Teenagers need family love and support at a time when lots of other things in their lives are changing.
Many people think that families become less important to children as they move into the teenage years. But research shows that adolescents need family support as much as they did when they were younger. The Strengthening Families Program helps families learn together how to communicate, respect each other, and appreciate the value of spending time together.
The program has been proven to:
- Help develop resilient young people so they can bounce back from tough times
- Support parents with improved skills in nurturing and child management
- Improve youth’s ability to develop positive relationships with peers and family members
- Teach parents how to increase wanted behaviors in youth by increasing positive attention and reinforcements
The Strengthening Families Program is a 7-week evidence-based program for youth ages 10-14 and their families. It is designed so that parents and youth attend separate classes for the first hour and then work together in family group in the second hour. The program is facilitated by specifically trained Certified Prevention Specialists and Associate Prevention Specialists and includes:
- Parent training sessions that include communication training, alcohol/drug education, problem-solving, compliance requests, and principles of limit-setting
- Youth skills training sessions that include discussion and skill building around resisting peer pressure, problem-solving, compliance with parental rules, understanding and handling emotions, sharing feelings and dealing with criticism, and discussion about alcohol/drugs
- Family skills training program conducted during the second hour that involves both youth and parents and includes different family activities to practice the lessons learned with trainer support and feedback
Oftentimes there are barriers that keep families from being able to participate in the Strengthening Families Program. With this in mind, we provide other assistance.
- Free on-site babysitting for children under the age of 10 who are too young to participate in the program.
- Family dinner prior to group
- Transportation for families living within 10 miles of the group site
- Bag of groceries for families attending the groups
- Bi-lingual facilitators for parenting groups
- Groups offered in different community locations throughout the county