Wear Green on Friday; Register for “Forest Bathing” and other Mental Health Awareness reminders

Above: SYFS is promoting its series of events to promote Mental Health Awareness this month. (images cropped from event flyers)

Reminder – in honor of Mental Health Awareness Month the community is encouraged to wear green this Friday, May 6th. I’m guessing we’ll see a lot of Celtics pride around town.

Southborough Youth & Family Services flyer highlights that supporting the initiative is to help “fight the stigma”.

As long as I’m highlighting that, I’ll remind you that some upcoming events in the Town’s MHAM series that require advance action, like pre-registration or checking out a book.

Community Walk/Forest Bathing
Sunday, May 15, 1:00 pm and 3:00 pm

Forest Bathing Walks flyerSpace is limited for the Trails Committee’s special Community Walks. So if you want to participate, you need to pre-register. The events are promotes as “Family-Friendly Forest Bathing Walks at Beals Preserve”

Take a walk, literally, towards better Mental Health. Forest Therapy, or Forest Bathing, is a wellness and complementary-health practice. Time in nature helps us reduce stress, improve creativity, helps us sleep better, and improves physical health. During each guided walk you will be encouraged to use your imagination and senses to connect with nature through sensory experiences.

We will be hosting two separate walks:

Painted Turtle Family Walk #1, 1:00-2:30 PM, Families w/kids under 12 yrs welcome

Buttercup Spring Walk #2, 3:00-4:30 PM, Ages 12+ welcome

These are casual, slow-paced walks appropriate for children and families but not strollers. We will end our walks with a Forest Tea Party, serving an allergy-sensitive snack, while we gather to share our experiences in nature.

Click here for more details and to sign up.

Managing Tween and Teen StessManaging Teen and Tween Stress 
Wednesday, May 18, 12:00 pm

Space is also limited for this special zoom session. Parents are invited to a virtual workshop:

Teens and Tweens experience big emotions. Adding pressures of a pandemic and world events, is a recipe for stress. Join us for a one-hour discussion on reframing your child’s emotions and behavior and how to support them while maintaining healthy boundaries.

Click here to register.

Braving the Wilderness Community Read flyerCommunity Read Discussion
Thursday, May 19, 7:00 pm

The “virtual Community Read” doesn’t state that participants are required to read the book in advance. But the discussion will certainly be more fruitful if participants have at least started the book.

The book is Brené Brown’s Braving the Wilderness: The Quest for True Belonging and the Courage to Stand Alone. Brown’s website describes:

Belonging so fully to yourself that you’re willing to stand alone is a wilderness—an untamed, unpredictable place of solitude and searching. It is a place as dangerous as it is breathtaking, a place as sought after as it is feared. The wilderness can often feel unholy because we can’t control it, or what people think about our choice of whether to venture into that vastness or not. But it turns out to be the place of true belonging, and it’s the bravest and most sacred place you will ever stand.

Anyone interested is encouraged to reach out to the Library if they need a copy. To register for the zoom session, click here.

Below are the other upcoming Mental Health Awareness Month events still coming up. The only advance action they require from you is marking them in your calendar:

Shop with a Purpose
Saturday, May 7, 11:00 am – 4:00 pm 

FSYC Shop with a Purpose FlyerA special shopping event at the Community House to raise funds for the Southborough Summer Camp Scholarship program. (For details, including a list of participating vendors, see dedicated post.)

Preschool Story Time with Miss Kim
Monday, May 16 and Tuesday, May 17, 10:30 am

The books and and crafts for this week’s theme of the preschool story time will be consistent with Mental Health Awareness Month. The events take place in the Southborough Library’s Children’s Room. No registration is required.

Southborough Rotary Club
Wednesday, May 18, 7:00 pm

This meeting of the Rotary Club will feature SYFS Director Sarah Cassell to speak about the department’s mission and services.

Baby & Toddler Story Time with Miss Kim
Thursday, May 19, 11:00 am

This story time with puppets, stories, and music is for children age 0-2 years and their parents or caregivers. This session’s selections will be consistent with Mental Health Awareness Month. The event takes place in the Southborough Library’s Children’s Room. No registration is required.

Community Watch: Resilience
Saturday, May 21, 12:00 – 1:00 pm

Mental Health Awareness Saturday Films flyerThe Southborough Library will be screening the documentary Resilience: the Biology of Stress & the Science of Hope.

Community Watch: Paper Tigers
Saturday, May 21, 1:30 – 3:00 pm

The Southborough Library will be screening the documentary Paper Tigers: One High School’s Unlikely Success Story. A short discussion of the film will follow the screening.

Both Community Watch programs are sponsored by the Library with funding made possible through the Library Services & Technology Act distributed by the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners

Trauma Free Communities
Tuesday, May 24, 7:00 pm

Movie Discussion Group over zoom about the Community Watch movies screened on May 21st. (Registration will be offered to Community Watch attendees)

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