Being Strong for Ourselves and Our Families During COVID-19
“And Chicago, we need to love each other with all our hearts today and every day. While this is a time of physical isolation, we still need to stay connected. We need the warmth of smiles, hellos, and thank yous. The words of comfort and acknowledgement that each of us, regardless of station or circumstances, matters.” —Lori Lightfoot, Mayor of Chicago
What we know and live as Be Strong Families is that we live in an abundant and deeply kind universe. We know that when challenges arise, they are tests and opportunities to live our values: family, love, liberation, vitality, authenticity, excellence, collaboration, and spirit. So, in the midst of this pandemic, we came together as a team with creativity and dedication, asking: How can we assist? How can we contribute to mobilizing collective compassion and to keeping families strong? With this purpose in mind (and without additional funding), we have developed and will start offering, on March 23, 2020, the following—free of charge—for families:
Daily Webinars at 12:00pm CT (English) and 1:30pm CT (Spanish) starting on Monday, March 23, 2020. These are opportunities for parents and staff members to share with and learn from each other as they build their plan for navigating the COVID-19 situation. Here is the link to register on our Events page.
Be Strong Families’ new webpage on COVID-19 Support
Capturing the energy of Cafés, we are also gathering tips for navigating this situation in real time—from parents. Come to our webpage and tell us what you’re doing to stay strong for yourself and for your family.
Now more than ever, it’s important to live the Protective Factors and to maintain holistic vitality. Times of stress are times when domestic violence, including child abuse, are exacerbated. Having kids at home, uncertain employment situations, and social distancing all put pressure on fragile families. The same tools we use to stay strong in everyday life are the ones we need to intensify using now. The same imperative to protect our children and to buffer their experiences of the adult world still apply. As parents, grandparents, caregivers, and friends, we can make this COVID-19 situation either a relatively pleasant memory for our kids or a source of lifelong trauma.
Think about your child as an adult telling their child, “When I was your age, we had a worldwide pandemic and I couldn’t go to school for many weeks. I remember that time as when my parents and I really bonded as a family. We put up a makeshift tent in the living room and we pretended we were on a long camping trip.” Or think about them saying, “It was the straw that broke the camel’s back for our family. We were already struggling just to get by and were afraid for so many reasons; when the pandemic hit, everything fell apart for us.” We are the difference in those two stories. We as parents, we as staff, need to stay strong and assist each other, pull together in whatever ways we can.
To our fellow social service providers, our usual clients and partners, we are here for you as well. Everything we have developed for families (above), you are free to use—we will send you the PowerPoints. Contact us and we will send you other activities to build Protective Factors. We are here to talk and to strategize together. Come to our Facebook live chat on the Café Community of Practice Facebook page on Tuesdays and Thursdays, Spanish at 6:00pm CT and English at 7:00pm CT.
For social service providers working at home, now could be a good time for professional development. Be Strong Families is pivoting to offer professional development workshops in an online webinar format. Contact Robyn@bestrongfamilies.net, or whoever your main Be Strong Families contact is.
We are all in the same boat. Be Strong Families does not have deep pockets. In order to get paid, we have to go out and do work, to train. We also need to get paid for work we’ve already done by state systems that are now slowed down and in turmoil. We need to sell products. In this time, when gatherings are basically eliminated, our whole staff is bracing for a possible temporary layoff situation. We’re focusing on the best and working to manifest that. And because of who we are and how we were formed, even being temporarily laid off would not stop most of us from doing all that we can to be part of the solution, to weather this situation, and to show up for each other and for the people we serve. We are here because this is our calling, our purpose: we were founded on the knowledge that we are doing for pay what we would be willing to volunteer to do. It’s never been about the money for us. So, we know that we will survive, individually and collectively. That is our faith and our commitment.
So, please keep in touch! Please let us know what we can do to help.
Article by: Katthe Wolf, CEO, Be Strong Families