Workshop

Too Safe for Their Own Good: How Risk and Responsibility Help Children and Teens Thrive

Description

As a family therapist, Dr. Michael Ungar has become concerned that we may be keeping our children too safe for their own good. If we adults think back to when we were young, didn’t the risks we take and the responsibilities we had help prepare us for the challenges we would face later in our lives? Over his years of practice, Michael has seen a disturbing trend: a connection between all the security we offer children and troubling behaviors like anxiety, a lack of responsibility for one’s self and others, drug abuse, early sexual activity, and a lack of respect for adults. In this presentation, Michael will discuss ways to offer our children and teenagers the right amount of risk and responsibility. He will share what he has learned from families who have found ways to provide their children with the 'risk-takers advantage', helping them to grow up to be competent, caring contributors to their families, schools, and communities.

Date:  Tuesday, March 20, 2012
Time:  12 - 1:30 p.m.
Cost:  $40 per person (includes lunch)
Location:  Ackerman Institute, 149 East 78th Street, NYC 10075
Information:  Brenda Nikelsberg, (212) 879-4900 ext. 108, bnikelsberg@ackerman.org

About the Presenter: Michael Ungar, Ph.D., is a Killam Professor of Social Work at Dalhousie University where he directs the Resilience Research Centre that coordinates more than five million dollars in funded research in a dozen countries.  He writes professionally for parents and educators. Among his most recent works are We Generation: Raising Socially Responsible Children and Teens and Too Safe For Their Own Good: How Risk and Responsibility Help Teens Thrive. Michael maintains a family therapy practice in association with Phoenix Youth Programs, a prevention program for street youth and their families, and was the recipient of the Canadian Association of Social Workers Distinguished Service Award for Nova Scotia in 2010. His work has been featured in numerous magazines (Reader’s Digest, Body and Soul, Today’s Parent) and newspapers (Globe and Mail, Toronto Star, USA Today) around the world, and he regularly appears on radio and television. His blog, Nurturing Resilience, can be read on Psychology Today’s website.