The Boothbay Region Health and Wellness Foundation has received a$2,500 grant from the Lincoln County Fund of the Maine Community Foundation to start a parent support group at the Wellness Foundation's Community Center in Boothbay Harbor. “This grant will enable us to teach positive parenting skills to parents and grandparents taking care of young children, in order to provide a healthier, more nurturing home environment,” said Jane B. Good, director of the Community Center. The parent support group is being designed and led by Liz Lussier, a behavior specialist, who lives and works in Boothbay Harbor, and whose motto is "catch 'em being good!"

The hope is to improve the health, wellness, and resilience of our youth by providing training and support primarily to young parents, as well as to grandparents who are caring for young children (pre-school through 2nd grade) so that the acquired skills get passed on to our next generation.

There will be 16 two-hour sessions taking place twice a month on weekends from September 2016 through May/June 2017.The sessions will be led by professionals, and topics discussed will include:

• Positive Discipline methods
• Positive Communication (listening and talking)
• Good Nutrition on a budget
• Sleep Requirements at each age and how to help your child get enough sleep
• Oral Health
• Literacy (how to read with your child)
• Drug use prevention and safe storage

Other topics may be added based on the needs of the participants.

“We 're pleased to be working together with Healthy Lincoln County, Boothbay Region Elementary School, and Lincoln County Dental's Children's Oral Health Outreach Program (CHOMP) to provide a wide variety of topics important to providing a safe and healthy home environment for raising children,” said Lussier. The plan is to recruit additional professionals from local organizations.

To make it easier for parents to commit to the group meetings, babysitting will be provided on-site by local Middle School, Jr. High and High School students, so that parents can bring their children with them. The students will have Red Cross babysitting certification and training in positive discipline, and the grant dollars will help to facilitate that effort. While the parents participate in the support group meeting, the sitters will lead the children in games, reading books, arts and crafts, and other engaging activities.

If you or someone you know could benefit from the Parent Support Group, please contact either Liz Lussier at 633-1162 or Jane Good, director of The Community Center at 633-9876 for more information.

The Boothbay Region Health and Wellness Foundation was founded in 2013 with a mission to promote the health and wellness of all residents, visitors and those who have ties to the community. The vision of the foundation is an empowered, informed, healthy community with local, affordable resources and a pro-active support network to keep everyone happy and healthy. The Community Center, which opened in August of 2015, is an initiative of the Health and Wellness Foundation. The mission of The Community Center is to provide a social gathering place, and the vision is a multi-generational facility for socializing, learning, and having fun.

With offices in Ellsworth and Portland, the Maine Community Foundation works with donors and other partners to improve the quality of life for all Maine people. To learn more about the foundation, visit www.mainecf.org.