Jill Pries, the former chairperson of the town’s Municipal Drug Alliance, said she has been trying to find the minimum number of families needed to qualify for a program to help families who have a member or members with a potential drug or alcohol problem.
Pries reported to the Alliance at the last quarterly meeting in January that she has had a hard time finding enough families to get involved, as at-risk families tend to deny they have a problem or are reluctant to come forward when they realize they do.
An existing county program called “Strengthening Families,” is an effort to help families struggling to cope with problems related to alcohol and drug addition. It is available to all municipalities through their Municipal Drug Alliance boards.
“[The] program is free to us as long as we can find the people to participate,” said Kathy McFarlane, a member of the Alliance, during a telephone interview last week. “The town has even offered to supply a building where we can hold the program. We just need eight families to be involved.”
The overall focus of the program is on reducing family-related risk factors for adolescent problem behaviors and building protective factors in young adolescent children and their parents. This program includes specific activities designed to:
Help parents learn nurturing skills that support their children
Teach parents how to effectively discipline and guide their youth
Give youths a healthy future orientation and an increased appreciation of their parents
Teach youths skills for dealing with stress and peer pressure.
The main intention of this program is for parents and children to learn together in a fun atmosphere.
McFarlane said the program involves not just parents or children alone, but the whole family.
“It is conducted in three 14-week courses,” she said.
Each section deals with a different topic: Parent Training, Children’s Skills Training, and Family Life Skills Training.
Parents learn to increase desired behaviors in children by using attention and rewards, clear communication, effective discipline, substance use education, problem solving, and limit setting. Children learn effective communication, understanding feelings, social skills, problem solving, resisting peer pressure, consequences of substance use, and compliance with parental rules.
During the second hour families engage in structured family activities, practice therapeutic child play, conduct family meetings, learn communication skills, practice effective discipline, reinforce positive behaviors in each other, and plan family activities together. SFP uses creative retention strategies such as special incentives for attendance, good behavior in children, and homework completion.
To reduce barriers to attendance, family meals, transportation, and child-care are expected to be provided. To increase generalization and use of skills learned, booster sessions are encouraged as well as providing on-going family support groups for SFP graduates at the agency.
If families want to get involved, they can call the town administrator’s office, (201) 330-2007. If enough families don’t join, the town won’t have the program.