Friends of Karen was invited recently to participate in Forbes EQ (Equity Quotient) BrandVoice, a content marketing initiative. We are thrilled to have this opportunity, at no cost to Friends of Karen, to showcase the expertise of our talented team to a wider audience. This relationship with Forbes enabled us to develop and publish a series of articles for the Forbes EQ BrandVoice website. The articles address a range of topics, including guidance on having difficult conversations with your children, advice on supporting parents through a child’s serious illness, how volunteering builds connections, sibling relationships, and more.

“While Friends of Karen supports families in acute distress, our approach has applications to everyday situations in any family,” Family Support Program Director Rhonda Ryan, LCSW said. “The depth of knowledge and experience on our staff of social workers, child life specialists, and creative arts therapists makes us well positioned to share practical advice with a broader audience of families.”

The following passage is an expansion of the advice shared in the online Forbes EQ article “How To Help Your Kids Express The Hard Stuff” authored by Friends of Karen Creative Arts Therapist and Sibling Support Program Coordinator Siobhan Casey, ATR-BC, LCAT. Parents may feel ill-equipped to deal with their children’s emotions, so they divert the discussion elsewhere or minimize their feelings. Validating children’s feelings is critical to their processing and coping. Our instinct may be to solve problems and downplay disappointment. Everyone wants to feel validated, and children are no different. We all would rather hear “That must be tough” than “Suck it up.” Providing validation allows children to process their emotions, which makes way for resilience and problem-solving. The goal is to raise children with high emotional intelligence who will be able to cope with conflict and loss throughout their lives.

Both ill children and their siblings are grappling with major changes and losses big and small. We often encourage parents to validate this whether the child has expressed this or not. Saying something like “I’m sorry this is happening but I’m here for you” can make a child feel understood and open up dialogue. Now you can brainstorm to help improve the situation together.

We invite you to read Friends of Karen’s articles on the Forbes EQ BrandVoice website, click here.

Let us know your thoughts; your feedback is important to us. Please email us at: info@friendsofkaren.org.