Ohio Affiliate Update
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The Ohio Council on Family Relations (OHCFR) continues to strive to be visible as well as useful to Family Science professionals, students, and interested others. Previously we have used low-cost, high-impact technology in a variety of ways to foster engagement and maintain OHCFR’s visibility. Here’s how we are continuing to use those resources during 2018 and 2019:
- Conducted a social media campaign in February 2019 to highlight Family Life Education (FLE) Month. Board members submitted content related to FLE that resulted in 18 posts on the OHCFR Facebook page (fb.me/OHCFR). Two of the posts users engaged with most focused on resources for grandfamilies affected by substance abuse and an article that provided strategies for helping children to self-regulate.
- Spotlighted OHCFR board members and other professionals on the OHCFR website (oh.ncfr.org) as well as Facebook page. These posts highlight the diverse career paths of CFLEs and members of OHCFR.
- Continued the live webinar series, which was started in 2017. The webinars are available free of charge to OHCFR and NCFR members, and they provide NCFR-approved CEUs. Two archived webinars, “Moving from Provisional to Full CFLE Certification: What You Need to Know But May Be Afraid to Ask” and “The Family & Grief: A Funeral Director’s Perspective,” are available. In March 2019, the webinar “Depression: A Family Matter” was posted. Future webinar topics that are being explored include “Caregiving and its Outcomes on Caregivers,” “Certification Opportunities That Address the Shortage of Family and Consumer Science Teachers,” “Test Anxiety Issues in Children and Adolescents and Strategies to Help Them Cope,” “Strategies of Self-Care to Minimize Compassion Fatigue,” and “Tools to Help Children Develop Self-Regulation Skills.”
- Compiled a list of resources that will complement each of the webinar topics and be posted on the OHCFR website and Facebook page.
- Compiled a list of technology resources to which advisory board members have access.
- Refined a pilot project whereby students in a FLE methodology class create short video public service announcements about Family Life Education. The goal is to post a number of these student-created videos to our Facebook and web pages to further OHCFR’s visibility and engagement with viewers.
- Make proposed revisions to our bylaws that include the addition of a media coordinator to the Advisory Board membership because of the reliance of OHCFR activities on technology (the outcome of the vote to approve the amendments was not available prior to the deadline for this article).
- Plan to focus on gathering information about a number of credentials and/or certifications that may help our members become more marketable.