Tag results for: family


Relatives as Parents Program (RAPP)

Category: Season 9

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Darlene Sansone, Extension Educator

Darlene is an PennState Extension Educator based in Lawrence County, PA. She works in the Food, Families, and Health unit and provides community-based educational programs related to Family Strengths, Early Childhood, Parenting Education for custody, divorce and truancy, Strengthening Families, Better Kid Care, and the Relatives as Parents (RAPP) program.

Rozalia Horvath, Extension Educator

Rozalia is an Extension Educator in the PennState Extension Food, Families, and Health unit, based in Centre County, PA. She delivers community-based educational programs related to Type 2 diabetes, cooking, healthy lifestyle, cancer prevention, financial literacy for older adults, Alzheimer’s disease, and the Relatives as Parents (RAPP) program.

If you’re raising a grandchild or another relative’s child, you’re not alone. In Pennsylvania, over 250,000 children are living in homes where a relative is the head of the household. The Relatives as Parents program aims to expand supportive services available for PA relative caregivers and the children they are raising by helping them find needed information and resources, find and enroll in support groups that serve kinship care families, and engage in family-based recreational and relationship-enhancing activities.

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Mending the Stress Fence

Category: Season 9

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Jacqueline Amor-Zitzelberger, MA, Extension Educator

Jacque’ is an PennState Extension Educator based in Clearfield, PA. She works in the Food, Families, and Health unit and provides community-based educational programs related to Early Childhood Education, Family Strengths, Behavioral Health & Substance Misuse, and the Relatives as Parents (RAPP) program.

Agriculture ranks among one of the most stressful and hazardous industries. Farmers face numerous risks, including personal injuries, extreme and unpredictable weather conditions, machine breakdowns and rollovers, disease outbreaks in their herds or flocks, and fluctuating crop prices. Managing these challenges can create undue stress on the farmer and farm family. Mending the Stress Fence is a 45-minute webinar, developed by Michigan State University Extension in response to the increasing levels of stress in the farming community.

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Kinship Family Bonding

Category: Season 9

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Matthew Kaplan, Extension Educator

Professor Kaplan is a prominent leader in the intergenerational studies field, conducting research, developing curricular resources, and providing leadership and guidance in the development and evaluation of intergenerational programs in the U.S. and internationally.

Darlene Sansone, Extension Educator

Darlene is an PennState Extension Educator based in Lawrence County, PA. She works in the Food, Families, and Health unit and provides community-based educational programs related to Family Strengths, Early Childhood, Parenting Education for custody, divorce and truancy, Strengthening Families, Better Kid Care, and the Relatives as Parents (RAPP) program.

Learn the benefits of engaging in family bonding activities. We will also discuss cooking, having meals together, playing games, watching movies, and other activities that promote family closeness. Family Bonding can reduce stress, create positive relationships, and generate lasting memories for the entire family. Learn creative ways grandfamilies can make new family traditions and ways of being, learning, and growing together.

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Understanding the Legal Challenges of Kinship Families

Category: Season 9

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Jacqueline Amor-Zitzelberger, MA, Extension Educator

Jacque’ is an PennState Extension Educator based in Clearfield, PA. She works in the Food, Families, and Health unit and provides community-based educational programs related to Early Childhood Education, Family Strengths, Behavioral Health & Substance Misuse, and the Relatives as Parents (RAPP) program.

Kristina P. Brant, Ph.D., Extension Educator

Kristina is a sociologist interested in the family and community dimensions of substance use. Her research concerns topics such as institutional responses to parental substance use disorder, family dynamics amid kinship care, and community understandings of addiction and recovery. She utilizes qualitative methods, including ethnography and in-depth interviewing, to examine these issues in rural U.S. communities, particularly rural Appalachia.

Kinship Legal Issues discusses the physical and legal custody of children held by kin caregivers and the implications of these different legal arrangements for families. There will be further discussion on the statutes under Title 23, which specifically impact grandparents and their ability to file for primary physical and legal custody, partial custody, and visitation.

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Substance Use, Stigma, and Support

Category: Season 9

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Kristina P. Brant, Ph.D., Extension Educator

Kristina Brant is an Assistant Professor of Rural Sociology at Penn State. She is a qualitative researcher who studies the family and community dimensions of substance use. Her work has been recognized by the American Sociological Association and the Rural Sociological Society, and it has been funded by multiple organizations including the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the Center for Rural Pennsylvania. She also works with Penn State Extension to put research into practice through community-based education and programming in rural Pennsylvanian communities.

Since the start of the opioid crisis, communities across the U.S. have been devastated by the growing impacts of opioid use disorder and overdose. Pennsylvania has had one of the highest rates of overdose deaths in the entire country. In this talk, Dr. Brant will discuss one of the biggest factors which impedes people with opioid use disorder from achieving and maintaining successful recovery: stigma. She will also discuss one of the biggest factors which can help people with opioid use disorder achieve and maintain recovery: social support. Mitigating future impacts of the opioid crisis depends on cultivating communities where substance use is destigmatized, and where there is ample support for people with substance use disorder and people in recovery.

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