Helping Your Military-Connected Elementary Student Thrive

Description:  Life can be hard no matter the age.  Kimberly McCarthy and Terri Rudy from Clearinghouse for Military Families at Penn State, discuss life scenarios that parents may encounter with their elementary students as well as provide strategies to help children to flourish and grow.   This podcast was made possible thanks to the generous support from the Naval Officers’ Spouses’ Club of San Diego https://noscsandiego.com/   Show Notes: Thrive Initiative https://thrive.psu.edu/about/what-is-thrive/  MCEC Webinar: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/rec/WN_NdCsGlOPQlG3plav0RPHeg?meetingId=JHMAQ171XAJB42Phx07yPqgV_Qrq6H2CK2XfIOw-peVMEd6N0GeJg0dMUEAaio_a.t1D5vDbHZiGHH6k5&playId=&action=play&_x_zm_rtaid=LdFUgxNNRtOrDgNKm9jFjQ.1661800309223.a516fc4e2c2f3c621ef763bd2a48e51a&_x_zm_rhtaid=620   Bio: Kimberly J. McCarthy Research Project Manager Kimberly J. McCarthy is a Research Project Manager at the Clearinghouse for Military Family Readiness at Penn State. In this role, she has advanced education, outreach, and evaluation efforts related to parenting, veteran well-being, and programming for children, youth, and families. As a member of the Thrive Initiative team, Kimberly serves as a master trainer and curriculum writer. Kimberly graduated with a bachelor’s degree with high distinction in Health Policy and Administration and Human Development and Family Studies from the Pennsylvania State University. She has also been certified as a health education specialist, a coach, and as a trainer for a variety of evidence-based youth development, parenting, and community mobilization programs. In addition, Kimberly is a Leadership Center County graduate. In previous roles, Kimberly coordinated coaching, technical assistance, and education efforts for federal and state initiatives aimed at the following: improving outcomes for low-resource populations, increasing the utilization of evidence-based strategies for positive youth development, and promoting medical and dental access for underserved populations. Kimberly has also contributed to large-scale evaluation efforts, including a randomized control trial funded by the National Institutes of Health. Her journal publications focus on topics such as veterans’ well-being during the military-to-civilian transition, coach-based technical assistance models, and obesity prevention. Terri L. Rudy Research Project Manager Terri L. Rudy, M.P.A., is a Research Project Manager at the Clearinghouse for Military Family Readiness at Penn State (Clearinghouse) and serves as the Project Manager of the Resource Center for Improving Family Health Behaviors and the Thrive Initiative. In this role, she provides oversight of and contributes to the curriculum and content development, implementation and dissemination, and evaluation of universal and secondary prevention parent-education programming that focuses on child and family well-being. Through her responsibilities managing the outreach and communication efforts for Clearinghouse projects and programs, she helps to advance existing and future work funded through the Department of Defense and community partnerships that aim to promote health among military families. Terri received a Bachelor of Psychology and a Master of Public Administration from the Pennsylvania State University.