LOS ALAMOS JJAB NEWS RELEASE
The Community Conversations program is a collaboration between JJAB, Los Alamos County Social Services, Los Alamos Public Schools Prevention Program, Los Alamos Family Council, Family Strengths Network and Los Alamos Municipal Court.
The series was created to build community through connection and conversation while discussing important issues facing youth in Los Alamos County. Every Community Conversation is held in response to emerging needs in the community with the goal of providing relevant and factual information on youth issues, identifying gaps facing our community and advocating for positive change in addressing challenges.
Community Conversations was created in 2019 by the Los Alamos High School (LAHS) Student Prevention Team (formerly known as the RAPS group). The first event was titled Community Conversation: Strengthening Support, Addressing the signs of sadness, self-harm, and suicide in youth. The event was held at UNM-Los Alamos and designed to be informational and interactive while providing opportunities for attendees to develop skills and make connections.
Building on the work of the LAHS Student Prevention Team, LAPS Prevention Specialist Kristine Coblentz and JJAB’s first Executive Director Lisa Zuhn held a Community Conversation in February 2020 on the topic building youth resilience. Coblentz and Zuhn envisioned a program where youth-serving organizations, parents, or any member of the community could share a meal and engage in meaningful conversation while promoting social and professional connections, especially since many individuals who live in the Los Alamos community relocate here and are not near their families and support networks. More importantly, the co-organizers wanted to make sure that each youth in the community had access to a trusted adult informed on important youth issues.
Unfortunately, after the 2020 in-person Community Conversation, the COVID pandemic occurred which resulted in subsequent events being held online for several years. In-person events resumed in March 2023, when the co-organizers of Community Conversations held an event on fentanyl awareness, which was attended by more than 60 professionals in the Los Alamos community.
Several years after its creation, the Community Conversations program is thriving. Several topics are being planned for the remainder of 2024, all of which address emerging trends and relationship-building.
The next Community Conversation is scheduled for 6 p.m. Tuesday, April 9. The event is titled, “My kid asked WHAT?!” Parenting can feel like a lonely job, and kids sometimes say things or ask about topics that parents find difficult to address, like sex or self-harming. This event will allow participants to interact with panelists who have experience addressing tough topics in healthy ways while building connections with other parents to learn strategies and receive support.
All parents and caregivers in the community are invited to attend this event and on April 9 and to bring questions, build connections and be part of the change!
Anyone with a topic they would like to see addressed through the Community Conversations series, is encouraged to contact JJAB Executive Director Rachel Mohr-Richards at info@losalamosjjab.com.