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The Parenting Journey Training Institute - New York City
For the past nine years, The Family Center has offered The Parenting Journey™ facilitator training to human service providers in New England and New York. To date, it has introduced more than 800 workers from over 400 agencies and schools to The Parenting JourneyTM and its parent-centered philosophy of change. In 2001, The Family Center collaborated with Good Shepherd Services’ Human Services Workshops as its administrative and fiscal partner in New York City. Among New York providers, there has been overwhelming enthusiasm for The Parenting Journey™ curricula. By the fall of 2006, The Family Center had outgrown this partnership and needed its own staff and space to expand its impact and to disseminate its philosophy and models more broadly and deeply. To accomplish this goal, it established The Parenting Journey Training Institute whose headquarters remains at The Family Center in Somerville, Massachusetts, but whose new site is in New York City.
Training Philosophy
The Family Center assumes that all people belong to some group or network—the most common of which is the family—and that the relationships within these family groups define many of their problems, while also containing solutions to them. Trainees learn about the importance of family relationships, and how to apply family systems knowledge to any therapeutic setting. They learn strategic and well-realized interventions, communicated through an active and engaging format.
An assumption of effective training is that training programs are comprised of two parts: experiencing new models for intervention and providing the participant with the skills necessary to take them to diverse populations. Too often, schools and training sessions teach new information and new ideas but fail to teach the implementation of them. A trainee may go home feeling good about a new theory, but lacking the skills to put it into practice. Conversely, a training program may provide the tools necessary for implementation, but fail to provide effective content.
The training philosophy of The Family Center mirrors that of its service philosophy. Participation in The Parenting Journey™ training program is not simply another professional development opportunity, but rather, a hands-on personal experience where one learns from “the inside out”, by experiencing the exercises in the program the way parents experience them. While learning intellectually one is also learning “emotionally”.
This immersion model guarantees that trainees have a strong understanding of how their parent populations might experience the program, and are themselves changed by the reflection and community building that takes place. Trainees are asked to invest themselves personally in the five-day training program, and to make a commitment to actually put the new program model into practice within six months of attending the training. Participants in The Parenting Journey™ training program are given a toolkit that includes: the curriculum for each session, background information on starting a new group, facilitation tips, and unique props for each interactive exercise. Following participation in the training program, trainers from The Family Center are available to coach trainees and their colleagues as they move into implementation.
Description of The Family Center’s Curricula
The Family Center’s Parenting Journey Training Institute curricula include:
- The Parenting Journey™ (Part One), an acclaimed introductory 12-week curriculum-based parenting group designed to help parents increase self awareness and self-care practices, raise awareness of past and present factors that influence their parenting styles, enhance their parenting skills, and utilize their strengths to support their children and build nurturing family relationships;
- The Parenting Journey™ (Part Two), a 14-week Parenting Journey Part II offers parents an opportunity to utilize the skills and new insights they gained in The Parenting Journey Part I. As the Journey continues, parents re-direct their focus to proactively set goals, acknowledge and change self-sabotaging behavior, and make plans to build a healthier future for themselves and their families. At the end of Parenting Journey Part II, parents leave with a clear plan that includes the steps necessary to reach their personal goals. Parents also deepen their understanding of how their past and current actions impact their children;
- Parenting in America, a unique 8-week program that provides an opportunity for isolated and at-risk immigrant parents to share their immigration experiences, honor their cultural strengths and use new strategies to confront the challenges of living and raising their children in two cultures. Currently, there are curricula designed for Haitian and Latino populations;
- Transitions, a domestic violence recovery curriculum designed to help non-offending parents and their children work together to rebuild relationships damaged by family violence.
On-going Support for Parenting Journey Facilitators and Agencies:
- Technical Assistance: Our commitment to provide ongoing support to you as you engage at risk families is reflected in our site visit and consultation program. We can come to your site and address individual challenges. Simply contact the Institute and Carolina and her staff will be glad to assist you
- Making The Parenting Journey a Sustainable Part of Your Agencies Work: We have developed an enhanced consultation and support model aimed at helping agencies adopt the tools and philosophy of family engagement proposed by The Parenting Journey. For more information, please contact us at the Institute.
Future Directions of The Parenting Journey™ Training Institute
The Family Center opened its Training Institute in New York with the intention of expanding The Parenting Journey’s replication in many of New York’s largest human service agencies. The structure of the Parenting Journey Training program guarantees that agencies feel comfortable and fully supported while introducing and replicating the program at their respective sites. Many of New York City’s human service agencies have already begun this process.
In the next period of our growth, we will introduce our other curricula (The Parenting Journey™ Part II, Parenting in America and Transitions) to the human service community while strengthening The Parenting Journey™ sites currently operating. Through trainings conducted at The Parenting Journey™ Training Institute during its first year of operation, we expect to impact up to 4,000 parents, with a significant increase in this number over subsequent years.
Summary
To date, the popularity and demand for our Parenting Journey models and curricula has far exceeded our expectations. We have hit upon an approach that has been missing in the universe of social services. Our programs are not complex, they are grounded in common sense: treat families like they matter and they will start to believe it; give front-line social service workers accessible and hand-on tools and they will help families thrive. We have worked for 25 years to build this solid foundation and we are now poised to replicate our curricula throughout NY and other cities.
Contact us at trainingcoordinator@thefamilycenterinc.org for more information on our curricula series and schedule of upcoming training offerings.
80 Maiden Laine, Suite 606
New York, 10038
(212) 430-5909
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