Mahoney Family Fund presents:

Reducing Child Abuse by Rethinking Discipline Breakfast & Program

Friday, March 31, 2023

Complimentary Breakfast Buffet 8:00am, Program 8:30am-10:00am

Long Meadow Golf Club,165 Havilah Street, Lowell, MA 01852

RSVP

Being a parent is a job that doesn’t come with a handbook. As wonderful as it can be, it can also be difficult and frustrating at times. Many parents and caregivers, drawing from their own childhood experiences or feeling there are no other alternatives, resort to physical means for disciplining children. This often well-meaning but abusive behavior can have lifelong negative consequences for a child physically, mentally, and emotionally. There are better options.

The Mahoney Family Fund proudly presents a free breakfast & educational event highlighting groundbreaking, evidence-based research with front line alternatives for reducing child abuse. Please join us for this in-person, 90-minute program with our panel of experts:

• Stacie LeBlanc, JD, MEd, co-founder of The Up Institute and executive committee member of the National Initiative to End Corporal Punishment. Stacie is Chair of the National No Hit Zone Committee No Hit Zone. She began her career as a child abuse prosecutor in Jefferson Parish more than 30 years ago and became the chief of the Felony Child Abuse Division, began the Family Violence Program and helped open Child Advocacy Centers in rural and urban parishes.

• Shahenda Aly, M.D., a pediatric hospitalist at Lowell General Hospital and an assistant professor of pediatrics at Tufts University. She created the RISE project to help families of special needs children navigate their way through an array of challenges. Originally from Egypt, Dr. Aly offers a global perspective and a passion for ending child abuse.
• Shirley Pimental from the Boys and Girls Club of Greater Lowell will discuss how current behavioral issues with the children in their care often stem from maltreatment in the home and how they work with the kids to break the cycle of violence. She has dedicated 20 years to youth development where she has worked with non-profit organizations that focus on a wide array of youth programming in residential homes, youth centers, schools, and community- based organizations.

You will not want to miss this dynamic, ground-breaking event! We encourage audience participation and we welcome all of your questions and comments. RSVP.

Please consider supporting the Mahoney Family Fund’s educational outreach to reduce child abuse by making a donation.

Positive Childhood Experiences (PCEs) result when parents and adults in a child’s life maintain nurturing, loving relationships and when discipline is truly a means to teach and not threaten. Each speaker will discuss the significant consequences of negative discipline as well as positive alternatives that have lasting benefits to the child.

For more information about the work of the Mahoney Family Fund, visit their website or contact Maureen Mahoney at maureen@mahoneyfamilyfund.com.