Dean Jane Close Conoley of UC Santa Barbara’s Gevirtz School will lead three free evening workshops for parents in the Hope School District beginning with the event “Mindful Children” on Wednesday, November 14 from 7 – 8:30 pm at Hope School MPR. A question-answer session is included in each workshop. The research that provides the evidence for these workshops comes in part from UCSB’s Carol Ackerman Positive Psychology Clinic. Faculty and graduate students in this Center offer services in coaching, goal setting, education, and therapy to UCSB students and Santa Barbara County families. 

Hope District parents may sign up for the workshops or get more information by contacting Carrie Garner, District GATE Coordinator, at cgarner@hopeschooldistrict.org.

The first workshop, “Mindful Children,” will offer strategies for parents to use to help children learn how to set goals, persist in achieving academic success and avoid anxiety since many parents are concerned with their children’s ability to focus on tasks and set positive goals. The second workshop, to be held January 10, 2013, will offer specific advice based on recent research about what parents should do to increase their child’s well being. The final workshop, to be held on April 10, 2013, will help parents focus on building virtues with their children as a basis for positive child development. Courageous, persistent, resilient, kind, emphatic, compassionate, forgiving and hopeful children have the best chance for success in life.

Dr. Jane Close Conoley has served as Dean of the Gevirtz Graduate School of Education since 2006. Conoley is well known for the depth and impact of her research in educational psychology. She is the author or co-author of over 100 books, chapters, and articles on educational and mental health issues, and has been the principal or co-principal investigator of grants with awards totaling over $20 million.