<p><strong>Presented by Don Meyer, Director, Sibling Support Project</strong></p>
<p>Sibshops reflect a belief that our communities need to acknowledge the difficulties faced by brothers and sisters of children with special needs and provide them with the opportunity to connect with each other in the same way that many parents of children with special needs have benefited from sharing their experiences.</p>
<p>Open to interested participants across New England including adult siblings, parents, grandparents, and family members of children/teens as well as professionals, organizational staff who wish to facilitate a Sibshop in their local community, and social workers who work with families that have siblings as part of the family.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ve-yGz5KzYs&feature=player_embedded" target="_blank">A Sibling's Perspective: Interviews with Don Meyer and Seven Young Siblings</a></p>
<p>If you are interested in your typically developing sibling participating in the demonstration sibshop, coordinated by Don Meyer during the conference, we are looking for children ages 8-13 year old to participate in Friday's Demonstration Workshop. During the Demonstration Sibshop, adult participants will put on their jeans, tee-shirts, and sneakers to join Don Meyer as he conducts a Sibshop for a group of 8-to-13 year old local brothers and sisters. This workshop provides participants with the materials and a first hand account of what they will need to start, plan, and conduct the activities for their own Sibshop group in their community. The Demonstration Sibshop can also be the “kick-off” for an on-going program in the host community. Following the Sibshop, trainees will debrief and finalize plans for creating Sibshops in their own communities. Email Doreen Cummings at <a href="mailto:dcummings@jfcsboston.org">dcummings@jfcsboston.org</a> to sign up to participate.</p>
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<p>The primary goal of this workshop is to train new Sibshops facilitators and administrators as well as adult siblings, service providers, and parents. During the two days of the Sibshop training, these participants will learn about sibs’ lifelong concerns, find out how to organize a local Sibshop, and experience what a Sibshop is as they join Don and local young brothers and sisters for a four-hour demonstration sibshop. Trainees who would like to become a Sibshops facilitator must attend both days of the Sibshops training. Upon completion of the two-day training, they may (upon registration) start their own local Sibshop.</p>
<p>The secondary goal of this workshop is to educate parents, service providers, and others about sibs’ ever-changing issues across the lifespan. This is an audience interested in sibling issues but not necessarily interested in how to run a Sibshop. This audience attends the first day of the two-day training.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.jfcsboston.org/Portals/0/Uploads/Documents/Sibshops_2Day.pdf" target="_blank">View a typical two-day Sibshops training schedule.</a></p>
<p><strong>When: </strong>Thursday, May 4 and Friday, May 5<br />
9:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.</p>
<p><strong>Where: </strong>Leventhal-Sidman JCC<br />
333 Nahanton Street, Newton</p>
<p><strong>Cost</strong><br />
Day 1 Only: Parents/Students - $110, Professionals - $160<br />
Days 1 & 2: Parents/Students - $160, Professionals - $210</p>
<p><a href="https://www.eventbrite.com/e/jfcs-sibshops-conference-tickets-31880392111" target="_blank" class="button">Register</a></p>
<p>Please contact Doreen Cummings at <a href="mailto:dcummings@jfcsboston.org">dcummings@jfcsboston.org</a> with questions.</p>
<p><em>Offered by Jewish Family & Children's Service in collaboration with the Massachusetts Sibling Support Network and thanks to generous funding from the Ruderman Family Foundation.</em></p>
