The Kidus Legacy Family Wellness Seminar

Strengthening family relationships. Bridging cultural and generational differences.

The Kidus Legacy Education and Soccer Foundation (The Kidus Legacy Foundation) is launching its Family Wellness Seminar as a platform for families of Ethiopian and Eritrean heritage.

The Family Wellness Seminar offers socio-emotional skills development workshops led by experts in the fields of social work, psychology, entrepreneurship, leadership and coaching. These community events are free and designed to strengthen family relationships while bridging cultural and generational differences.

Like other adolescents, youth with Ethiopian and/or Eritrean heritage have the challenging task of achieving crucial developmental milestones as they transition from childhood into adulthood. One key milestone is to form an identity that is separate and distinct from their parents. In the process of forming their own identity, adolescents often question traditional values, test limits and experiment with risky behaviors. In immigrant families, the physical, social and emotional changes that adolescence brings are exacerbated by sharp differences between the Ethiopian and/or Eritrean cultures and the dominant American culture. At school and in the community, youth experience intense social pressure to adopt American values and norms like independence and self-expression. At home, youth are expected to follow traditional Ethiopian and/or Eritrean values like social responsibility and respect for elders. The contrast between cultures often leads to misunderstandings, tensions and emotional distress in families, and if unaddressed, has the potential to evolve into alienation, loneliness, depression, anxiety and/or substance use. By strengthening family relationships and developing socio-emotional skills, families will be able to prevent, recognize and get treatment for mental health conditions.

In addition to providing for their children’s physical, social and emotional needs, Ethiopian and/or Eritrean parents face unique challenges associated with the immigrant experience. In migrating to the U.S., many separated from friends and family, struggled to rebuild their professional identities, faced challenges with the acculturation process, experienced financial hardships, and some may have also witnessed or directly experienced state violence. While these painful life experiences may have been necessary sacrifices, they are rarely acknowledged and often contribute to emotional distress or breakdowns in family relationships.

Through the Family Wellness Seminar, The Kidus Legacy Foundation seeks to equip Ethiopian-American and/or Eritrean-American families with the evidence-based socio-emotional skills needed to build and maintain healthy relationships within the family unit. The Kidus Legacy Foundation plans to launch this initiative by hosting a free seminar on March 7, 2020 from 1:00 pm to 5:30 pm with these and other subject matter experts: