LOOK and VICTA Parent Advice Workshop – Mental Health and Anxiety
When: Tuesday 16 May 2023
Time: 7.30pm to 9.30pm
Where: Online/Zoom
Cost: Free
Mental Health Awareness Week 2023 runs from 15 to 21 May and this year’s theme is ‘anxiety’. As part of our support for the parent carer community, LOOK and VICTA are hosting a panel-led workshop aimed at increasing awareness and understanding of anxiety. It will be a positive session focused on practical things we can do to help ourselves and our vision impaired children feel calmer and happier.
We are delighted to be joined by charity partners, RSBC (Royal Society for Blind Children), who support children and young people with vision impairments and their parent carers through their Families First scheme. Family practitioners offer emotional support, practical advice, and advocacy and a member of the team will be sharing their knowledge and tips on the night.
The panel
Shelley Peddie is a trained counsellor who supports families in Devon and Cornwall through the parent support group she runs for Moorvision. Shelley has two sons in primary school, the youngest is vision impaired. Shelly has first-hand knowledge of helping her child navigate in a sighted world and the anxiety that the whole family carries.
We will hear from three vision impaired young people. Grace, a VICTA Ambassador, and LOOK Mentors Sarah and Emma, who will share their experience of living with and coping with anxiety.
We will also hear from Sydney May, a mindset coach, who is severely sight impaired and became interested in coaching because of her own experiences with anxiety and mental health struggles as a teenager. Syd says, “Life can be full of anxieties, worries and stress triggers, particularly when you’re helping a VI child navigate their way through a sighted world. I help the people I support understand that there is always more than one way of thinking about a situation, there is always a response which could serve you better, and there is always a solution if you’re in the right mind-set to find it.”
