<\/a>Barrow and Lupin West cheer on their mom Olivia Barrow while she swims laps at Family Day at the Park on Saturday. (Jonson Kuhn \/ Juneau Empire)<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
The Southeast Alaska Family Evaluation Child Advocacy Center along with the Catholic Community Service hosted three free swim sessions at the Dimond Park Aquatic Center on Saturday as part of an ongoing series aimed at increasing healthy outcomes for children and parents by providing opportunities to engage in positive childhood experiences. Positive childhood experiences are the balance of adverse childhood experiences, which are correlated with an increased likelihood of developing negative physical and mental health and lifestyle challenges into adulthood, according to the SAFE Child Advocacy Center.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
Rikki DuBois, preventive education specialist for SAFE Child Advocacy Center said, as with all of the center’s events, its focus revolves around supporting and promoting positive childhood experiences as an anecdote to adverse childhood experiences.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
“That balance of difficult experiences and positive experiences, when you have the positive experiences to draw from, you can work through that,” DuBois said. “It’s how we build that resilience to come through those difficult situations and have better outcomes in the future as opposed to long term mental health challenges that are sometimes experienced after child abuse.”<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t