Back to School Anxiety Webinar

The return to school is often accompanied by a myriad of emotions…excitement, nervousness, anxiety, you name it! And certainly, this year is no exception.

Recognizing that we all may be a little more anxious than usual, the Safe Community Coalition (SCC) is proud to offer an online panel discussion moderated by Dr. Melissa Sporn and featuring local mental health professionals Jennifer Weaver, Mimi Weisberg, and Robyne Davis on Tuesday, September 21 at 7 p.m. The panel will discuss Back to School Anxiety and offer concrete ways you can help get the school year off to a great start.

Read more about each of our panelists.

Link will be live just before the webinar begins.

The Year Ahead with SCC

With the start of school approaching, but the pandemic not quite behind us, the Safe Community Coalition is planning for a bit of a hybrid year. We’re hoping to maintain some in-person activities while keeping some speaker and panel events virtual. On tap for the 2021-2022 school year are some exciting new programs and some revamping of old favorites:

• We’re continuing our quarterly School Liaison Connections with each other and FCPS School Board Member Elaine Tholen. PTA/PTSA/PTO leaders found these virtual meetings invaluable as they were figuring out how to run their programs and serve their communities when they couldn’t be in schools. And Elaine enjoyed a direct line to parent leaders to share information and hear about how things are working in the school communities.
• We’re updating our old Project Sticker Shock program that informs parents of the legal and ethical issue of providing alcohol/drugs to underage students. We’re creating a to a drug/alcohol awareness campaign at the school level to reach students as well. Programming in scheduled prior to homecoming and prom seasons. Ideas? Share them with us.
• We have a new Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion board position and are planning new programming in this area, including a fall speaker. Contact us to share ideas!
• We’re are expanding our Launch to College program, typically presented at high school PTSA meetings, to a virtual event for all parents. It will also including student voices!
• We are talking with professional development providers to bring another CEU event to local mental health practitioners. We’ve had several of these over the past few years and all have been well-received. Stay tuned for dates!
• We are working with elementary school counselors to design a new format for our popular Sixth Grade Ethics Days. We hope to hold our longest running program in person this year again.
• Just in the development stage is new programming, Gender Identity 101, as we are learning that our teens are way head of us on these issues! Ideas? Share them!
• We’re talking with the McLean Citizens Association Education Committee to create a joint town hall event with FCPS Superintendent Scott Brabrand.

What else? What can we do to help? As always, we want to hear from you! Let us know how we can help!

Welcome to our new board members! We always value additional do-ers; as an all-volunteer organization, our board members plan and manage our programs and internal operations. New board members allow us to expand offerings, refocus our existing programs, and reach more community members. Board membership does not have a set term of service and offers maximum flexibility for busy people. Thanks to these seasoned school-based volunteers for making another commitment:

• Wendy Biliter
• Courtney Brown
• Lavina Colaco
• Kitty Gonzalez
• Heather Murphy Capps
• Anne Rucker