As you know, supporting today’s students and host families often brings new challenges. Gen Alpha students are growing up in a very different environment than those before them, and issues such as adolescent mental health, neurodivergence, and evolving parenting styles require us to adapt our approaches and expand our skills.
To help us meet these needs, we’re offering a professional training—already completed by AFS-USA Participant Support & Learning staff—that is now available to all support-affiliated volunteers. The session is focused on mental health first aid – how do we approach a mental health situation and how do we categorize low level through high level. While there is much more that we want to explore, we’ll start with this topic and, for future training sessions, we’ll go further into the details of supporting today’s students and families.
Exchange Student Mental Health
📅 Tuesday, August 26
🕖 7:00–9:00 PM EDT
👩🏫 Facilitated by Licensed Professional Counselor Laura Thompson
Laura brings decades of experience working with young people in educational and intercultural settings. Her insights will help us strengthen the way we support both students and host families.
This is an excellent opportunity to learn, ask questions, and prepare ourselves for the realities our students face today. I strongly encourage you to register and join us. Once registered, you’ll receive Zoom details.
Thank you for your dedication. We look forward to seeing many of you there!