Practice Profile
Living with your Teen
Contact details
Agency: Allambi Youth Services
Address:
494 The Esplanade
Warners Bay, NSW 2282
Contact: Grahame Williams
Adolescent and Family Counsellor
Phone: 02 4944 5900 Fax: 02
4948 6355
Email: afcgrahame@hotmail.com
Funding source
NSW Department of Community Services
Program duration and frequency
The workshop is run over two days at approximately
5 hrs per day.
It is currently being run once a month in different
locations of East Lake Macquarie in Newcastle.
Program description
Parents and schools would comment that there was no ‘help’, as they put it, for parents of teenagers. Plenty of courses etc for under 8’s and one on one counselling etc for either parents or adolescents but no workshops aimed at the teenage/ parenting yet plenty of negative press about teens being ‘out of control’ etc.
The workshop is run over two days and aims
to provide an exchange of ideas and present researched
ideas on aspects of parents and teenagers in areas
such as:
Conflict, Self Identity, Self-esteem,
Independence, Stress and the parent,
How does stress affect us, Self talk, Adolescent
development, Promoting family harmony. Perception,
Family culture, Positive time and the tough
teenager.
The workshop involves the parents presenting their own ideas that work, looking at their strengths as a parent, and discussing the ideas with the group.
Geographical Area
- Local community
- Urban
- Regional centre or town
- Rural centre or area
Target Group
- Women
- Men
- Families
Is the program based on an existing program or training model?
Yes
What was the name of the existing program?
Several programs and ideas combined – main two are: Resourceful Adolescent Program for Parents (RAP-P) out of QUT and Parenting Your Out of Control Adolescent by Dr Scott Sells.
What was the country of origin of the program?
Australia and USA
What was the original target group?
Parents of teenagers and near teenage children.
If not designed or developed in Australia, has the program been modified for use in Australia with a focus on specific target groups?
NoIs the program/practice based on the findings from empirical research, theory and/or a particular framework/model?
Yes
Briefly explain the research and/or framework model and the way this influences or informs the intended outcomes and objectives of the program/practice.
-
RAP-P is based at the School of Psychology and Counselling Queensland University of Technology Carseldine Campus.
The Parenting Your Out of Control teenager is based at the Department of Social Work at Savannah State University, Georgia USA. -
The two above research models make up about 90 % of the Living with your Teen workshops.
Has the program/practice generated any publications, reports, videos, presentations or unpublished papers?
- The two programs above have – see their University sites for details. Ian Shochet is the author for RAP at www.hlth.qut.edu.au/psyc/rap/research/research-publications.jsp
- Parenting Your Out of Control Teenager and Treating the Tough Adolescent for Therapists, both by Dr Scott Sells, are available from www.gopll.com.
Has the program/practice been the subject of evaluation?
Yes - written evaluations following attendance
Briefly describe the outcomes of the evaluation:
Parents are asked what subjects they found most helpful and what they would like more or less of in the course as well as general questions regarding presenter etc. On the whole evaluations come back extremely positive with nearly all stating they would definitely recommend this workshop to other parents.
What gaps in research and practice models/frameworks did you find in developing your program/practice?
I think the two main models used have been well researched and where I feel it can be improved I have added to it to make the workshops as complete as possible and am continually open to improving it.