Strengthening Families Program: For Parents and Youth 10-14

Is Your Family Prepared for the Journey Through the Adolescent Years?

The Strengthening Families Program can help you pack your bags with the skills needed for an exciting adventure!

Attend this FREE 7-week program for families with a 10-14 year old!

FREE Family Dinner Each Week and Childcare for Younger Siblings Provided!

Weekly Gifts and Prizes!

Tuesdays Starting October 8th, 5:30-8pm

Aliquippa Jr/Sr High School

Program Components & Goals SFP 10-14 consists of seven highly interactive, video-based sessions conducted over seven consecutive weeks. During the first half of each session, parents and youth meet separately but work on similar skills. During the second hour, the youth and parents participate together as families to practice skills, play games and do family projects. The program focuses on setting appropriate limits, using consequences, protecting against substance abuse, handling peer pressure, reaching out for help, understanding family values, and building family communication. The youth sessions also include topics such as identifying positive goals for the future, appreciating parents, managing stress, following rules and resisting peer pressure.The primary goals of the program are to:
• Build life skills in youth, including stress management, conflict resolution, and communication skills
• Enhance parenting skills and promote effective parenting styles
• Strengthen family bonds, promote positive communication, and enhance the ability to solve problems together

Proven Program Effectiveness

Proximal Outcomes are the modifiable attitudes, knowledge, beliefs and
behaviors that the program is designed to impact immediately following
program completion.

Research demonstrates that immediately following the program, parents who attend are significantly more likely to:
• Set and clearly communicate expectations and consequences for substance use
• Manage anger & strong emotions in parent-child relationships
• Involve the child in family activities & decision making
• Improve communication with their child
• Improve child management
• Improve parent-child affective quality
Immediately following the program, youth who attend demonstrate:
• Lower levels of substance-related risk, including substance use initiation, favorable attitudes toward alcohol, and poor peer pressure resistance skills.

Immediately following the program, youth who attend demonstrate:
• Lower levels of substance-related risk, including substance use initiation, favorable attitudes toward alcohol, and poor peer pressure resistance skills

Distal Outcomes are the modifiable attitudes, knowledge, beliefs and behaviors that the program is designed to impact several months or years following program completion.

Research demonstrates that youth who attended the program in the past are significantly less likely to have…
• Ever used alcohol as measured both one year and two years after program completion
• Initiated use of alcohol, cigarettes or marijuana two and four years after program completion
• Reported aggressive and destructive behavior four years after program completion
• Reported past year methamphetamine use six years after program completion
• Reported past year narcotic (prescription drug) misuse six years after program completion
• Reported lifetime narcotic (prescription drug) misuse at 21 years of age
• Reported growth in internalizing symptoms
• Reported poly-substance use from 6th to 10th grade
• Reported drunkenness or illicit drug use at 21 years of age
Research demonstrates that youth who attended the program in the past are significantly more likely to have…
• Delayed onset of problematic behaviors
• Increased resistance to peer pressure
• Improved school engagement two years after program completion
• Improved academic success six years after program completion