Episode Details

Anthony Godfrey:
Hello and welcome to the Supercast. I'm your host, Superintendent Anthony Godfrey. Do you ever feel like you need a little extra support for your family or your child? If that's the case, maybe it's time to visit the Jordan Family Education Center. The Center located inside River's Edge School, provides support services, counseling and classes free of charge for families and students in Jordan School District. On this episode of the Supercast, we find out what classes like Blues Busters or Superhero Social Skills can do for students and how families can benefit from the free short-term counseling offered by school, psychologists and counselors. I'm here speaking with Fulvia Franco, Program Specialist at the District level who works with school psychologists and our elementary counselors and Sarah Robbins, the School Psychologist from Daybreak Elementary School to talk with me about the Jordan Family Education Center. Thanks to both of you for being here with me. Let's start with you Fulvia. Can you just give me a quick overview? What is Jordan Family Education Center?

Fulvia:
The best way is to explain the kind of services that we offer to families and children in the district, students in the district. First of all, we provide short-term child centered family counseling for families, and that's up to 10 weeks. There's no additional charge to families for participating in the services. We also have a variety of parenting classes that are offered three times a year during fall winter and spring quarter. Classes typically go for six weeks and they target a number of areas, including social skills. We have classes like Making and Keeping Friends, a class called Blues Busters for children who may be sad or worried. We have Effective Parent Training for parents who want ideas on parenting their children. We have classes for parents who might have a child with autism, and we have Anger Management Classes for elementary, middle school, high school and adults.

Anthony Godfrey:
That's a great variety of classes. Now, Jordan Family Education Center, you go way back. Let's talk about when did the Jordan Family Education Center start?

Fulvia:
The Jordan Family Education Center was established by the district in 1979. They initially had a coordinator there for five years and then had person, an interim person. And now I've been the coordinator every since.

Anthony Godfrey:
Before we talk about classes specifically, let's talk a little bit more about the counseling that's available for families. Sarah, let's talk with you about how that counseling works. Can you tell me what are some examples of when a family might choose to participate in that and what they can expect if they sign up?

Sarah:
We have families that come to seek counseling services for all kinds of reasons. Sometimes the issues are a little more acute and have just come up and sometimes they're a little more long-term. Some examples of things we see students for are maybe adjusting to a new divorce or a new move. Maybe they're experiencing some anxiety or depression and the family's not really sure how to help them, and the student doesn't really know what to do. At the Family Education Center, we can provide a little more in-depth services