I recently had the pleasure of attending the Family Links 4-day Parent Group Leader training in Birmingham. All members of the Family Links team are invited to experience this popular course and I can see why!
For me, it wasn’t just a training course. It was an immersive and transformational shared experience.
Like the rest of my cohort, I arrived on the first morning a little nervous, excited and curious. Although a few people were attending with a colleague (the Nurturing Programme is designed to be delivered ultimately to parents by two trained Parent Group Leaders), many of us were on our own and meeting everyone for the first time. However, it didn’t take long for us to start getting to know each other. The way the course was delivered was so well designed that we were soon chatting and having fun together, all on first name terms.
The welcoming and relaxed atmosphere just got better as the four-day course unfolded. The warmth, empathy, understanding and organisation skills of our amazing facilitators, Helen and Rosie, made each of the four days a joy to be part of.
I was very struck by the diversity of participants on the course which equips practitioners with the knowledge and skills to deliver the The Nurturing Programme to parents. School teachers, prison officers, those working in drug and alcohol abuse, church workers and family support workers made it a really diverse and interesting group to work with. The Nurturing Programme provides adults and children with the understanding, skills and ability to lead emotionally healthy lives, build resilience, empathy, self-esteem and support positive relationships.
It was originally developed by the American child psychologist, Dr Stephen J. Bavolek and was based on his research into family interactions. He identified four destructive parental behaviour patterns and the Programme was developed to address them, now referred to as the four constructs or building blocks of emotionally healthy relationships:
Self-awareness
Appropriate expectations
Positive discipline
Empathy
The workshop style with lots of opportunity to have a go through fun and thoughtful exercises really was enjoyable and let’s face it, if learning is fun, it’s far more effective.
I wasn’t the only one blown away by the course. Here are some lovely comments collected at the end of Day 4:
“This training has filled me with confidence and excitement to be able to deliver a life-changing course”
“There are so many ways I can use what I’ve learnt with my own family, and with parents, staff and children at school. It’s been like switching on a light in my understanding”
If you’d like to experience this course for yourself or would like to know more about it, please get in touch.
Alison Duffy, Business Development Manager