PARENTING EDUCATION PROGRAM
This comprehensive 8-session program answers important parenting questions related to child development, communication, discipline and others. This class is geared for parents of any age child.
Upcoming topics include:
How to Communicate with your Children
Understanding Child Development
How to Discipline Your Children Safely and Effectively without Hitting
The Effects of Conflict on Children
Raising Healthy Children
|
|
CO-PARENTNG WITHOUT CONFLICT
Are you going through a divorce? This innovative 4-session program will empower divorced or separated parents to provide a healthy post-divorce environment for their children. This course will help parents to understand the effects of divorce on their children, as well as learn the factors necessary to protect children from emotional harm and to promote their psychological safety and adjustment. Enrollment in this program is limited to 10 participants. Singles or couples may join.
|
DOMESTIC VIOLENCE PARENTING
This program is specially designed to help parents understand the impact that domestic violence have on their children, intimate partners and family. This program will be helpful for fathers who are concerned about their use of physical discipline toward their children and looking to learn new, effective and more nurturing ways to parent their children. Voluntary, court and DCFS referred clients are welcome.
|
|
|
|
Does alienation exist?
Parental alienation has been a hot-button topic since Richard Gardner's theory and the subsequent debate occurred. While the American Psychological Association never recognized Parental Alienation as a diagnostic label, many Court relied on expert testimony in this area in adjudicating custody disputes. The fact is that children do sometimes experience distance in their relationship with a parent. Recent research (Kelly and Johnson, 2001) confirms that there are many reasons for this distance, ranging from realistic estrangement, where a child is distant or rejects a parent who has abused him, to pathological alienation, where a child is distant or rejects a parent due to the influence of the other parent. The middle ground between these extremes contains children who display an allegiance for one parent over the other - who have not been subject to any dynamics of alienation or abuse. The allegiance shown by these children is often age and developmentally appropriate. Alienation exists but it is not a "one size fits all" label and discerning which type of alienation is present is the basis for determining the relative responsibilities of the parents for causing this alienation and, more importantly, helps to identify the necessary treatments for remedying it. Alienated children suffer (Fidler and Bala, 2010) and the ill effects of the alienation persist into adulthood (Baker 2005a, 2005b, 2007) It is critical for their best interest and safety that the problem be accurately identified and treated.
|
|
|
