สวัสดี Sawadee!

Sawadee (hello) and welcome to my blog! 

I have recently received a Fulbright Scholar Award and will be spending the next 6+ months in Thailand working at The National Institute for Child and Family Development and the Contemplative Education Center at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom, which is a little over an hour's drive from the heart of Bangkok. Coincidentally, Nakhon Pathom is a city where I served several months of my LDS mission 40 years ago! 

I am so excited to work with my colleagues at the university as we serve parents and other caregivers of children with autism or cerebral palsy. We will offer a 5-week course on mindful parenting and self-care skills and will study the effects of this intervention on their stress and depression. We hope the culturally relevant and simple skills we will teach them will offer these parents greater insights, more peace, and better relationships with their children, especially because decades of research indicate parents of children with autism have high levels of stress, depression, anxiety, and other mental health concerns. 

We will also be offering the internationally popular program for siblings of children with special needs, Sibshops. This will be the first Sibshops in the nation of Thailand and is something I have been doing for over 20 years with Sibshops of Utah County. When a child has significant needs, siblings often have unique concerns and struggles. This program helps siblings have fun and lively experiences with other children in similar situations, better understand their roles and responsibilities within their family, and develop more positive relationships with their siblings with special needs.

Follow along on my journey if you'd like; I am happy you're here.  

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