The Olszewski Center for Wellbeing, Ltd

12/29/2024

This so true about parenting. This is what positive parenting is about. Parenting isn’t about making our kids happy or everything better for our kids. Parenting is about teaching and having them learn how to feel and manage life and emotions properly so they can function in life.

11/17/2023

Spread happiness.

A teacher gave a balloon to every student, who had to inflate it, write their name on it, and throw it in the hallway. The teacher then mixed all the balloons. The students were then given 5 minutes to find their own balloon. Despite a hectic search, no one found their balloon.

At that point, the teacher told the students to take the first balloon that they found and hand it to the person whose name was written on it. Within 5 minutes, everyone had their own balloon.

The teacher said to the students: "These balloons are like happiness. We will never find it if everyone is looking for their own. But if we care about other people's happiness, we'll find ours too."

May your day be filled with happiness. ❤️

I got your balloon

04/05/2023

Our founder, Dr. Patricia ("Pat") Garcia, wasn't able to attend our 20th Anniversary Celebration since she was out of town due to a scheduling conflict. So MACA met up with Dr. Garcia ahead of time to present her with a special award!

The inscription on the award reads, "Dr. Pat Garcia, extraordinary founder. Recognizing extraordinary service to mothers and babies throughout Illinois for over 20 years. With love, Mother and Child Alliance, March 2023."

In addition to being MACA's founder, Dr. Garcia is an OB-GYN and maternal-fetal medicine specialist, as well as professor and associate dean for curriculum at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. In 2010, Dr. Garcia was appointed to The Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS.

Pictured from left to right are MACA board member Dr. Lynn Yee, award recipient Dr. Pat Garcia, our executive director Anne Statton, and MACA board chair Ilana Rosen.

04/05/2023

We'd like to introduce you to one of our key partners: Dr. Yolanda Olaya Olszewski, PsyD, LCPC, who is pictured here at left with our executive director Anne Statton on the right in a photo from our recent 20th Anniversary Celebration.

Yolanda is a Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor who is currently working with MACA on supporting the rollout of congenital syphilis testing support in the third trimester, at maternity hospitals across the state. She also helps with maternal interviews for our review of cases of perinatal HIV transmission. It's valuable in doing this work that Yolanda is bilingual in addition to being a certified mental health therapist.

In addition to her doctorate in Clinical Psychology, Yolanda also has a Master's degree in Public Health as well as a Master's in Organizational behavior. She has published research on the elimination of perinatal HIV transmission, and she continues to conduct research in the area of mental health among vulnerable populations.

Notably, Yolanda has been the project director of a national research study funded by the Centers for Disease Control, as well as the project director of a statewide research study funded by the Illinois Department of Health.

Yolanda has a long track record of helping to keep Illinois moms and babies healthy. She was key to the rollout of rapid HIV testing statewide back in 2003-2005, and helped to manage the network of support for hospitals conducting the testing statewide. Thanks, Yolanda, for all you do!

07/10/2022

Let me introduce you to Drayke Hardman. He was 12 years old. This week, he hung himself with his favorite hoodie from his bunk bed. His bunk bed. “... 199 comments on LinkedIn

09/25/2021

Thank you for making my day! !

09/24/2021

BRAVEST VS. FINEST - always a good time and great cause.

05/21/2021

made me do it but glad to be inspired by him each time I see him and others at ❤️

04/03/2021

03/21/2021

Perhaps the toughest thing when our children cry are the emotions their tears trigger in us: empathic upset and sadness, plus a sense of helplessness that comes from thinking we need to do something while unsure what that would be. If we ourselves feel uncomfortable with those emotions -- upset, sad...

03/21/2021

Waking up in the middle of the night and having trouble going back to sleep are among the most common symptoms of insomnia. We talked to a sleep medicine specialist about what we can do to get back to sleep and get a good night's rest.

01/27/2021

Research-backed answers to some of the most commonly asked questions regarding attention and distractibility in the virtual classroom.