Clinics > Parenting Programmes
Parenting Programmes
Course 217: Relationship Management and Emotion Counselling
Course 218: Attachment Theory and Family Counselling.
Children and Teenagers respond to someone who believes in their potential and in the possibility of change, yet is realistic in his or her expectations and forgives their shortcommings. Immature children must be attached to a warm caring adult who coaches them in the appropriate responses.
In 2007 the Counselling Skills Institute is offering two courses (214 and 218) which are of interest to parents and will help them to coach their children in the use of correct emotions with the right intensity in any given situation. Parents will be taught techniques to allow them to back off from demands and ultimatums (which do not work with immature children of whatever age) and retreat to building strong connections with their child.
Despite the proliferation of parenting programmes on T.V. non-coercion is really the only solution to helping a child grow into maturity over time. Behaviourism (and its dependence on consequences) is simply too shallow an approach, especially for those childen who have maturity problems. There are no quick fixes, but over time big differences can be made in the lives of "stuck" children.
Once parents begin to see their child's difficult behaviours with compassion, their hearts automatically go out to them and they find themselves naturally coming alongside as coaches, instead of being annoyed and frustrated and acting in an adversarial manner. Whereas behaviourists would focus on the incident and so find a bandaid solution, (i.e. naughty corner which reenacts the childs worst nightmare - a break in attachment to parents)) we train parents to look for evidence of a more complete picture, and in this way get to the root of the problem. When looking for the root of the problem and dealing in a more systemic way with a child, it takes longer but the work is bound to pay off in long term results.