Council Member Close-up

Eve Sullivan, Founder
Parents Forum

WORK AND EDUCATION RELATED TO PARENTING EDUCATION:

Named Arminta Jacobson Parenting Education Professional of the Year 2011 by the Texas Association of Parent Educations, Eve Sullivan is the founder of Parents Forum, a volunteer program of parent peer support. She works as an editorial assistant for Annals of Physics at MIT. She received an M.A.T. degree in French from the Harvard Graduate School of Education and has taught English as a Second Language in Cambridge, Mass. as well as in Tunisia and Portugal.

She is mother of three grown sons, grandmother of two and author of Where the Heart Listens, a handbook for parents and their allies in a global society. The book was first published in 2001 — sample chapters are available online at the program website — and a third edition of the book appeared in 2010. Audio format will be available spring 2011. Eve welcomes inquiries about Parents Forum from prospective community partners and volunteers interested in increasing all parents' access to the parenting resources they need.

KEY ISSUES OF INTEREST IN PARENTING EDUCATION

Within the broad range of parenting resources, I am especially concerned about emotional awareness. Developing positive ways to express feelings and to manage our internal and interpersonal conflicts is key to mental health. The best place to acquire these attitudes and habits is at home. Parenting education, especially parent peer support, can play a big role in helping all parents improve their communications and conflict management skills.

Beginning my second three-year term as a Council member, I am happy to continue to bring to NPEN the international contacts I have developed, as I believe our national organization will be stronger when we work together with others outside the U.S. to advance the field. I speak English and French fluently and can follow conversational Spanish and Portuguese. My experience hosting international visitors in my home for nearly 30 years has given me an appreciation of many different cultures and shown me that parenting is an issue of universal interest and concern.

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

Where the Heart Listens: a handbook for parents and their allies in a global society (Parents Forum), third edition 2010, audio format expected spring 2011
Drum Beat #350 Listening to Parents, with Jamesa Wagwau (Communications Initiative, online publication 2006)
Gliding through difficult conversations with ease, in Our Children, October/November 2009 (National Parent Teacher Association)

PRESENTATIONS

Vienna International Committee of NGOs on the Family, 'Parenting education & support, keys to family well-being,' presentation published in Families International, Vienna, Austria, November 2009

Vienna International Committee of NGOs on the Family, ‘Parenting education & support,
keys to family well-being,’ presentation published in Families International, Vienna,
Austria, November 2009
'Parenting Resources: Cornerstone of Family Wellbeing,' NGO Committee on Mental
Health, New York, 2009
'What Parents Need to Succeed,' CCTV, Cambridge, Mass. 2009
Behavioral Health Update, InTimeTV, Chicago, 2008
CIVICUS World Assemblies: Botswana 2004 and Philippines 1999
Family Support America, Chicago 2002 and 2004
Int'l Federation for Parent Education, Burkina Faso 2002 and Mexico 1999
New Paths in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Portugal 1994

ACTIVITIES

Besides running Parents Forum, I serve on the FIEP/IFPE (International Federation for Parent Education) board, attend occasional meetings of the U.N. Committee of NGOs on Mental Health in New York City, the New York Committee of NGOs on the Family and take part in the Cambridge Family Literacy Collaborative. I work part-time at MIT as an editorial assistant.

Updated: February 2011

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