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Judy on Coping and Resilience
Judy Quest has been involved throughout Nebraska in helping parents of children with special health needs. Most recently, Judy was the Family Partner for the Nebraska State Departments of Health and Human Services (formerly Social Services) and Education. Judy is now starting a new career as a guidance counselor, but we are lucky, because she has agreed to stay on-line as an Advisory Committee member!
Judy is a great, wonderful, fun-loving, down to earth woman who shares great information through Answers4Families. So, we decided we'd put a place in the library to capture some of her tips for parents!Hi to everyone! I just had to tack on some words to Annie's Coping and Resilience message. Thanks, Annie, for sharing this. It makes me think of a speech I heard one time that we, the parents of children with disabilities, are on a marathon race and for the race we need marathon skills. One of these skills is certainly to cope and learn what we need for the long term. The speech went on to say that we need people at our "watering stations" and people to run the course with us for awhile.
This was one of the hardest things for me being a very independent person -- to ask for help, advice, and just somebody to be with me.
My most valued coping strategy is a sense of humor. Certainly, many things we deal with are very serious, but in most of life a sense of humor is such a skill. Many of you know that I went to clown school when I was pregnant with Melanie, my daughter with disabilities, not knowing that there would be anything wrong. It has saved my life -- being Dear Heart the clown for 14 years. That girl can be so wacky and trouble free and when she comes home it's amazing how Judy comes home with new energy too. By the way, I have stickers with Dear Heart's ornery face on them. If you send me your snail mail address, I will send you a couple for your appointment book or your check book to keep you smiling when you need it!
Probably one of the best coping skills is to learn what does it for you -- helps you revive and go on. It would be interesting to know what people do -- I can also get into "retail therapy" but not too often!
Posted August 13th, 2007
Judy is a great, wonderful, fun-loving, down to earth woman who shares great information through Answers4Families. So, we decided we'd put a place in the library to capture some of her tips for parents!Hi to everyone! I just had to tack on some words to Annie's Coping and Resilience message. Thanks, Annie, for sharing this. It makes me think of a speech I heard one time that we, the parents of children with disabilities, are on a marathon race and for the race we need marathon skills. One of these skills is certainly to cope and learn what we need for the long term. The speech went on to say that we need people at our "watering stations" and people to run the course with us for awhile.
This was one of the hardest things for me being a very independent person -- to ask for help, advice, and just somebody to be with me.
My most valued coping strategy is a sense of humor. Certainly, many things we deal with are very serious, but in most of life a sense of humor is such a skill. Many of you know that I went to clown school when I was pregnant with Melanie, my daughter with disabilities, not knowing that there would be anything wrong. It has saved my life -- being Dear Heart the clown for 14 years. That girl can be so wacky and trouble free and when she comes home it's amazing how Judy comes home with new energy too. By the way, I have stickers with Dear Heart's ornery face on them. If you send me your snail mail address, I will send you a couple for your appointment book or your check book to keep you smiling when you need it!
Probably one of the best coping skills is to learn what does it for you -- helps you revive and go on. It would be interesting to know what people do -- I can also get into "retail therapy" but not too often!
Warm weekend wishes to one and all!
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