Family Therapy with Young Children Study Group: Focus on Parenting                                   

9 Fridays Weekly from 9:00-11am ET: November 8, 2024- January 17, 2025                             

18 CEs | Live On Zoom

                                           
Facilitator: Howard C. Wolfe, MA, LMFT & Kelly Garcia, LMFT                                        

Program Dates: November 8, 15, 22, 2024; December 6, 13, 20, 2024; January 3, 10, 17, 2025

Cost of Program: Free for NEAFAST Members; $80 for nonmembers. Become an NEAFAST Member!
Cost of 18 CEs: $252 for NEAFAST members; $270 for nonmembers

Family Therapy with Young Children Study Group: Focus on Parenting is a weekly, 18 CE event that will meet in nine two hour segments. This group will be structured as a study group and as such will look at approaches to supporting families who have a young child struggling to grow up. The struggle could be related to family members having a neurological issue (ADHD, sensory integration and regulation challenges, spectrum disorder), the structure of the family (parents not able to be a team, leadership problems, boundary issues) or child behavioral and relationship problems. Topics include: 

• Moving from an individual therapy model to a family therapy perspective where the parents are the agents of change, but also involving teachers, grandparents, coaches, nannies, etc. 
• An understanding that parenting is the transmission of values and approaches to life as a human. Parenting is largely a values driven activity. How do we go about understanding a caregiver's parenting style and values? What are our values for family life and parenting? What are the ethics of promoting one type of parenting over another? How do we address disagreements between spouses? Between parents and the therapist?
• Advantages and disadvantages of various diagnostic systems such as psychiatric vs. relational diagnosis

This course will center around the book Children: The Challenge by Rudolf Dreikurs, with additional insight from The Greenspan Floortime Approach by Stanley Greenspan and his ideas about how a child's hard wiring interacts with the family (social) environment. The course will use video as an educational platform: specifically, from Supernanny with Jo Frost where she introduces us to families and then demonstrates various parenting methods to get the parents back in charge, and promote a satisfying and calm family atmosphere. The course will also use case consultation, where study group participations can present a family they are working with. 

Continuing education units will be distributed to those who attend all nine sessions. If folks need to miss one session, they will be asked to write 2-3 page summary about the content from Children: The Challenge and how they plan on implementing this information with an identified family. 

At the conclusion of this program, participants will be better able to: 

Learning Objective 1: Describe the 4 main styles of child rearing (Authoritarian, Permissive, Attachment, and Democratic) and how to help parents decide on a style based on the advantages and disadvantages of each one. 

Learning Objective 2: Teach techniques of Democratic Parenting such as encouragement, logical and natural consequences to parents, teachers, and other caregivers using family therapy and parent education methods.

Learning Objective 3: Engage more effectively with parents around contracting with parents, using a problem list, using a family intake meeting, promoting leadership and teamwork, and teaching and coaching parents in parenting techniques.

Sign Up for the peer group Here!

Kelly Garcia, LMFT completed her Master’s degree in Counseling Psychology with a focus on Couples and Family Therapy at William James College. She began training as a therapist first at an adolescent partial hospitalization in Lowell, and next at a community clinic and school in Lynnfield. Since graduation, she has provided individual, group, couples and family therapy for children, teens, families, and adults. She has worked in a residential home for children, in a community-based and outpatient-counseling center, and currently in private practice.

This activity is pending certification by the New England Association for Family and Systemic Therapy (NEAFAST) on behalf of the Massachusetts Board of Registration of Allied Mental Health & Human Services Professions for LMFT professional continuing education.

Application for social work continuing education credits has been submitted. Please contact us at [email protected] the status of social work CE accreditation

This activity can be retroactively approved for CEs for Massachusetts LMHCs. Learn more at https://www.mamhca.org/page-18363.

Please note: It is the participant’s responsibility to check with their individual state boards to verify CE requirements for their state.

Cancellation Policy: There will be no refunds. If you miss more than 1 class, you will have to make up the class to earn CEs. Please contact your instructor for further details.