Building a Virtual Village: Five Minutes with Children’s Health Council

In this episode, EALA sits down with Cindy Lopez, a former teacher and administrator, and the Director of Community Engagement at Children's Health Council (CHC). Listen in as they discuss the ways CHC is supporting families by offering crucial learning and mental health services, including parent support groups and free online resources. To learn more, visit chconline.org

Access the full podcast transcript at:  https://bit.ly/5MinsWithChildrensHealthCouncil 

 

Social Accounts:

Twitter: https://x.com/CHC_paloalto

LI: https://www.linkedin.com/company/children%27s-health-council/

 

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Hi, this is Aurora from the Educating All Learners Alliance,
and today we're speaking to Cindy Lopez for 5 Minutes with Children's Health Council.
Children's Health Council, or CHC, is a Palo Alto, California-based nonprofit
providing life-changing learning and mental health services for children,
teens, young adults, and their families for more than 70 years.

(00:21):
And joining us today is Cindy Lopez, the Director of Community Engagement at CHC.
She has more than 35 years of experience in K-12 education as a teacher and
administrator in both public and private schools.
Today, she leads CHC's community engagement work that includes lots of programs
from virtual parent support groups to an online resource library and even hosts her own podcast.

(00:43):
It's great to have you here today, Simbi. Thanks for joining us.
Yeah, thank you, Aurora.
It's great to be here. Great. So tell us a little bit more about CHC and the work that you do.
Yeah, CHC provides evidence-based services for children, teens,
and young adults in the areas, specifically ADHD, learning differences,
anxiety, depression, and autism.

(01:04):
And the work that I'm particularly part of at CHC includes free programs to
support parents, educators, and more as they support their kids with learning
differences and mental health challenges. Okay.
In our community engagement work, we get to work with lots of different kinds
of people and organizations, so individual schools.

(01:24):
Corporations, and our goal is to make our resources as accessible and as available
as we can, so lots of them are free.
I love this. I mean, I know there are so many parents out there who are always
looking for support, resources, advice, and it sounds like you're really making
an impact on parents and families, so tell us a little bit more about that.

(01:45):
What are parents saying when they come to you?
Yeah, we see parents and kids and families, most of whom are feeling scared
and isolated and alone because they don't know where to turn to get the help that they need.
So they end up at CHC not really knowing, am I going to find the help I need here?
And I wish there were a parent sitting right next to me to be able to tell their story.

(02:08):
There's not. So here's a little snippet, some quotes from them.
So a dad, for example, who says, is there anything scarier than when you know
something's going on with your child and you don't know what to do?
I just listened to the CHC podcast and I came away with ideas to help my daughter.
I didn't really think it was going to be that encouraging, but it was.
And then we have parent support groups and we get a lot of comments from parents

(02:30):
who attend those support groups that they don't feel alone.
Like I attended a parent support group, and I really appreciate hearing that
other parents are struggling with some of the same stuff we are.
I now know that I'm not alone.
So the impact is happening kind of at that level.
It's very meaningful and almost visceral for parents who are in that space because,

(02:55):
they've been looking and looking and haven't been able to find the resources they need.
It can be so, I think something you hit on is how isolating it can feel.
I've heard that plenty of times from parents in this work.
So how can folks get involved? Like if they're listening, whether they're a
California local or not, tell us a little bit about ways to get involved.

(03:15):
Yeah. Yeah. So if you're not in California or near Palo Alto,
there are ways that you can access our resources, especially in our community engagement work.
We have many free programs that are valuable. So virtual parent support groups,
I mentioned those for parents of kids with ADHD, parents of kids with LD,
parents of kids with anxiety.
We also have an online resource library where you can find information you're

(03:39):
looking for, especially regarding ADHD, LD, autism, anxiety,
depression. We also have collaboratives for school counselors,
learning specialists, and more.
We have our Voices of Compassion podcast series.
So there's a lot that you can find in our community engagement work at CHC,
whether you're here in the Palo Alto area or not.

(04:00):
You can see all of that at chconline.org slash community dash engagement.
You can find our podcasts anywhere where you listen to podcasts like Apple Podcasts
or Spotify, just search for Voices of Compassion.
Our resource library is right there too. If you go to our community engagement
webpages, you'll find that.

(04:21):
And you can be a part of our virtual village where you can actually receive
updates and resources delivered to your inbox to find out more about what's
coming up at CHC and any updates to our resources.
So there are lots of ways. And all of what I just mentioned, again, is free.
That's it for us today. Thank you so much, Cindy. It was great chatting with

(04:42):
you today. Yeah, thank you, Aurora.
And we're just thrilled to be partners with ILA. So thank you.
Well, that's it, folks. Folks, thank you to Cindy Lopez. And to learn more,
check out their website at chconline.org.
I'm Aurora from ELA, and this was 5 Minutes with Children's Health Council.
Music.