SUPPORT FOR MOTHERS

Amid the stressors of a global pandemic, Los Alamos partners offer a local solution. A free, professionally facilitated support group for mothers that meets from 10-11:30 am at The Family YMCA starts Tuesday, June 1. Registration is required to reserve a spot, which is limited to eight participants.

The support program meets on Tuesdays through July 27, except June 22, for eight weeks. It is not a therapy program, but will be facilitated by Karla Palmer, who is a therapist at Los Alamos Family Council (LAFC).

Jordan Redmond, LAFC Executive Director, said, “We are excited to partner with the Y to put together a pilot program for the community where the focus is on mothers. The program will help mothers learn how to identify stress and its causes, and help them develop coping skills to deal with that stress.”

The LANL Community Programs Office, through a grant, is funding the program in order to provide this free of cost.

“We’re hoping to give moms somewhere they can go to safely process the pandemic stressors that have been going on in their lives and their families’ lives,” Redmond said. “While somethings are opening up, we wanted to provide a venue to mothers to develop some bonds and help them process everything they have been going through.”

Redmond said the first support group meeting will set protocols of boundaries and guidelines so that the participants will have a professional and productive experience.

He said it is being held in partnership with the Y because, “We wanted for it to be accessible, there is a big difference between support group and group therapy, and this is a support group. We wanted to be able to meet people where they are at.”

He said if the program is successful, he hopes to offer at least one more. “If it is wildly successful, we would like to expand to different audiences.”