Parenting Education
Our Positive Parenting class curriculum is strength based and grounded in the Protective Factors for building strong families. It is designed to provide parents with an understanding of parent skills and knowledge, particularly in the areas of child development, communication, positive parenting practices and self-awareness, while emphasizing the importance of self-care and parental resilience. Our goal is to provide parents with the tools they need to create a strong, healthy, safe, and nurturing environment.
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Our parenting classes are appropriate for all types of parents:
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Parents of children of all ages
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Fathers
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Mothers
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Foster and Adoptive Parents
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LGBTQIA (Lesbian, Gay Bisexual, Transsexual, Queer/Questioning, Intersex, Asexual) Parents
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Kinship Care Providers
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Parents in the reunification process with their children
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Others involved in the parenting role
Children need love and respect to encourage their optimal health and development. This class presents parents with the nurturing parenting philosophy of non-violent parenting which focuses on developing:
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Empathy
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Self worth
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Self awareness
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Empowerment
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Discipline with dignity
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Appropriate family roles
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Age appropriate expectations of a child's development
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We use the Strengthen Families Framework incorporating the Five Protective Factors that serve to protect children and promote their healthy development and well-being, especially during times of stress. Building theses strengths at every opportunity is a proven way to strengthen families and prevent child abuse and neglect.
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Parental Resilience: Strength, flexibility, and courage during stress to deal with challenges.
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Knowledge of Parenting & Child Development: Parenting is part natural and part learned; there's no such thing as a perfect parent.
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Social Connections: Parents need friends, family, and neighbors that care about them and their children.
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Concrete Supports in Times of Need: Everyone needs help sometimes; it's okay to ask for help, which builds resilience.
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Social & Emotional Competence: Through positive interactions with caring adults, children learn to communicate, develop and learn to use their thinking skills appropriately.
Parenting classes highlight nurturing intentional habits, promoting healthy physical and emotional development, while teaching appropriate role and developmental expectations. Parents activities entail role plays, videos, worksheets, parent handbooks and assessment inventories. Parents and children learn how to play games, sing songs, and have fun as a family.
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Our weekly Parenting Classes are designed to:
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Build self-awareness
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Instill positive self concept/self esteem
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Develop levels of empathy
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Enhance family communication and awareness of individual needs
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Each client in the program is awarded a certificate for successfully completing a four (4), eight (8), twelve (12), or sixteen (16) hour program.
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Co-Parenting
Our Putting Kids First Co-Parenting class creates an opportunity for parents and family members to shift their attention away from the personal aspects of a divorce or separation to the needs of their children. This class takes the psychoeducational approach and focuses on the enhancement of children's ability to function within their families, improve their parental relationships, and impress upon parents their critical role in helping their children to adjust through co-parenting skills learned within the class.
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We understand the importance of protecting a child's innocence while continuing to provide for their development. This Co-Parenting class works to strengthen families by providing adults the skills to maintain a much more effective relationship that will provide a nurturing, non-threatening environment for their children. When families do break up, parents need to learn how to help their child adjust to the changes in their lives. This program offers that.
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Our co-parenting classes are suited for all parents:
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Grandparents
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Step-Parents
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Those that directly or indirectly influence decisions about children
Our co-parenting classes benefit children by:
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Reducing their symptoms of stress as parental conflict decreases
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Increasing the likelihood of keeping two actively involved parents
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Diminishing their sense of needing to choose between parents
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Creating a more relaxed home atmosphere
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Reducing the likelihood of adolescent drug and alcohol problems, teen pregnancy, dropping out of school, crime
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Helping a child to feel acceptance
Our co-paring classes benefit parents by:
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Helping parents put their children's needs first
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Teaching effective communication and conflict resolution skills
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Helping to recognize the importance of parental bonds with both parents
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Fostering sensitivity to the child's needs and feelings
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Enabling parents to accept personal responsibility for their own actions
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Establishing the long-term benefits of Parenting
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Acknowledging the financial responsibilities of both parents
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Establishing a working parenting plan
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Decide your child will not come from a broken home, They are going to have two homes
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The JH Therapeutic Putting Kids First Co-Parenting Class will cover:
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Emotional effects of divorce
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Emotional and behavior reactions to divorce by children
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Parenting issues relating to specific developmental stages
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Stress indicators in children
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Conflict Management
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Family stabilization through Parenting relationship development
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Financial responsibilities of parenting
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Family violence
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Spousal abuse
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Child abuse and neglect
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Meditation
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Parenting plans
We offer four 6-hour certificate programs. Each client in the program is awarded a certificate of completion and will receive a take home workbook. This program is certified through the courts.