Behavioural Guidance — Management Program

Parenting can be a very challenging and difficult process especially if done in isolation. Support networks of family and friends have long been the very things that help sustain happy and healthy family relationships.

The Communities @ Work Behavioural Guidance and Managing Children's Programs provide practical and easily accessible individual support to families. The programs offer families new skills to promote and maintain positive parent/child relationships and to deal effectively and positively with their children's behaviour. This early intervention program is funded by the Office for Children, Youth & Family Support and primarily aims to advise parents on effective strategies for parenting children aged between two and eight years.

Families have the rare opportunity to question and practice relationship skills that may sustain them for a lifetime. These observations are shared with the parent so that they can learn to better understand and manage critical behaviour issues.

The Program provides information and support through:

•      Promoting improved understanding of the children's states of development;
•      Helping parents put behaviours into perspective;
•      Assisting parents to implement ways to work with challenging behaviours;
•      Putting families in touch with other support services in the area; and
•      Providing written resources specific to the issues faced by families.

There are two elements to the program to provide families with a comprehensive support structure. First, families can access the Behavioural Guidance Program which offers families in south Canberra support in their own homes on meeting the specific behavioural needs of the child.

The second element is the Managing Children's Program, which is available to all parents in the ACT. It is a more intensive method of support requiring families to commit to 2-3 sessions per week for approximately 10 weeks at our purposely designed video room at Tuggeranong Community Centre. The program is staffed by Parent Educators who observe parent and child interactions in a structured environment, followed by feedback and advice to the parent.

The Behavioural Guidance and Managing Children's Programs is about supporting parents. This is based on our belief that parents' responses to children's behaviour are integral to the capacity to change and/or maintain their children's behaviour. Our support is therefore targeted at helping parents to develop and demonstrate effective and appropriate behaviour management techniques.

To find out more please contact us on 6293 6500.