Amara Montsion
Special to the Tribune/Advisor
Sometimes wonder and worry about your child’s behaviour?
Ever worry about your relationship with your child — feel like you just don’t know what to do?
Canadian Mental Health Association’s Family Solutions Program is offering a group for parents and caregivers. The Connect Parent Group takes a different approach than most other parent group formats.
It is an attachment focused approach to supporting caregivers and families. Rather than focusing on behavioural management techniques, Connect focuses on enhancing the parents’ ability to reflect before acting, by teaching skills that that help parents ‘reframe’ their child’s behaviour.
This is done by working with parents to understand and modulate their own emotional responses to problem behaviour and by practicing and communicating empathy for their child’s experience.
Connect is a 10 week program, facilitated by trained mental health professionals, that support parents of pre-teens and teens develop and maintain strong positive relationships.
Connect is for all parents — it helps protect teens as they move forward in their journey to adulthood.
Each session provides parents with a new perspective on parent-teen relationships and adolescent development. Parents watch role-plays, do exercises and discuss new ways of responding to challenging behaviour and problems.
We understand that each child and each parent is different and change is part of development.
Rather than teach only one way of parenting, we help parents see choices that support healthy relationships while setting limits and helping their teen to move forward.
The next Connect Parent Group runs October 21 to December 16, Wednesdays from 5:30 to 7 p.m. There will be a feedback session in the new year.
There is no charge, but pre-registration is required due to limited seating. Food and refreshments are provided. For more information, please contact: Amara Montsion at (250) 305-4487, Family Counsellor for Canadian Mental Health Association’s Cariboo-Chilcotin Branch.