Parent Child Conntection Through Expression
Group Family Therapy
Philadelphia, PA

Call us today to sign up for this FREE workshop for Black youth and their caregivers on March 20th from 2-4p!!

 

Recognize and understand your emotions and the effect they can have on your mind and bodies

Too often, people get caught up in the hustle and bustle of life. Over time, we lose connection with our bodies and ultimately start to just float through life. We aren’t connected to ourselves, which leads to us feeling disconnected from each other. This disconnect can cause issues within our relationships – relationships with others and ourselves. Between the speed of life, the disconnect, and our responses to underlying emotions we start to create distance with those we love most. These experiences ring true in the BIPOC communities of Philadelphia. 

What we’re craving when we feel disconnected is to feel. Within the fast pace of life, we start to numb out or suppress what we’re experiencing. Sometimes, if we suppress our feelings, they come out in inopportune times, such as having angry outbursts that seem like they come out of nowhere, having an anxiety/panic attack, avoiding things altogether (isolating, shutting down, etc.), or freezing in our tracks. 

One way to slow things down and feel more connected both to ourselves and to others is through self-expression. Instead of muting the emotions that come from life’s experiences, it’s beneficial to lean into those feelings and see what they have to say. Through creativity like art, music, or body movement, we can learn how to express ourselves in a way that feels productive and helps us connect. This workshop is targeted at helping individuals from Philadelphia’s BIPOC communities learn how to express themselves emotionally so that they can feel an overall sense of connection instead of disconnect and to help them slow things down. 

Why this workshop is so important: 

We had the opportunity to sit down with our workshop co-facilitator and intern, Leonni, a high school senior in a Philadelphia Charter School, to discuss her thoughts on why this workshop is so important to offer to Black youth and their caregivers. We asked her specific questions related to the workshop goals for what you as a participant will get out of the workshop. Here is what she said! 

Why is it important to understand emotions and how they affect kids/teens?

“The significance of recognizing how emotions are channeled is essential. Having the ability to process and operate with different emotions can influence individuals to be their authentic selves. They will be able to live their lives and learn freely. This has a large effect on Black youths because they experience many self-conflicting predicaments, such as racial discrimination. Since they are still developing, they absorb everything that is said and done to or around them. So youths must learn to express themselves so that they can be successful within their development, mental stability, and lives.”

Learning coping skills you can use to navigate caregiver/child emotional interactions.

How can coping skills help to increase caregiver/child interactions?

“Constructing coping mechanisms for the child and caregiver is very important for their relationship. Instead of yelling/screaming or fighting, they will develop the tools to have positive solutions. For example, if the child gets a low grade on an assignment, the caregiver would investigate calmly. The caregiver would also check the child’s mental state and offer coping mechanisms to the child that the caregiver has constructed. All-in-all, the child will express what they are experiencing and the caregiver will support them. Trust and communication will be instilled in the foundation of the child and the child will latch on and adopt for themselves.”

Connect with your child/caregiver through emotional expression.

What are some ways that we can help increase caregiver/child emotional expression (hint, give your thoughts about how alternatives to talk therapy can be helpful activities that we are doing)?

“For clinicians to guide caregivers and children to have a connection to express their emotions, they must create different exercises. Talk therapy and art therapy provide different routes to a successful relationship of expressing emotions. It takes time and effort. For example, a clinician would give a child a pen and paper to write three words of what they are feeling. The child would take two minutes to do the exercise and then share it with the clinician. The clinician will then be able to understand how the child is feeling. After the clinician receives consent from the child to include their caregiver in the session, the caregiver would learn the objective and review the child’s message. With the child’s written expression the caregiver will be able to see what the child is feeling. A discussion of the issues and then a solution will take place. The takeaway would be that the child will be proactive in their way of expressing and the caregiver will gain the ability to support them. The caregiver will also benefit from the same activity for their issues with the child and themselves. Those are just baby steps to verbalize their emotions.”

Participate in interactive activities that help you to connect with yourself and each other.

What activities are we going to do during the workshop, and how can those activities help someone to connect with themselves and their children?

“The workshop is going to be focused on different forms of art. We will have an art activity (which will include coloring and drawing), a writing activity, and a dancing activity. The activities will help the children and caregivers recognize their barriers from being able to express themselves and be themselves genuinely. They will walk away with new techniques to redirect themselves and express themselves. The caregivers’ relationship with the children will be brighter because they’ll have the tools to support and teach the children. They’ll be able to alter their behaviors and responses as well.”

We look forward to seeing you at the workshop and helping you. Our goals are to have you gain insights to your own emotional experiences and how to express them in ways that keep you connected and in relationships that feel healthy and supportive to you.