The 4 wk ABCD or the 6wk ABCD Plus program aims to help parents to develop a better understanding of the challenges of being an adolescent as well as the challenges of parenting an adolescent. It attempts to promote stronger relationships between parents & adolescents based on a better understanding of adolescents as a development stage & greater acceptance of the adolescent as an individual. The program also focuses on the skills for connecting with YP highlighting the importance of parents being available & responsive to their children. Sessions cover Parents & Young Adolescents, Building strong relationships, setting boundaries & responding to issues, dealing with adolescent risk taking & parental self-care.

Is an effective behaviour management program for 2 - 12 year olds. It is based on a positive time out method to address what's called stop behaviours. Stop behaviours are such things as tantrums, badgering, sibling rivalry, yelling, whining etc. A counting method is used & if the child gets to 3 then they are sent to timeout for 1min of their age eg if you are 5 then you get 5min. The other important rule is that when the child comes out of time out that nothing is discussed with them unless it is a serious behaviour. 123 magic is an immediate & short consequence that when used consistently will start to change the child's behaviour giving the child an ability to self-control. Parents are also informed about the Too Much Talking, Too Much Emotion rule; this assists parents not to enter into the Talk-Persuade-Argue-Yell-Hit Syndrome. It also covers what's called the little adult assumption, which really surprises a lot of parents as they try, & reason & talk too much with their children who do not have the ability to reason or understand your point of view.

Start behaviours are also discussed with strategies given around charting, choices, pocket money, kitchen timers etc. Start behaviours are things like getting up & getting ready in the morning, doing home work, cleaning up after themselves etc.

The How to Talk program utilises weekly session videos, session worksheet & parent interaction. The program is task orientated as parents are asked to use the skills learnt from the session & implement these at home, parents are also asked to read the chapter of the book just covered. The following session is always opened with discussions about how well or not the implementation of the learnt skills went at home, parents volunteer to share their scenario.

The videos depict a parenting group going through the program as the parents in your program are. The program runs for 6 weeks & each session is for 2hrs. Topics covered are;

1/ Dealing with Children's Feelings

2/ Engaging Cooperation

3/ Alternatives to punishment

4/ Encouraging Autonomy

5/ New Ways To Praise

6/ Freeing Children From Playing Roles.

This is an 8wk program for parents or carers of young people aged 8 - 18 who are out of control, violent or defiant. The aims of the program:

• Reduce parents feelings of isolation
• Challenge parent's feelings of guilt
• Loosen deterministic thinking about causes (e.g. " he can't help it because he has A.D.H.D. or he saw his father being violent" - it is always multi -causal)
• Create belief in possibility to change
• Clarify boundaries of what is acceptable and unacceptable behaviour.
• Examine strategies for creating meaningful and practical consequences for unacceptable behaviour.
• Reinforce progress and provide emotional support while they attempt to become more assertive parents.
• Explore anger, both children's and parent's
• Topics such as self -care and assertiveness are useful if time permits.

It is expected that parents will feel less depressed and more in control by the end of the program. It is also hoped that the amount of violence and abusive behaviour will decrease in a majority of families.

Program devised by Eddie Gallagher