How to Have a Great Relationship With
Your Teen

Strengthen Your Parenting Skills, Regain Your Sense of Self, and Bring More Peace Back in Your Life

In this Parenting Program you will discover how to:

• improve communication with your teen
• handle confrontations and conflict
• develop the confidence and the skills to resolve the problems you are having with your teen
• remain calm and rational during heated moments with your teen
• make decisions that are healthy for you, your teen, and the rest of your family
• enjoy family life more

Julie C. – mother and former teacher	I found the parenting program to be the best, most practical and helpful ‘class’. I felt very supported during the whole process. I feel more hopeful about the boys and more at peace with myself.

The joy of parenting often entails making tough decisions, many times under stress. This is especially true if you have teens that are pushing your buttons. The focus of this parenting program is on you the parent. The goal is to help you understand the relationship patterns you have with your teen and the unhelpful coping styles you gravitate to when stress levels are high.

In this program, you will learn how to remain calm with your teen especially during turbulent times. You will discover how to develop effective methods of parenting your teen that bring you more of what you want in your relationship with him or her.

This program will focus on helping you overcome those automatic reactions you have to your teen that make the situation even worse. You will discover positive and creative resources within yourself that you can draw on instead of reacting emotionally to your teen.

Parent group member

This course [parenting program] has greatly helped in my ability to deal with my teens. I think they are much more likely to open up to me and be honest, even if it is not what I want to hear. I also feel less stressed about stuff that is clearly their issues and not mine. I also felt a real sense that Klaus was with us every step of the way, and I appreciate his compassion and caring for all of us, and the kids too.

The premise of this parenting program is that the one and only thing you truly have control over is yourself.

If you are not in control of yourself then you can’t be in charge of highly emotional situations with your teen. Once you know how to maintain control over yourself you will be able to maintain a strong connection to your teen in times of stress. You will also have a far better chance of influencing behavior in a positive direction.

Parenting Program Outline

The six sessions in this parenting program will include experiential exercises and mini lectures on teen development. The experiential component is based on the Satir model for therapy. This model focuses on your internal processes and how to handle your teen in a more effective and congruent way. You will learn and practice skills that will help you communicate better with your teen. The mini lectures are based on materials by Dr. Gordon Neufeld. Other materials are based on ScreamFree Parenting by Hal Runkel MA, AMFT.

Six sessions in sequential order:

1. Internal World and How It Impacts Your Relationship With Your Teen: Introduction to the Personal Iceberg Metaphor – Explore and make sense of your internal process when interacting with your teen. You will first gain clarity on your own thoughts, feelings, and the expectations you have when relating to your teen. You will then discover how to use yourself in a more proactive way when interacting with your teen.
   
   
2. Difficult Parenting Moments: Iceberg Concept & Practice – Deepen skills yourself so that you can handle stressful situations with your teen better. Practice your skills for dealing with your teen using real-life scenarios.
   
   
3. Coping Stances: Looking at Your Patterns of Relating to Your Teen – Discover how you react with your teen and how this influences your teen’s behavior. Look at your part of the relationship and change the pattern to get control of yourself and the situation with your teenage son or daughter. You will see how you can influence your teen’s behavior through changing your own behavior.
   
   
4. Examining the Ingredients of an Interaction with Your Teen – You will break down and discover the small moments that make up an interaction with your teen. You will see what happens when certain words are exchanged between you and your teen and how you both become defensive. You will practice slowing down the speed of interactions with your teen in order to get control of your defensive reactions. This will help you maintain control in difficult situation.
   
   
5. The Impact of Reacting Emotionally to Your Teen – You will look at how your disappointments, frustration, and anger can push your teen further away. You will experience the letting go of negative emotions and ideas so that you can actually move closer to your teen.
   
   
6. Review and Celebrate the Positive changes You Have Made with Your Teen – In the last session you will reaffirm and celebrate the new awareness and the positive changes you have made with your teen. You will develop a plan to continue to implement your new behaviors in order to strengthen your relationship with your teen even in the coming years.

Next Start Date for 2008: January 15, 2008

Session 1 – January 15
Session 2 – January 22
Session 3 – January 29
Session 4 – February 5
Session 5 – February 12
Session 6 – February 19

Location:

This Parenting Group will be held at
John Oliver Secondary School
530 East 41st Ave (41st and Fraser)
Vancouver, BC  V5W 1P3

Directions:

Come to the Portable 4 Classroom on the South side of the school off of
43rd Ave.

The Program will be facilitated by Klaus Klein MA, RCC

For more information on this program or to register call 604-786-0709 or send an e-mail to Klaus@kdkcounselling.com.

Klaus Klein, MA, RCC
Phone: 604-786-0709
E-mail: Klaus@kdkcounselling.com

KDK Counselling services for Vancouver and the Burnaby area.