Sesame Workshop Launches New Webinar Series on Substance Abuse and Parental Addiction to Help Providers Support Children and Families

NEW YORK and SANFORD, N.C., July 29, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Almost 6 million children under the age of 11 in the United States live in households with a parent who has a substance use disorder, putting the children at risk for direct and indirect trauma. To provide support and help families cope, Sesame Street in Communities (SSIC) is expanding its parental addiction initiative with a new webinar series for child and family therapists, first responders, community leaders, and other service providers. DisposeRx is proud to partner with SSIC through grant funding to bring the series to fruition.

Last fall, SSIC introduced Parental Addiction resources featuring Karli—a six-year-old Sesame Street Muppet whose mother struggles with substance abuse and addiction. This new series of webinars joins a host of existing SSIC resources to help children build resilience and overcome the trauma of parental addiction. These include: a storybook, videos and activity sheets for adults and children, an interactive digital activity for children, and articles for adults–all free to families in English and Spanish–plus digital professional development resources for providers.

"When I read about Karli in The New York Times last fall, I knew DisposeRx had to get involved," said William Simpson, President of DisposeRx. "Education is one of the pillars of our mission, and there is no organization better at reaching and teaching young children than Sesame Workshop."

The first of four webinars examining the ways parental addiction affects young children launches today. In The Child's Voice: How Parental Addiction Affects Young Children, Sis Wenger, president and chief executive officer, National Association for Children of Addiction (NACoA), shares strategies for individuals to offer support and care. Register here: https://bit.ly/3fx3TrT

The remaining three webinars will be released monthly:

• August 26 – In Parental Addiction: Healing Families Together, Jerry Moe, national director of the Hazelden Betty Ford Children's Program, will offer resources and strategies that family therapists may use in their work with families.
• September 30 – Jac Charlier, executive director of the Treatment Alternatives for Safe Communities (TASC) Center for Health and Justice will build awareness and provide new approaches for first responders.
• October 28 – A faith-based leader will share how faith communities can support children and families affected by parental addiction.

"Parental addiction is an incredibly difficult and isolating situation faced by millions of young children and their families," said Dr. Jeanette Betancourt, Sesame Workshop's Senior Vice President, US Social Impact. "Our resources are designed to help those families build hope for the future–and support networks of service providers are a vitally important part of the equation. With Sesame Street in Communities, we're always looking for new ways to equip providers with the tools they need to help the families they support, so we're thrilled to have a partner like DisposeRx to help get these learnings to them."

Simpson added, "Our education initiatives support people of all ages, and these webinars will help providers and caretakers support the children of parental addiction with resources to help them cope with issues that are difficult for most of us to comprehend. We are proud to partner with Sesame Workshop and applaud them for the support they have offered our nation's families for more than 50 years."

Today's webinar–along with all Sesame Street in Communities' other parental addiction resources–can be found at sesamestreetincommunities.org.

About Sesame Workshop
Sesame Workshop is the nonprofit educational organization behind Sesame Street, the pioneering television show that has been reaching and teaching children since 1969. Today, Sesame Workshop is an innovative force for change, with a mission to help kids everywhere grow smarter, stronger, and kinder. We're present in more than 150 countries, serving vulnerable children through a wide range of media, formal education, and philanthropically funded social impact programs, each grounded in rigorous research and tailored to the needs and cultures of the communities we serve. For more information, please visit www.sesameworkshop.org.

About DisposeRx, Inc.
DisposeRx, Inc., a North Carolina-based company, is dedicated to decreasing the risks of drug diversion, overdoses, suicides, accidental poisonings and antibiotic resistance by facilitating medication management behavior change and eradicating the misuse of leftover medications. DisposeRx's market-leading, patented drug disposal packets and education programs are currently available at almost 50% of retail pharmacies and through 90% of the wholesale pharmacy and medical distributors across the nation. For more information, visit DisposeRx.com.

SOURCE DisposeRx, Inc.; Sesame Workshop

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