CentraState Offers Programming for Parents, Teens, and More

by Colleen Curry on August 20th, 2009 Comment

CentraState Medical Center is offering special classes for teenage girls and their parents on topics of self-esteem, body-image, and navigating the middle school years.

Girls in grades five through eight and their mothers are invited to the Girls4Real program at the center, a class developed and taught by nurse practitioner Josephine Chilton. The 1.5 hour class focuses on celebrating unique bodies and dispelling media myths about perfect bodies.

"The need really arose from parents," said program coordinator Stephanie O'Neil. "They were looking for programs that could help their middle school-aged daughters learn about healthy self-esteem."

The Center offers a complementary class just for parents called GPS For Parents: Navigating Through Your Daughter's Teen Years. The class, also taught by Chilton, offers strategies for combatting the "aging up" and "dumbing down" typical of middle school-aged girls, where girls act and dress older and are afraid to do well academically because of social pressures.

CentraStates health and wellness classes are open to the public, and focus on screening, prevention, and awareness. In September, the hospital will offer cooking and nutrition classes, support groups for people with illnesses and their caretakers, and free tours of their sleep disorder center and their fitness and wellness center.

The Girls4Real class is $18/child and free for parents, and the GPS class is $10/person or $18/couple.

For more info about all of the public classes offered by CentraState this month, check out CentraState.com.