November 10, 2020 Supporting the Voices of Grieving Children Join the Highmark Caring Place on November 19 for their webinar “Can You Hear Us Now? Supporting the Voices of Grieving Children” to learn about unique grief responses seen in children, ways to practice self-care, and opportunities to elevate the voices of grieving children. About Children’s Grief Awareness Day provides an opportunity for all to raise awareness of the painful impact that the death of a loved one has in the life of a child, and an opportunity to make sure that these children receive the support they need. It’s a day on which often-unnoticed kids can become heard for a change. A day when all of us can take the time to realize how much it can help grieving children for them to get support. In this webinar, presenters will work to educate the community about children who are grieving, equip peers and adults to become companions for grieving children, and honor the children and their loved ones who have died. Featured Topics During the webinar, participants will: learn about the background and vision of Children’s Grief Awareness Day; gain knowledge of the unique grief responses seen in children; understand the ways that encountering grief and offering support can be challenging, and explore ways of practicing self-care; and identify one to two ways they can elevate the voices of grieving children by raising awareness in their own school, community, or place of work throughout the year. Registration To register for this event, visit the event webpage. Share this flyer with your network.
September 24, 2020 Jeremiah’s Place: Provider Engagement Session Are you interested in learning about Jeremiah’s Place and its services? Join them on October 7 and November 5 for their online “Provider Engagement Sessions.” About Jeremiah’s Place protects children and strengthens families by providing a safe haven of respite, health, renewal, and support for children when their families are experiencing a critical need for child care. These online sessions will explore: what Jeremiah’s Place is and what services they provide; why families might need to access services at Jeremiah’s Place; how providers can make a successful referral; and the Jeremiah’s Place intake process. Registration To register and learn more, visit the event webpage. Registration for the November 5 session will be provided in the coming weeks. For questions, please email Renee Schmitzer at empower@jeremiahsplace.org. Share this flyer with your network.
Jeremiah’s Place: Provider Engagement Session Are you an early learning provider who is interested in learning about Jeremiah’s Place and its services? Join Jeremiah’s Place on November 5 for their online “Provider Engagement Session.” About Jeremiah’s Place protects children and strengthens families by providing a safe haven of respite, health, renewal, and support for children when their families are experiencing a critical need for child care. These online sessions will explore: what Jeremiah’s Place is and what services they provide; why families might need to access services at Jeremiah’s Place; how providers can make a successful referral; and the Jeremiah’s Place intake process. Registration This event is intended for child care providers. To register, visit the event webpage. For questions, please email Renee Schmitzer at empower@jeremiahsplace.org. Share this flyer with your network.
July 17, 2020 Wait, My Grief Has a Shape? | Webinar Join Highmark Caring Place on August 5 for their webinar, “Wait, My Grief Has a Shape? Understanding the Loss Experience for Our Children and Ourselves.” About Grief is often experienced not as a set of linear stages, but as a spiral where emotions come and go in intensity. In their webinar, Highmark Caring Place will discuss the spiral shape of grief and explain the differences in these spirals between adults and children. In understanding our grief experiences, and those of our children, we are better able to manage our own grief and support others in their grief journeys. Learning Objectives By attending, participants will be able to: recognize the distinctions between various models of grief, identify common grief responses, and discuss the differences in grief between adults and children. Registration To register, visit the event webpage. Registrations must be submitted no later than Tuesday, August 4. More Information For questions, contact Patrick McKelvey at patrick.mckelvey@highmark.com. Share this flyer with your network.
February 20, 2020 Helping Youth Deal with Grief and Trauma Join the Highmark Caring Place on March 13 for their workshop exploring how to help children cope with grief and trauma. About This training provided by the Highmark Caring Place, A Center for Grieving Children, Adolescents and Their Families, will explore grief and loss for children with a focus on how traumatic events may impact a child’s ability to cope. Participants will begin to learn about activities that may support children in a variety of environments to help with healing. Following the presentation, participants are invited to take a brief tour of the Caring Place to learn more about the program. Register To register, visit the Eventbrite page. Parking is available free of cost in the Stanwix Riverfront Center Garage located at 625 Stanwix Street. More Information For more information, contact APOST at 412.456.6876.
April 26, 2019 Harnessing the ‘Power of Play’ to Build Equitable Cities When planners and community stakeholders are hashing out asset inventories and needs assessments to figure out the state of neighborhood amenities, a few things are sure to almost always make the list: more access to green space, safer crosswalks, more parking in business districts, gateways, and wayfinding signage. When planners design communities to be safer, healthier, more sustainable, and more walkable, how often do those efforts make a community more playful? The Power of Play Play is powerful. In the sphere of early childhood education, experts recognize the unparalleled importance of play in learning and development. In business, play is seen as a gateway to greater creativity, collaboration, and breakthrough innovation. In society, communities that play together stay together. Isn’t it time we embraced playfulness as a quality worth designing into our urban spaces? Perhaps the trouble is that the word itself seems just too playful to be taken seriously. We need more words for play. More Words for Play The Finnish language has no shortage of words for play. For Finns, playing a game is different from playing a sport, which is different from playing music. There are distinct Finnish words for children’s play and the play that adults engage in. There’s even a Finnish word that means both “work” and “play.” This rich vocabulary shows that in Finland, play is a valued part of life that isn’t confined just to kids’ stuff. Where else would we see play show up in our plans, if only we had the words for it? What would we call the kind of play that brings strangers together? What would we call playing around with ideas and possibilities? It’s questions like these that motivated a coalition of public and private sector partners to start the Playful Pittsburgh Collaborative and organize a citywide movement to expand the presence of play in every community. As a mid-size, post-industrial city in the midst of dramatic changes spurred in large part by new development, we see a mandate to build greater public demand for play as an integral part of the city’s future. Playful Pittsburgh Collaborative Locally in southwestern Pennsylvania, the Playful Pittsburgh Collaborative is working to make play a part of the urban infrastructure. Since 2013, members of the Playful Pittsburgh Collaborative have been working together to find and remove the barriers holding communities back from experiencing the social benefits of play. These efforts have brought together leaders and representatives from the city’s parks and museums, human services and municipal agencies, arts and sustainability nonprofits, and community development groups. Along the way, we’ve encountered distinct manifestations of play that we really wish had their own name. Learn more about the work of The Playful Pittsburgh Collaborative and read the full article from the urban planning magazine Planetizen. (shared via Planetizen)
April 5, 2019 Jeremiah’s Place: Block Party & Resource Fair Join Jeremiah’s Place on June 22 for a fun-filled day of festivities at their Block Party and Resource Fair. Activities This year’s event will include: Resource tables, Storymobile, Fire truck tour, Face painting, Arts and crafts, Free picnic and carnival food, Free wellness sessions, Raffle prizes, and much more! This event is FREE and open to the public, rain or shine! Share this flyer with your networks.
March 27, 2019 Jeremiah’s Place: Spring Open House Join Jeremiah’s Place for their Spring Open House on Thursday, April 25th to take a tour of Pittsburgh’s only emergency child care center, explore volunteer and employment opportunities, and learn more about how you can utilize their services. About Jeremiah’s Place Jeremiah’s Place provides emergency care for children ages 0-6 for a few hours or a few days based on the needs of the family. The primary focus at Jeremiah’s place is to keep children safe and to provide a supportive solution for families in need. Located in the East Liberty section of Pittsburgh, Jeremiah’s Place is staffed by trauma-informed caregivers and social workers. All services provided by Jeremiah’s Place are free, available 24 hours a day, and most importantly, judgment-free.
