Teaching Parenting Classes as a Counselor or Agency
The Center for Divorce Education offers our program, Children in Between for classroom or one on one counseling sessions.
The award-winning program Children in Between is now available in a streaming format for instructors and facilitators to conduct their in-person classes!
Children In Between is a skills-based program that helps children and parents deal with the children’s reactions to divorce. Divorcing parents may use their children to manipulate and/or control each other around a variety of personal, social, and financial issues. These tactics increase the stress and anxiety typically experienced by children of divorce and can increase children’s risk for behavior problems, depression, delinquency, substance use, teen pregnancy, school failure and dropout, and suicide. Built around a video based program for parents, Children In Between needs no special training or licensing to implement, and seeks to alleviate children’s problems such as--
- Loss of concentration and attention
- Declining grades and behavior problems at school
- Withdrawal from friends
- Emotional outbursts and health problems
- Serious anger with one or both parents
- Delinquency and substance use
The program teaches parents the skills needed to avoid putting children in the middle of their conflicts. The program is available in English, Spanish, and English closed captions.
Developers
Dr. Donald Gordon is a child clinical psychologist and family therapist, and emeritus professor of psychology at Ohio University. Dr. Gordon has developed Model and Promising programs for delinquency and substance abuse prevention (Parenting Wisely). His 30 years of clinical practice, consulting with schools and juvenile and domestic relations courts, as well as his courtroom and legislative testimony, have informed the programs he developed.
Dr. Jack Arbuthnot is a developmental and social psychologist, a divorce mediator, and also is emeritus professor of psychology at Ohio University. He has consulted with juvenile and domestic relations courts, testified in State legislatures, and provided training, along with Dr. Gordon, for domestic relations judges.
Training and Implementation
CIB is a stand-alone program and training is not required for group leaders. However, effective group leaders must have experience with divorced families, have good interpersonal skills, and be nonjudgmental. They must study the Discussion Leader’s Guide and review all program materials.
Parental recruitment may be voluntary or by referral from respected sources; however, greatest participation is assured when a domestic relations judge or other official source mandates it.
How it Works
Parents are usually mandated to attend classes held in their communities (at social service agencies, community colleges) by domestic relations courts. A group leader facilitates the program, which is typically delivered to a class of 10 to 15 parents. Workbook exercises and role-plays give parents a chance to practice new skills. If the class meets more than once, homework is assigned from the workbook. One or two 90- to 120-minute class sessions are typical. Parents are given the "What About the Children?" and the "Children in Between" workbooks to study and complete exercises at home.
Recognition
Positive Parenting Award - Children’s Rights Council
Model Program - Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration,
U.S. Department of Health & Human Services
What professionals are saying:
PROFESSIONAL REVIEWS
Denise M. Mirman, Esq.
Chair, Family Law Section, Assocation of Trial Lawyers of America
Attorneys and judges interested in children would love to have this to show to divorcing parents. Parents in conflict will attend to this much better than merely being told what they need to be doing for their children.
Carl Schneider, Ph.D.
Mediator and Trainer, Divorce Mediation Institute (Ann Arbor, Michigan)
What I like about this video is that... it provides practical skill-building that gives both parents and children the ability to handle those difficult, but recurring, moments in divorce... This video is a good one to use both in school divorce programs and in the emerging court-mandated parent education programs around the country.
John A. Moran, Ph.D.
Clinical Psychologist
Phoenix, AZ
Children In Between sets the gold standard for online parent education programs. Attention grabbing action scenarios, video clips, animations and narration provide multiple approaches to developing skills for the most stressful coparenting problems.
Need referral cards to hand out to parents?
*Included in SAMHSA's National Registry of Evidence-Based Programs and Practices
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