Montgomery County to Host Online Conversation About Family Relationships During the Pandemic May 19

For Immediate Release: Wednesday, May 12, 2021

Montgomery County residents are invited to an online conversation about navigating the challenges with family relationships during the pandemic May 19. The presentation will be in Spanish with the ability for closed captioning in additional languages on Teams Live.

The session is part of a series, Wellness Community Events: Healing and Holding On—One Conversation at a Time for the Community, which is focused on mental health and wellness issues affecting the community as the COVID-19 pandemic continues. The conversation will be held on Wednesday, May 19 from 6 to 7:30 p.m. 

The speaker for the event is Angela Soto, a therapist with the County’s Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). Soto has worked for Montgomery County for 20 years in a variety of roles, including at the Department of Recreation and now at DHHS, where she has spent the past eight years working as a therapist for Jail Addiction Services, a program which serves correction facilities in Montgomery County. She has a master’s degree in social work from the University of Maryland and is certified in Trauma Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. 

During this event, participants will learn about the impact of the pandemic on families, with particular focus on its disproportionate effect on Latino families.  This includes:

• How to deal with anger, fear, isolation, depression, and other negative feelings associated with the pandemic, as well as the day-to-day stressors of living in ‘close quarters’ and how to manage the sense of self; and
  
  
• Why the pandemic has been particularly challenging for Latino residents, with an emphasis on the stressors facing the Latino community, such as concerns about relatives living in other countries; and
  
  
• How to deal with the stress on interpersonal relationships, particularly on parenting and spousal relationships.

The virtual meetings are held every other Wednesday from 6 to 7:30 p.m. The events are free, open to the public and no registration is required. Watch the conversation live on County Cable Montgomery and the County’s Facebook page. One can also join the conversation on Teams Live at http://bit.ly/bh-espanol. 

For more information, visit the County’s COVID-19 website and click on mental health resources or email hhsmail@montgomerycountymd.gov. For the latest COVID-19 updates, visit the and follow Montgomery County on Facebook @MontgomeryCountyInfo and Twitter @MontgomeryCoMD.

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Release ID: 21-338
Media Contact: Mary Anderson 240-777-6507