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Resources for families during the Covid-19 crisis
Articles by Dr John Sharry
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Resources for families during the Covid-19 crisis

Understanding and tackling the issues around Covid-19 is challenging for all of us.  On this page we list resources for individuals, families and parents, on how they can help themselves and their children during this time. We will update the resources regularly.  Please feel free to distribute to anyone you think might benefit.

Four steps to preserving family relationships under lockdown: 1) Manage your own stress; 2) Attending to adult relationships in the family; 3) Talking to children about their worries; 4) Creating a family routine… Read More

Managing family and relationship conflict during Covid crisis

Create space for time apart as well as together and learn to pause, listen and speak up respectfully during conflict Read More

16 tips to help you cope in the new world we live in
Accept the new reality, exercise each day, reach out for support, limit social media use and more… Read More

Helping young children understand social distancing
 We are all stuck at home together and my children can’t understand why they can’t go out more, etc. My four-year-old girl says she misses visiting her Nana (who has COPD) and can’t be visited….  Read More

Talking to children about Coronavirus (Covid-19)
I am wondering how best to talk to my children about coronavirus. Clearly, there is lots of anxiety around.  My 14-year-old daughter, who has a tendency to be dramatic, has been bringing home some mad information…Read More

Articles and Tips from Parents Plus Accredited Facilitators

Supporting Separated Parents Tips and Guidelines by  Gill Moses, Clarecare Family Support Social Worker, Accredited PP Facilitator (Parenting when Separated Programme)

How to get Teens to Stick to the Covid 19 Restrictions: A Guide for Parents  by Suzanne Lindsay, Project Worker Foróige and Accredited Parents Plus Facilitator ( Adolescents Programme)

Marie McGowan, Psychologist and Parents Plus Facilitator shares a lovely ‘Time Capsule workbook’ that parents can use with their children to help them make sense of the crisis.

Visual Aids and other Resources 

Some of our partner agencies have produced excellent resources for families that they have given us permission to distribute. The resources are particularly helpful for professionals who have trained in our Parents Plus Early Years programme and Parents Plus Special Needs Programme, including social workers, nurses, teachers, family support workers, youth workers and psychologists.

Cheeverstown House have put together some information on supporting someone with additional needs during the Coronavirus (Covid-19) closures,  including supporting emotional health, engaging in meaningful activities, using technology, and visual information on Covid-19.

Speech and Language Therapy Departments in Cork and Dublin have produced some great picture guides and schedules to help families explain issues relevant to Novel Coronavirus (Covid-19).

The following child-friendly picture stories have been produced by the HSE Speech and Language Therapy Team at Dublin North Central:

The Speech and Language Therapy Team at Brothers of Charity Services Ireland, Southern Region, kindly produced the following resources:

A downloadable short wordless story, produced by Beyond Words, is also available to help understand what to do if you have Covid-19, and how to keep yourself and those who you care about safe.  It comes with supplementary text at the end of the story and is available to download here.

We will keep our resource page updated for you, with more valuable tools to support families during this time.  We will also share this content with professionals and parents via our newsletter, which you can sign up to here

If you have trained in any of the Parents Plus mental health or parenting programmes, and would like advice on how best to support families during this time, please contact Eileen@parentsplus.ie