New York/Grenada NGO, reachwithin, with St. George’s University (SGU) and Windward Islands Research and Education Foundation (WINDREF), announces its second annual two day conference, Caribbean Children and Caregivers: The Importance of Their Relationships to take place on Thursday 2 and Friday 3 July 2015 at SGU.
Combining current theory with practical interactive workshops, the conference will focus on the importance of developing healthy relationships between the child and the caregiver/teacher to help improve the child’s short and long-term behavioural outcome.
Open to all carers of children across the tri-island state of Grenada, Carriacou and Petite Martinique, reachwithin looks forward to welcoming a broad range of interested community members including parents and step-parents, relatives, teachers, care home workers, Au Pairs, nursery workers, roving caregivers, teachers and child protection staff, all or whom will receive a certificate at the conclusion.
The conference will bring together keynote speakers that are world leaders in the field of early childhood social-emotional development. They are Dr. Stephen Porges, a Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; Dr. John Hornstein, a research associate at Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston as well as a faculty member of the Touchpoints Project; and Dr. C. Sue Carter, a behavioural neuroendocrinologist and Director of the Kinsey Institute and Rudy Professor of Biology at the Indiana University.
The speakers will also work alongside local and international child development professionals to deliver a series of interactive workshops helping attendees to improve their skills in encouraging social-emotional development for children of all ages.
Dr. Richard Honigman, M.D., F.A.A.P and Executive Director of reachwithin said, “Last year’s conference attendance exceeded all our expectations and the positive feedback we received helped us to better tailor this year’s programme. Last year we focused on pre-school children but this year’s conference will focus on children of all ages. We also have an increased number of workshops offering more practical advice and guidance and allowing for more questions to be answered by the speakers.”
The attendance fee is EC$200. Email [email protected] for further registration information. Attendees will receive a conference programme, a conference name badge, morning and afternoon snack, lunch and an attendance certificate.
For over a decade reachwithin has been helping to improve childhood outcomes in Grenada, by offering psycho-social support to children and developmental training for their caregivers. It also assists with the work of Grenada’s Roving Caregiver Programme in efforts to deliver early intervention and care for children and parents within their homes. Please visit www.reachwithin.org for more information.
