Northport Elementary School Community Council is hosting a speaker series beginning Thursday. The ‘Raising Awesome Kids’ series consists of four speakers sharing information on mental health awareness, self esteem, bullies, internet safety and overcoming obstacles to achieve goals. The presentations are open to the public and are free to attend.

October 22, 2015 - Kendra Fischer
Kendra grew up in Kincardine, Ontario. With the support of her family and her community, Kendra achieved great successes in her hockey career. Years ago, when faced with the opportunity to realize her dream of goaltending for Team Canada, Kendra was diagnosed with a severe anxiety disorder coupled with severe panic attacks, depression an agoraphobia; forcing her to leave the National program in order to seek help to learn how to live with what had become a crippling disease. Kendra now shares her personal journey and has joined efforts to bring mental health issues to the forefront. It is her hope that her story will offer both hope and promise to others dealing with mental illness.

November 26, 2015 - Gary Direnfeld
Gary is a social worker from the Hamilton area who specializes in marital and family therapy, child development and parent-child relations. He will be discussing what the pressing issues are that our children are facing in today’s world, and more importantly, how we, as parents, can help them to deal with these challenges. He will be presenting topics on self-esteem, character building, discipline and what raising a happy child really means.

April 7, 2016 - Kate and Wayne Jones
Based on their book “Great Parenting Skills (GPS) for Navigating Your Kid’s Personality”, Kate and Wayne Jones, from Oakville, Ontario, will be covering a wide variety of topics including umderstanding your kid’s behaviour, stressed out kids, stressed out parents and the infamous homework wars. Their informative, engaging and interactive presentation on your child’s personality promises be insteresting and educational.

May 5, 2016 - Paul Davis
After reaching over 210,000 students from Quebec to Alberta and south to Nevada since 2010, Paul undersands how to keep students safe online. With over 25 years of IT experience, his strong message surrounding social networks and online safety has been well documented by CTV, Global TV and Breakfast Television. Paul has proudly presented to the Ontario Provincial Police and has letters of reference from both the OPP and Calgary Cyber Crimes Police. Paul comes from Dundas, Ontario and if you missed his talk last year, now is your chance to see him again.
All presentations begin at 7 p.m. and take place in the Northport gymnasium. Babysitting will be available but please call the school to pre-register at 519-832-9077.