Education & Community Services

The "How to Talk with your Children about the Sensitive Issues" forum addresses how kids today are experiencing the physical, social and emotional changes of puberty at younger ages than ever, and they need parents who are both informed and able to talk with them about these changes. This interactive workshop will help parents prepare for conversations that need to take place from elementary to high school so that our children know what to expect as they mature. We’ll discuss how kid’s physical changes can impact their relationships with their family members, peers, and teachers, and how to talk more comfortably and openly about these issues with them. Barb Iversen has provided professional development and parenting education on a statewide basis for the past 25 years. Barb teaches in Phoenix Colleges’ Child & Family Studies Program and is a Family Life Coach and Certified Adolescent Health Trainer. Barb worked at the Arizona Department of Education with a focus on sexual health and mental health issues, provided statewide parenting programs for the Arizona PTA, and worked with families and youth in a private counseling practice. She developed the content for many trainings, including Demystifying Adolescence, Talking with Teens: Adult-Adolescent Communication, and Trauma-Informed Schools. Barb Iversen has a B.S. in Psychology and a Masters Degree in Counseling. barbiversen@cox.net

Barb Iversen has provided professional development and parenting education on a statewide basis for the past 25 years. Barb teaches in Phoenix Colleges’ Child & Family Studies Program and is a Family Life Coach and Certified Adolescent Health Trainer. Barb worked at the Arizona Department of Education with a focus on sexual health and mental health issues, provided statewide parenting programs for the Arizona PTA, and worked with families and youth in a private counseling practice. She developed the content for many trainings, including Demystifying Adolescence, Talking with Teens: Adult-Adolescent Communication, and Trauma-Informed Schools. Barb Iversen has a B.S. in Psychology and a Masters Degree in Counseling. barbiversen@cox.net

“Self-Defense” is the learning of self-awareness, intelligent decision making combined with interpersonal combative skills for individuals. Learn practical and intelligent skills that promote integrity, respect, focus, discipline, self-control and improve your self-confidence. These skills can also help to improve physical fitness, mental health and well being and possibly save a life. Over a six week period, this course will cover practical concepts and principles of how to apply science and psychology to real world, interpersonal, combative scenarios. These skills can be adapted to both men and women of all ages regardless of experience or physiology. Individuals will learn how to recognize pre-contact threat cues, fear management skills, confrontation management control tactics, defensive strategies and force delivery techniques. Give yourself the opportunity to become more aware and more confident!