Chris Jones

“Awareness & Understanding Issues Impacting Our Youth” is the topic for the November LifeForward workshop hosted by Zonta Club of SCV. The free women’s workshop is scheduled for 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 19, at Savia Community Center, 23780 Newhall Ave.

The panel presentation will deal with the impact of cyberbullying, cyber targeting local youth, household drug paraphernalia and drug and alcohol abuse and cutting.

Panelists will include Sheriff’s detectives Ray Bercini and Bill Velek; Bob Sharits, program director and outreach specialist for Action Family Counseling; and school psychologist Chris Jones. Jones is co-founder of Dynamic Interventions and a licensed educational psychologist. He is co-author of Project Friendship, a research based anti-bullying program. Detective Bercini is assigned to the Los Angeles County Human Trafficking Bureau. He works with exploited children and their families, promoting awareness to help youth and those most vulnerable within the local community. Detective Velek has been assigned to the Sheriff’s Juvenile Intervention Team since 2010, focusing on the use and abuse of narcotics by youth in the Santa Clarita Valley. Sharits is a certified addiction treatment counselor.

Bob Sharits

Women who arrive by the 10 a.m. workshop start time are entered in a drawing for a free gift certificate. Free childcare is available through Single Mothers Outreach for women who register at least one week in advance at (661) 288-0117. Spanish translation also can be provided with advance request. Due to the popularity of the workshop’s subject matter and the possibility of limited seating, participants are asked to RSVP to Phyllis Walker, Zonta’s LifeForward Workshop Chair at 251-1172 or walkerp@socal.rr.com no later than Nov. 14.

Previous workshops in the series have helped women select career options and pursue meaningful employment, work on goal setting and time management, deal with anger management, set budgets and file taxes, and go after financial support after a divorce. Workshops are designed to help participants believe in their unlimited power and potential, build the skills necessary to succeed, and be the powerful women they are meant to be!

Zonta offers the free LifeForward workshops, usually on a monthly basis (although the series is dark during July and December), in collaboration with Single Mothers Outreach, Domestic Violence Center, Habitat for Humanity Returning Women Veterans and Los Angeles County Department of Child & Family Services. Workshops are organized by topics in which women express interest. A schedule of upcoming workshops is posted on www.scvzonta.org for women who are interested in a particular topic.