Strengthening Families
The Prevention Program is excited to announced that in collaboration with StarkMHAR, we will be offering a new community prevention program (Strengthening Families) for families in the Alliance, Canton and Massillon Area beginning the week of March 1st. These groups will be held in person following all CDC and State recommendations on best practice for social distancing.
The Strengthening Families Program (SFP) is a research-based program for families with youth between the ages of 7-17. SFP uses a skills-training implementation proved to be effective in reducing multiple risk factors with the family and to reduce the likelihood for later alcohol and drug abuse, mental health problems, and delinquency. Participants who have participated in this program report:
- Increased family bonding
- Increased parental involvement
- Increased positive parenting skills
- Increase positive communication
- Increased family organization
- Decreased family conflict
- Decreased youth depression
- Decreased youth aggression
- Increased youth cooperation
- Increased number of prosocial friends
- Increased youth social competencies
- Increased youth school grades
This program is designed to teach both parents and youth practice–skills involved in bonding (creating warm, loving relationships), setting clear, firm boundaries (rules against antisocial behavior, including drug and alcohol use), and monitoring children’s emotional well-being and activities to see that they always stay in an alcohol and drug-free social environment. Through skill practice, families create new prosocial habit patterns in the brain, which helps improve behavior, strengthens the parent-child relationship, and helps a child feel loved.
Attached you will find a flyer for all 3 locations. Again, this is a prevention program and therefore is open to all families in Stark County including open cases. Please share with your families and have them register for this program by texting @CASFP2021 to 81010.
