Healthy Relationships Start Here

Let’s face it: parenting is hard.

Some of us might agree that it is probably one of the hardest things we have ever done.  But at the same time, it is also the most meaningful and rewarding.

As parents, our goal is to give our kids the best possible life, and have them grow up into kind, responsible, thoughtful, honest, and empathetic adults, who are successful, healthy and happy.

Time goes by fast, as many parents say. Enjoy them while they are young, they say, because one day they will be all grown up!

However, it is along the way that parents find many challenges. At each developmental stage, there are new things to learn as parents, new ways of communicating, new struggles to manage.

And as our children grow, so do we as parents.

The birth of parents

As parents, we draw on our own childhood experiences, what we have watched our own parents do, how they’ve modeled parenting to us. We take what we know and we transfer them to our own families. One could say that our parenting styles were developed long before we became parents.

A couple often have different styles of parenting, because both came from different families.

Each family has its own background, culture, traditions, and its way of doing things. No two families are the same.

They may be similar, but they are not the same.

Our genetic makeup and our personalities predispose us to receiving stimuli from the environment and people around us in our own very unique way.

We perceive the world our way because of these predispositions. It would be different than how others – including siblings from the same family – perceive the world.

What is parent facilitation?

Parent facilitation is therapy for parents where they learn the skills and tools to communicate with and relate to their children in a way that is healthy and helps their relationship grow.

Parent facilitators help parents struggling with children who have behavioural, emotional, and/or other mental health challenges.

Parent facilitators are professionals, who are trained in psychology or social work. They would have additional training in attachment styles, behavioural analysis, family systems, couples communication styles, developmental psychology, to name a few.

What parent facilitators do

While each parenting facilitator have their own styles and ways of working, typically parenting facilitators would do the following:

1. Assess and understand the family’s dynamics. Very often, the start of your therapeutic relationship begins with an assessment. The parenting facilitator may meet with both parents without the child, or they may meet with the child first, before meeting the parents. This decision is based on the nature of the issue or the conflict that was presented.

2. Help the family come up with a therapeutic goal. In communicating and collaborating with both parents and child or children, the parenting facilitator will design a therapeutic plan that meets the needs and goals of the family, that respects the values, beliefs and views of the family.

3. Appreciate that there is no one right way to parent. The parenting facilitator would not impose their own parenting beliefs on parents. Their goal is not to fix the situation, but to ensure that parents are harnessing their strengths in a healthy way that would lead to the desired and healthy outcomes.

4. Provide constant feedback. As they observed your interactions and get to know you, parenting facilitators will offer feedback based on their observations. Feedback may be given in the form of questions, suggestions, invitations to reflect, or guidance.

5. Provide tools and strategies. With your parental vision in mind, parenting facilitators will make age and developmentally appropriate, evidence-based tools and strategies that will enhance and strengthen the positives in your relationship, while learning to undo old habits that have not been working.

What parent facilitators help with

Parent facilitators can help with:

• Pre-teen and teen behavioral issues
• Trauma, survivors of abuse or domestic violence
• Family conflict which may include separation of parents, divorce, death, new sibling, step-parents
• Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)
• Autism spectrum disorders (ASD)
• Oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) and conduct problems
• Reactive attachment disorder (RAD)
• Substance use and how this impacts the parent-child relationship
• Facilitating difficult conversations with your child, like adoption, sex, etc.
• New parents
• Life skills development, including setting healthy boundaries, managing screen time, concerns with eating and other important aspects of personal and family life.

And more.

Quite often, we believe we would be a certain type of parent. The reality could turn out to be quite different. In the end, becoming a parent is a journey, and with any journey, there are up’s and down’s. Just as our children develop and grow, parents have to learn and grow.

Parenting is a journey that sometimes include overwhelming emotions, yelling, screaming, door-slamming. How we respond to these behaviours speaks to our parenting style.

You can transform your parenting style today by learning how to communicate lovingly and create great memories for your children.

Our parent facilitators

Innova’s parenting facilitators are experienced therapists who have worked with children and teens with extreme behavioural issues, neurodivergence, addictions and substance abuse, traumatic experiences, and mental health issues.

Our facilitators are trained and qualified in delivering the Connect Parenting program.

This program is a popular and highly rated program that is based on attachment styles and child development. Read more about the Connect program here.