| Strengthening Families is a 6-week workshop that brings together youth and their caregivers for 2 hours, one evening a week. The workshop builds upon family strengths to help parents and youth navigate the adolescent chapter with confidence.
Caregivers and youth arrive and have dinner together, then split off for 45 minutes of separate youth and caregiver workshops. In last week’s youth break-out session the kids focused on practicing their “refusal skills,” learning how to say no to drugs and alcohol if offered to them by their peers.
In the second hour, everyone comes together for a family session which includes fun activities like creating family shields, representing each family’s individual values and building their own unique family tree. “I wish I had gone through this program when my son was even younger,” said one of the parents. “The time for talking about our family values and history with my son that the program builds in each week has been very special.”
The Coalition for Orcas Youth identified Strengthening Families Program as a priority program for The Funhouse to implement in 2019, due to its proven effectiveness in reducing teen alcohol and other drug-use rates, and depression and anxiety. It does this by increasing families’ awareness of the pillars of strong adolescent care-giving: providing opportunities for bonding and fun activities together, sharing clear standards for behavior, and monitoring.
In 2020, The Funhouse’s launch of Strengthening Families was postponed due to the pandemic, so our team is ecstatic to be able to share this workshop with the community now. The program is a collaborative effort between The Funhouse and the OISD, who is hosting the weekly dinner and workshop. It is being facilitated in both Spanish and English. |
