Saturday, March 1, 2025 — 10 am to 1 pm
LWSD Resource Center (Map)
Unlock the secrets to a happier, healthier relationship with your adolescent! LWPTSA Council presents a comprehensive event designed to provide you with the tools, knowledge and confidence to support your teens through their most challenging years.
To guide you in these insightful sessions, we’re excited to welcome knowledgeable speakers who will help you connect with your kids and empower your parenting journey.
Event Details
| CHECK IN — 9:45 to 10 AM | |
| KEYNOTE — 10 to 10:30 AM PEPS Speaker: Jamie Elzea Room: TBD | |
| Building Resilience: Helping Adolescents Deal With Stress Learn how to identify stress in your teen and practice effective coping mechanisms to build their resilience. | |
| SESSION 1 — 10:40 to 11:40 AM Breakout Sessions | |
| For Parents of Elem/Middle Schoolers PEPS Speaker: Paulina Cuevas Room: TBD | For Parents of High Schoolers PEPS Speaker: Gloria Martinez Room: TBD |
| Responsive Parenting Dive into the science of adolescent brain development to understand their behavior and learn techniques for effective communication with your tween/teen. | Connect With Your Teens Explore strategies to be supportive and understanding as your teens navigate the complexities of their social and online worlds. |
| COFFEE / SNACK BREAK — 11:40 AM to 12 PM | |
| SESSION 2 — 12 to 1 PM Speaker: Deborah Sleeman Room: TBD | |
| Understanding and Uplifting LGBTQ+ Youth Gain a deeper understanding of gender and sexual orientation, and discover ways to support the mental health and well-being of LGBTQ+ youth. | |
Don’t miss out on this unique opportunity to enhance your parenting skills and foster a stronger, more supportive relationship with your adolescent. Reserve your spot today, and embark on a journey toward more responsive and effective parenting! Attendance is FREE.
Secure your place now, and step into a future where you and your teen thrive together!
About Our Presenters
Deborah Sleeman (she/her) is a parent educator and parent of two LGBTQ+ young adults. In addition to over 15 years’ experience working with parents, she has lived the confusion, uncertainty, joy, and celebration of raising a child who doesn’t fit the usual mold. Deborah provides education to meet the needs of parents and caregivers of LGBTQ+ youth. Her classes and talks calm worries and demystify unfamiliar topics for parents and community members alike.
PEPS is a local nonprofit that was founded in Seattle more than 40 years ago. At PEPS, we are all about supporting parents, connecting families, and building community—and we do that through parent peer support groups offered at different stages of parenthood. Our values of equity, inclusion, community, authenticity and innovation are woven into everything we do toward our vision of resilient families, connected communities and equitable outcomes.
- Jamie Elzea (she/her) is a licensed clinical social worker at her private practice, Nurtureways, where she supports parents in counseling and Mindful Self-Compassion practice. She earned her BA in Psychology from Whitman College, a Masters in Public Health, and a Masters in Social Work from the University of Michigan. Additionally, she engaged in post-graduate studies in Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health at the University of Washington and is endorsed as an Infant Mental Health Policy Mentor. In addition to her practice, she also supports mental health and allied professionals in professional development, leadership support, and organizational consulting. She believes that an investment in parental well-being is an investment in whole family well-being. As a parent of two adolescents, Jamie is committed to helping connect other parents in this life phase with support and community.
- Paulina Cuevas Vega is a Washington state-approved trainer, a Positive Discipline-certified Lead trainer, certified SEL & Mindfulness teacher, has a MA in Educational Psychology, and a PK-12 School Counseling license from the University of Minnesota. For the past 25 years, she has been supporting students ages 3-18, their families and their school communities in Chile, China and the US. Since 2018, she has worked as an ES school counselor in SPS, has been part of North Seattle College’s Parent Education instruction team, and is currently working as a content specialist in Spanish for Cultivating Learning at UW. She is very passionate about providing family support and culturally relevant adult education. In her collaboration with community organizations such as PEPS, Nami Eastside, Consejo Counseling, The Circle and Empower Youth Network, she hopes to contribute to advancing equity and inclusion for everyone.
- Gloria Martinez (she/her) is a psychologist from Colombia with more than 10 years of experience working across Colombia, the UK and the USA. She specializes in child and family counseling and developing programs for adolescents related to conflict resolution, social skills, substance use and suicide prevention, and vocational orientation. Her passion for helping adolescents started when she worked with youths in foster care in New York. Since then, she has supported families as a teacher, co-principal, therapist and counselor in Colombia, and leading programs for adolescents in the United Kingdom. Gloria recently joined PEPS as the Bilingual Outreach Manager for the Program for Parents of Adolescents and Teens, to nurture her passion for helping families navigate the parenthood journey.
Download a PDF flyer to share.
Questions? Please contact LWPTSA Council’s VP of Family and Community Engagement, Danish Majeed, at FACE@LWPTSA.net.