Updates & Announcements
Next Seminar in Professional Training Series scheduled for April 8th, 2008
Please join us at the College of Saint Elizabeth on Tuesday, April 8th from 6:30 - 8:30pm for the next installment in our on-going Professional Training Series. Previous sessions have included topics such as Grief Complications Related to Suicide and Homicide and Traumatic Reminders.
GOALs Center therapist, Madeline Paske Baulig (LCSW, CGP) will present Children and Grief: Designing Age Appropriate Interventions. Please join us for a review of the current evidence-based data about the impact of death on children. This review will form the foundation for discussion about the design of intervention strategies that can be used in both individual and group practice. Pre-registration is required. To register or obtain more information, please contact Kevin Duffy at (973) 800-9661 or email kevin@goalscenter.org.
GOALs Center Schedules New Groups, Trainings and Presentations
The GOALs Center continues to expand in 2008. February marked the start of a new counseling support group for families with children grieving the death of a parent. Groups meet on Saturday mornings in Morristown and the theme for these spring sessions is "The Growing Season". The program consists of multiple groups for children, an adult group and babysitting for children too young to participate. These groups will function as a closed group (not accepting new participants) until June.
On Monday, January 28th, GOALs staff started a new weekly counseling support group for widows with adult or grown children and step-children. The theme of this group is "Re-inventing Yourself". The group will run as a closed group for six consecutive weeks and at that point new members can and will be accepted.
March 11th, April 9th, May 13th and June 10th mark the next dates in our Professional Training Series for mental health providers. All sessions will be held at the College of Saint Elizabeth from 6:30 8:30pm. Maureen Underwood, GOALs therapists and a host of guest presenters will cover a variety of topics ranging from 'Children and Grief: Designing Age Appropriate Interventions' and 'Death of a Child: Systemic & Clinical Challenges' to 'Understanding Resiliency and its Role in Healing After a Loss.'
In July, GOALs travels to Michigan to reach a new audience. The National Institute for Trauma and Loss in Children is holding their Childhood Practitioners Assembly from July 15th - July 18th. GOALs staff will present on Wednesday, July 16th and Maureen Underwood will also sit on an Experts Panel on Friday, July 18th.
Contact Kevin Duffy at (973) 800-9661 or email kevin@goalscenter.org for more information about any of these groups, trainings or presentations.
2nd Annual Holiday Family Event a Success!
On Sunday, December 16th, 13 families came together with 22 volunteers at Saint Patrick's Church in Chatham for the 2nd Annual GOALs Center Holiday Gingerbread Event. After enjoying lunch together and the opportunity to reconnect with old friends and make new ones, families rolled up their sleeves and began creating. There were plenty of sweet supplies to engage their imaginations in making all sorts of houses, including bowls upon bowls of candy and sweets in addition to pounds of gingerbread and icing. When the building was finished, there were 43 smiling faces enjoying the spectacle of gingerbread cabins and mansions along with gingerbread dog houses, candy ponds and marshmallow snowmen. After the individual houses were completed, family members came together in the spirit of community to add candy ornaments to a large gingerbread tree.
26 Volunteers Work to Make The Amazing Race III a Success!
The GOALs Center for Families sponsored The Amazing Race III on Sunday, September 16th. Nearly 60 participants and volunteers spent a beautiful day outside at Old Troy Park in Parsippany-Troy Hills. Over the course of three hours, participants deciphered cryptic clues, navigated the trails and worked together as a team to complete ten challenges, ranging from creative to physical. At "Family Trail Mix" participants had to choose from an assortment of goodies to fill their bag. Depending on the choice of food, participants had to recount a particular experience from their lives (i.e. their favorite family vacation or a 'sour' experience). One of the particularly popular events, “Bridge Building”, required families to construct a bridge approximately three feet in length from popsicle sticks, straws, tape and variety of other supplies. Once completed, they were required to slide a toy car from one side to the other in order to obtain their next clue.
The GOALs Center would like to take a moment to recognize and thank all of the wonderful volunteers that make our events possible. Events like The Amazing Race III wouldn’t be possible without significant volunteer support. Twenty six volunteers sacrificed five hours of their weekend to provide a fun and exciting event for families in grief. Without their dedication none of this would be possible. Once again, the feedback from participating families was overwhelmingly positive. Some comments included "We spent a beautiful day with amazing people having lots of fun" and "What a great way to be relaxed, laugh and have tons of fun with your kids."
A heartfelt thank you from all of us at The GOALs Center to Cathy Ayres, Santy and Yvette Bauza, Scott Bernstein, Patrick Clinton, Gloria and Steve Culmone, Anne Evered, John Fila, Leslie Grant, Sara Haim, Christine Henderson, Carolyn and Erin Hession, Lori and Lisa Hart, Jay Karlinski, Mike Kerwin, Lynne Kraemer, Cindy Mairs, AJ & Christina Rooney, Susan Ristovski, Madeline Paske-Baulig, Diane Travers and Laura Winters.
GOALs Center Staff Trains 13 Local Mental Health Providers
On Wednesday, September 19th at the College of Saint Elizabeth, GOALs Center staff provided a full-day training to local mental health professionals. GOALs therapists provided detailed information about the GOALs model, Worden's "Tasks of Grief" and the differences in grief at developmental levels. Participants were also asked to complete a variety of creative activities that are used throughout the GOALs curriculum. Special thanks to Dr. Laura Winters and Lynne Kraemer at the College of Saint Elizabeth's for all their help in securing a location and providing the necessary equipment.
GOALs staff will start to provide monthly two hour seminars in the evenings on a variety of topics related to families and grief, with the first to begin in November. For more information on future training sessions or to register, please contact Kevin Duffy at (973) 800-9661 or kevin@goalscenter.org.