The Piedmont Parents Network plans to host a speaker series featuring four sessions each year — two in the fall and two in the spring. While some sessions may focus more on middle school topics and others on high school, we aim to balance the content for all parents. The intention of this series is to provide advice and guidance from local experts in adolescent development so we have the tools we need to best support our children in their school experiences. Everyone is welcome to attend, regardless of your child’s age.
These events are free to attend. If you are a member of PPN, your membership helps support these events.
You can join or make a donation through the Piedmont Store at any time or on-site, where a QR code will be available.
We look forward to seeing you there!
- Parenting Anxious Children, Wednesday, Oct. 23 from 7:00-8:30 pm at the Havens Library.
This session will focus on Middle School age children.
Please register HERE
Registration is not required but helps us plan. Walk-ins welcome!
Mindy Szelap will share insights and knowledge about how parents can shift their behaviors to encourage resilience and independence in kids as a means to reduce anxiety. Question and Answer session to follow the talk, and to continue in separate grade-level PPN meetings.
Mindy Szelap is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker with over 25 years of experience working with children, teens, and families in pediatrics. Ms. Szelap specializes in the treatment of anxiety, OCD, depression, and pediatric chronic illness and pain, utilizing evidence-based treatments, including cognitive behavioral therapy, exposure/response prevention, acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), strategic therapy, internal family systems (IFS), and clinical hypnosis. She works extensively with families of young children to interrupt anxious patterns before they take hold. Her background is strongly rooted in pediatrics, child and adolescent development, and behavioral therapies.
- Rethinking Success: Parenting Teens in a High-Pressure World, Tuesday, November 12 from 7:00-8:30 pm, at the PHS Student Center
This session will focus on high school-age students.
Please RSVP by accepting this Google calendar invite, or by responding to PPNPiedmont@gmail.com.
Presented by: Sarah Campbell, LMFT, and Jen Valera, LCSW. Come listen to experienced therapists who have worked with Piedmont families discuss:
- How parents can help teens establish a solid foundation for adulthood
- Parenting adolescents: shifting from micromanager to guide
- How to address the toxic expectation problem high school kids face
The presentation will be followed by a Q&A session
Jen Valera, LCSW is a psychotherapist who has worked with Piedmont families for over twenty years. She specializes in helping teens and their parents re-find trust and common ground. Her favorite clinical work is debunking toxic social expectations and harmful assumptions, sorting through outdated patterns, and supporting her clients to define for themselves what works best for them – in adolescence, adulthood, work-life, partnering, parenting and aging. In addition to psychotherapy, Jen provides clinical supervision and facilitates clinical consultation groups. For more information go to Piedmontpsychotherapy.com.
Sarah Campbell, LMFT is a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist with a private practice in Oakland. She has worked primarily with adolescents and families since her start as an Intern at the PHS Wellness Center in 2007-2008. Sarah is certified as a Yoga Instructor with a specialization in Restorative Yoga and completed the Bauman College Nutrition Consultant program in 2021. For more information go to www.sarahcampbellmft.com
What is PPN?
PPN is a parent-run group that gives parents the opportunity to meet, connect, and talk about topics that are important to them as parents of Piedmont students. Meetings are facilitated by trained volunteer parent peers who help ensure that conversations are productive and inclusive. PPN groups are organized by grade level, and PPN also plans multi-grade-level events.
There are PPN groups for grades 6 to 12. The meeting schedule for each grade can be found HERE.
Please sign up HERE to join the PPN group(s) for your student(s) grade level.
Here are a few reasons our members choose to join:
- Meet fellow parents and make connections in a way that’s harder to do with middle and high school aged children.
- Have a safe place to share their experience as a PHS parent and hear what others are experiencing.
- Learn from fellow parents and their real-life experiences.
- Exposure to other perspectives and experiences than what they or their children are experiencing.
How is the Piedmont Parent Network different from the Piedmont Parents’ Club?
The PMS/PHS/MHS Parents Clubs are similar to PTAs and support a wide range of traditions and activities to create and sustain a robust school experience for the students. PPN is a community-building organization focused on supporting parents as they face the challenges of the teenage years. Parent Club Board meetings are public and governed by Roberts Rules of Order. PPN meetings are informal and private gatherings by grade-level, where confidentiality is maintained.