Our Interview with Suzy Marta founder of Rainbows

On today’s show we had Suzy Yahl Marta The Founder and President  of Rainbows a wonderful organization that helps chidren with grief and loss through situations like divorce, death, family member deployed, in prison, or other painful seperations. This was a wonderful interview, Suzy was very relaxed and very easy to speak to and so informative. Suzy explained how after her own painful divorce and not finding good resources to help her children through this difficult time she began working with other concerned parents. Before she knew she was organizing weekend retreats for both single parents and the children involved to help them deal during this difficult time in their lives.

Soon Suzy began working on a formal curriculum which soon became the foundation for Rainbows. In our interview today we asked Suzy what are some of the signs or symptoms that a parent should look for in a child that says maybe you should seek some assitance for your child. Some of the symptoms she mentioned were if your child started to fail in school or have problems with other students. Another sign is. Suzy also explained that Rainbows is a FREE Non for Profit organization with locations all over the United States to see if there is a location near you please visit Suzy’s site Rainbows to see if there is an organiztion near you.  Also they just recently launched their online store where you will find training materials to help you and your family deal. Inside their store you are going to find material for kids starting from three years and up through adult hood. Also inside the store you will find a copy of Suzy’s book titled “Healing the Hurt, Restoring the Hope” which you can order for your family.

One of the subjects we touched on was divorce and how this is on the rise we speculate due to the hard times and the economy. We asked Suzy what are some tips she could care for our listeners who may be contemplating divorce or whom are getting a divorce and how they can tell this to their children. First and foremost Suzy said tell your children as soon as you know , they are very smart and are probably already feeling the tension in the household, do not wait until the spouse moves out or until your sign the divorce papers. Remember not only does this affect you and your spouse but also your children and they should be included in the discussion.  Also she mentioned to please be sure whatever you do, doing not talk poorly about your spouse in front of your children it will only hurt them and serves no purpose. A great tip Suzy shared was when she was going through her own divorce each night she would sit down with her kids, and ask how their day was, and also ask them how they were dealing with the divorce on that day. Not only did it open the dialogue for discussion but also allowed them a safe enviroment to share their thoughts and feelings with Suzy, she explained she continued this process until they were in college not only talking about divorce but also what was going in their lives and theirdaiily lives.
Suzy also informed us that they are in the process of translating all of the training materials into Spanish to help reach a broader audience and to provide their services to them as well. Also starting in May they will be able to start training volunteers online to start bringing Rainbows to their community, if you are interested in learning more about how you can volunteer for this great organization please visit their website and contact for further information.  Please be sure to stop by and listen to our show, to hear our full interview with Suzy and also please remember Rainbows offers their services for free, so if you would like to donate to this wonderful cause you will find on their front page many avenues to do so.