Family Development: Parent Café
Purpose: Learning for Life “Parent Café” is an interactive family support program that seeks to provide parents/caregivers with opportunities to connect with other parents who have a child(ren) that are challenged with mental health, emotional, behavioral or social needs, by encouraging them to a build a natural community of support amongst themselves through a nurturing, self-care and empowered environment offered through Learning for Life “Parent Café”.
Parent Café helps to empower parents/caregivers to become more effective in meeting their family's needs through, support, education and knowledge. Learning for Life “Parent Café” provides families with the ability to identify their strengths, needs, and resources, while empowering parents/caregivers to move towards family interdependence with the goal of fostering a healthy family framework that enables parents to be agents of positive change in their families.
Programs
Learning for Life “Parent Café" offers a tapestry of family programming with specific objectives.
Meet & Mingle
An introductory gathering to acquaint parents with Parent Café and its programming. Various forum topics presented while sharing a light meal. Connecting with other parents/caregivers with similar needs can reduce the stress and stigma associated with raising a child with special challenges. Door prizes and incentives provided to enhance the event.
Frequency: Once Per month
Topics offering: one topic per month (but each topic session is offered twice to support parent schedules: One evening dates or one daytime date, but same topic is discussed).
Practical Parenting
Two part session that facilitates growth and development of goal setting skills and identifying barriers to reaching those goals. The second part focuses specifically on improving parenting skill using a practical and proven approach. Both parts support maximization of skills learned through interaction and open ended discussion. Child care is provided.
Part I
Frequency – meets weekly for 9 weeks
Format – Group Setting
Practical Parenting
Cost $150 per week
1. The Active Parent
2. Communication & Cooperation
3. Responsibility & Discipline
4. Building Courage & Self-Esteem
5. Understanding & Redirecting Misbehavior
6. Active Parenting for School Success
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Part II
Frequency – meets weekly for 9 weeks
Format – Group Setting
Biography of Parenting
Cost $150 per week
1. Development of parent identity and how that impacts parental response
2. Identifying disappointment and grief in the parenting process
3. Action plan to deal with the challenges of disappointment
4. Rebuilding parenting confidence Part 1 & 2
5. Group Coaching:
Family Values, Goal Setting and Empowering Tools
Family Booster
ACTIVITY FOR FAMILY ENGAGEMENT
Regularly scheduled events designed to boost family morale by providing parent child interaction in an empowering social setting. Each event is themed and can vary. It is purposely planned to create opportunities to use skills and allow “moments” for families. Door prizes and incentives enhance the events. Children encouraged to attend with parents.
Frequency: Quarterly (could be more depending on activity)
Requirements: Parents must have participated in Pat I of Practical Parenting to be involved in this ongoing, activity driven family engagements
Cost – free for parents attending or have completed the “Practical Parenting or “Biography of Parenting sessions”
GRIEF RECOVERY
Parents can suffer many losses, be it loss of expectations, a death, disappointment – we highly recommend this self-care components as parents heal from various griefs.
FAMILY LIFE COACHING
Will be referred services for only families in which we noticed more intensive, comrprhisive one-one family support is needed.
