The Junior League of Peoria is reviving a program dormant since the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Healthy Minds, Healthy Neighborhoods” is a three-session course to give parents a toolbox to foster their developing children. The materials cover topics like self-regulation, decision-making and relationship building for kids between kindergarten and sixth grade.
“At the end of the day, [parents] know their children better than anybody and they’ve probably tried a lot of different things,” said Sandy Garza, president of the Junior League of Peoria. “And with that, what you’re going to find is, when we do these sessions there’s a lot of opportunities to share between scenarios and ways to solve the problem using tools in the toolbox.”
The course material comes from the original program, created and run by the Heart of Illinois United Way prior to 2020. Garza said the Junior League saw youth mental health at the top of local priorities in a recent community needs assessment and found the program fills the right niche.
“[United Way] just didn’t have the capacity anymore to execute,” she said. “So, we’ve taken that program and we are trained on how to teach it. We have all the materials, we’re providing that.”
The class is split into three sessions at the Peoria Playhouse Museum from 5 to 6:30 p.m. on March 5, March 19 and April 2. They’re free to attend and the Junior League provides childcare and dinner during the training.
Garza said any parent attending at least one of the sessions also gets a one year membership to Peoria PlayHouse Museum.
“It is literally open to any parents, grandparents, foster parents, if you care for children, even if you’re a teacher for kindergarten through sixth grade,” she said. “And it seriously is a toolbox. It’s not only for someone who’s struggling. It can be on the front end to prevent the struggling.”
Registration is available online.
