April Advanced Training Info

Thanks to all those who attended the Advanced Training last night. It was a great training and I think we all walked away with some good ideas. For those of you who missed it, here is some of the information that was shared last night:

1) Conflict Resolution in the Family: Joseph Fletcher, Wasatch Mental Health

Questions to ask in conflict (such as when siblings are fighting- take each one out and ask these):

• What do you want?
• What are you doing to get what you want?
• Is what you are doing working?
• Do you want to find another way?

Try to redirect the situation towards something positive. Such as when there is a fight, redirect by asking, "What do you like to do together?" This changes the mood and redirects the family from petty issues towards something more meaningful. Then make a plan to do more of the things that the family like to do better. Joseph said, "sometimes you have to pull your head out of the program and go somewhere else."

Pay attention to the family's culture. This doesn't mean their ethnic culture, but how they function and interact with each other.

2) Positive Reinforcement: HollyJane Dixon, Peer Parent

HollyJane talked about ways to reinforce positive behaviors (instead of harping on negative behaviors). I will post more of her ideas as I get them, but here is a link to her blog, which talks about their family's "Dixon Store" and "Dixon Dollars":

Dixon Dollars/ Dixon Store

3) I talked about my maternity leave coverage. I will be on maternity leave from about July 1- Oct 1. I have outlined the major points of my coverage in the following document:

Megan's Maternity Leave Coverage

We will go over this more in the next two months through email and another training in June.

*I also had the supplies available at the training last night. If you would still like some supplies for yourself to use in your lessons or give to your families, we still have games, puzzles, books, DVDs, and art supplies left. Let me know! Also, if you took some items, please take the time to send me a short email saying thank you to the Christmas Box foundation, who gathered these items for us.