Supporting Children's Emotional Health in August

What's the best way to soothe a child's emotional pain and to teach a child coping mechanisms that will serve her well?

• How can some underlying causes of a child's emotional distress can be addressed with nutrition, bodywork, remedies,  energy work, supplements or other holistic therapies?
• How can addressing our own responses to stress impact our children?

Our panel will share a number of resources and tools to support children’s emotional health, including information on healing modalities and local resources.

• Moderator Jessica Haney, Holistic Moms Arlington/Alexandria chapter founder and co-leader and founder of resource website Mindful Healthy Life of Metro DC
• Sally DiCesare, Craniosacral therapist at Your Blissful Journey
• Emily Griffin, LICSW, family therapist at Happy Parents, Happy Babies
• Laura Freix, Accunect practitioner, BodyTalk practitioner, and Holistic Lifestyle Coach with iEmbraceWellness
• Marya Michael of Spiritual Coaching for Children 
• Lindsey Vick, Wellness Director at Sunflowers Healing and Wellness and Holistic practitioner: hypnotherapy, Reiki energy healing, HypnoBirthing, birth Doula

We all find ourselves trying to help our children through tough times and upsetting situations, including small daily hurts and everyday challenges as well as larger health issues, death of loved ones, divorce, and other sources of stress. 

Our panel will share holistic approaches to children's emotional well-being that will serve them (and us!) in a variety of situations.

Location: Unitarian Universalist Church of Arlington, 4444 Arlington Blvd at S. George Mason Dr.
Note that the 8/14 issue of the Washington Post incorrectly listed address of our old meeting location. Please find us at UUCA at Rt. 50 and G. Mason!

Date/Time: Thursday, August 21, 7:00-9:00 p.m. (Doors open at 6:50)

Note: While children are always welcome at Holistic Moms' meetings, due to the sensitive nature of the topic, parents might want to leave children at home for this meeting if possible.

How do we do it? July discussion on "Strategies for Holistic Living"

We always say, "We all do the best we can." And we mean it! But sometimes our individual ideas of "best" don't match up to our reality ..or to something we see on Facebook or Pinterest. On the other hand, sometimes we surprise ourselves at the progress we've made and need a reminder to pat ourselves on the back!

On July 17, we talked about it all: the good, the not-so-good, the waiting-for-inspiration (or until the kids are out of diapers!)

This was an open discussion of how we make this holistic parenting journey work.

• What do we do without thinking now that might have seemed hard five years ago? 
• What progress has been slow but steady? 
• What do we dream of incorporating into our lives but can't imagine how?

We learned from and supported one another! Commiserated, inquired, and inspired!

We used a worksheet to think about our values and identify goals and strategies that align with our values. It also had a list of areas of our lives to think about. Email jessicahmnarlalex (at) gmail (dot) com for a copy.

Topics for consideration were totally open, but we talked about how we pursue holistic living in the areas of:

• diet & nutrition
• health & wellness
• home life, family life, mindfulness & spirituality 
• organizing, cleaning & using spaces in our home and garden/balcony/yard
• service, volunteerism & wider community