Paul Szmal: FLX Morning continues at 8.15, it's 74 and I'd like to welcome in Tricia Leisner who is a Family Resource and Support Specialist as part of the Healthy Families Program with Child and Family Resources. Tricia, good morning, how are you this morning?
Trisha Liesner: Good morning Paul, I'm good, how are you?
Paul Szmal: Good, good, can you tell me a little bit about how this role works for you within the Child Family Resources organization?
Trisha Liesner: Sure, as a, well Family Resource and Support Specialist is a really long, complicated way of saying that my job is basically to provide support and come alongside families in the prenatal period, so from pregnancy all the way through about five years old when the child goes to kindergarten and we provide that through partnering directly with families and we also provide that through community outreach and starting programs that can offer education and support and networking to families.
Paul Szmal: What do you find are some of the biggest needs for, shall we say, parents expecting their first child?
Trisha Liesner: Well, sure, the majority of parents who are expecting their first child, well what studies show is that what they most need is an adequate support system. So parents can get through a lot of lack of knowledge, lack of resources, if they have the support to be able to go out and find the answers and find the resources that they need. So really, what they most need is a support system. And part of that support system extends out to those that have already had children that are maybe on their second or third or even fourth and beyond.
Paul Szmal: Absolutely. There are parents who are in our program or who reach out for help who are already seasoned parents and maybe they've just moved into the area and they don't have that support. Maybe they're looking to do things a little bit differently and they're not quite sure how to do that and that's where we come in and come alongside them in that journey.
Paul Szmal: I'd like to talk about the program that kind of ties in with this that's called the Family Connection Circle. Whose idea was this and how did this come about?
Trisha Liesner: Well, this idea was birthed through Child and Family Resources. We have a program called Healthy Families that works under Child and Family Resources and the desire in bringing back these groups after COVID because before COVID we had these groups going and then pandemic and that kind of shut everything down, right? But the idea came from just getting together and saying, okay, what is it that is lacking in the communities, in the counties around the Finger Lakes and what can we do to fill those gaps?
Paul Szmal: All right, so identifying the need and then creating a program to fill it.
Trisha Liesner: Exactly.
Paul Szmal: All right. We're talking with Tricia Leisner who is a Family Resource and Support Specialist as part of the Healthy Families Program which is one of the programs that Child and Family Resources has. So how does the Family Connection Circle work? What is it and what happens at a Family Connection Circle event or session?
Trisha Liesner: Sure. The Family Connection Circle, our vision is a space where moms, dads, partners, caregivers because sometimes it's grandma and grandpa who are actively raising the child or infant from pregnancy again but through the first year. At this point we're doing through the first year can come. It's a safe space where crawling babies can crawl and explore and smaller babies can kind of observe and learn about their environment and the parents or caregivers can feel safe and heard by each other is a main goal because we would like them to build connections with other families in the community but also with professionals and support people from our program as well as from other programs like public health or some of our local professionals who provide support services to families with kids up to 12 months.
Paul Szmal: And I think that support of parents supporting each other, I think that's a critical element to this program.
Trisha Liesner: Yes, that is our main goal and focus I would say because again we need, families need to be able to feel supported by each other and they need to have that friend that they can call, you know, at 4 in the afternoon when the baby won't stop crying and just say, uh, Johnny won't stop crying and I don't know what to do and just feel like there's that support emotionally more than anything else from someone else who's been there or is going through the same thing and gets it.
Paul Szmal: Yeah, exactly.
Paul Szmal: Where are these Family Connection Circle events taking place, Tricia?
Trisha Liesner: So right now we have two that are up, that are ready to go and one that we're still waiting on. We have in Yates County, our spot is in Penyan right now at Finger Lakes Lactation which is kind of right in the middle of town. In Ontario County right now we're at the Phelps Community Center, that one starts the beginning of August. The Yates County one is already started and then in Seneca County we're hoping to start also in August and most likely in Seneca Falls. So those groups happen every other week in each location. For example, the Penyan location, it meets the first and third Tuesday of every month and the Phelps meets the second and fourth Tuesday of every month. People are welcome to go to a meeting in a county that they don't reside in, people are welcome to go to all the meetings if they would like weekly support. So there's no registration, there's no need to let us know you're coming, you can just show up or you are welcome to call me actually is who it would be. If people want more information or if they're just a little confused about what it is that we're offering still.
Paul Szmal: You know it just occurred to me, Trisha, that one of the neat byproducts of this is not only are the parents getting to interact with each other and kind of form that bond over commonality, but this is good socialization for even newborns up to 12 months old to be exposed to and be able to play with other children.
Trisha Liesner: Absolutely, and that was not our main goal when we looked into starting these programs, but it is something that we're seeing as a very beneficial, like you said, byproduct of what is happening because we are specifically looking for spaces where it's safe for the kids to just go and so they are interacting with each other and they are getting that socialization with other adults as well as with other babies and young kids.
Paul Szmal: So again, currently we have the program in Yates County, the Ontario County program will be starting shortly and we're working on the Seneca County program. If people want to find out more information about these Family Connection Circle programs and how they can participate, how do they go about doing that, Trisha?
Trisha Liesner: Sure, they can call, the number would be 315-569-2998, 315-569-2998 and that will connect them directly to me and I would be happy to answer any questions. I also just wanted to mention that we are offering at the moment bilingual support services as well in Spanish, so if there is a family who are more comfortable in Spanish than in English, I can also help them with that.
Paul Szmal: Yeah, and it's great to be able to bridge the language barrier in that case too.
Trisha Liesner: For sure.
Paul Szmal: All right, Trisha, thanks so much for joining us and providing us with the information this morning, we appreciate it.
Trisha Liesner: You're welcome, thank you for having me.
Paul Szmal: It is 824 on FLX Morning.
