at Midwestern University in Glendale, AZ. Her primary area of interest is grief and loss, particularly working with families who have experienced the death of their child/children. Other specialty areas include trauma/abuse and depression, workplace well being and overall quality of life issues.

This training has 1 hour of continuing education approved for IL LCPC / LPC, IL LCSW / LSW, and IL Nursing (LPN, RN, APN) under IDFPR Professional Counselor CE License No. 197.000263 and IDFPR Nurse CE Sponsor License No. 236.000184.

To register, visit Centerstone.org/events. For more information, contact David Mills at David.Mills@Centerstone.org or call 1-877-HOPE123 (877-467-3123).

This training is sponsored by Centerstone’s Building Compassionate Communities (BCC) project.

Other BCC events in 2022 include:

• October 18: Professional Self-Care: Fiercely Guard Your Well Being free webinar featuring Dr. Flint. CEUs available. For more information, visit Centerstone.org/events.
• October 27: Connect 4 Success Family Resource Network launch event. This event is in partnership with the Southern Illinois Coalition for Children and Families. It is a chance to reconnect with colleagues doing similar jobs, build relationships with others in the business of connecting families with resources, learn more about available resources, and re-energize through training. For more information, visit Centerstone.org/events.

BCC is a multi-year grant Centerstone was awarded in 2019 by the Illinois Children’s Healthcare Foundation (ILCHF). BCC isn’t a standalone program, rather it supplements both clinical and family services programs within Centerstone and the mental health system of support in Franklin, Jackson, Perry, and Williamson counties.

“The foundation of BCC provides our regional system of support with three pillars to strengthen child and family resilience while improving access to healthcare and enhancing overall mental health: networking through collaboration, high quality professional development, and family resource developers,” said Dr. David Mills, Centerstone BCC grant coordinator.

The concept of BCC sprang from the ILCHF grant awarded to Centerstone with the overarching goal of improving the mental health of children and communities throughout Southern Illinois.  BCC’s vison is to build compassionate communities by collaborating with regional partners and families to integrate services and create lasting change that directly affects children and families.  Community partners in the four-county region involved with BCC include:

• Children’s Medical & Mental Health Resource Network
• Christopher Rural Health Planning Corporation
• Franklin-Williamson Bi-County Health Department
• Illinois Department of Children and Family Services
• Jackson County Health Department
• Parent and Youth Partners
• Prevent Child Abuse Illinois
• Rainbow Cafe
• Redeploy Illinois
• Regional Office of Education 21 & School Districts Within
• Regional Office of Education 30 & School Districts Within
• Shawnee Health Services
• Southern Illinois Coalition for Children and Families
• Southern Illinois Healthcare
• Southern Illinois University School of Medicine
• Southern Illinois University System
• Southern Region Early Childhood
• University of Illinois Extension

“One of the driving goals of BCC is the development of a well-prepared mental health workforce. To that effect, BCC either directly provides or underwrites in collaboration with agencies in our system of support a wide range of professional development for everyone involved in juvenile mental health initiatives from clients to caregivers to caseworkers to clinicians,” said Dr. Mills.

“Additionally, Centerstone can leverage its larger community presence to help all agencies within our system of support to market professional development and networking opportunities they make available, too.”

The backbone of BCC is its Family Resource Developer (FRD) program at Centerstone. FRD’s focus on the family by doing the following at home, at school and in the community:

• Delivering peer support through support groups, phone calls, or individual meetings 
• Providing emotional connection of people who have “been there”
• Giving informational and educational support on systems and strategies
• Supporting peers in developing positive ways to address their family’s day-to-day needs, as well as their own self-care needs
• Helping parents arrange transportation, childcare, etc. when trying to juggle school, doctors’ appointments, sports, extra-curricular activities, budgets, groceries, and family events

FRDs and Centerstone clinical/family services resources, in concert with telehealth or at-home, office, or in-school visits, can help families, regardless of insurance source or diagnosis, with:

• Mental health screenings
• Mental health services for youth and family members
• Juvenile justice system navigation
• Special education and individualized education plan (IEP) help
• Reducing stereotypes and stigma related to mental health
• Preventative care
• Access to care
• Immediate and long-term needs for families of children impacted by mental health
• Peer provided services
• Support groups
• Parent education groups 

For more information about BCC, visit Centerstone.org, call 1-877-HOPE123 (877-467-3123) or contact Dr. Mills at David.Mills@Centerstone.org.