Special Project

Parent2Parent

Educational support group for parents who’s child are or have experienced sexual abuse.

Parent 2 Parent is the first program the Children’s Advocacy Center has had specifically geared towards the parents. The Children’s Advocacy Center: Emmy Haney House of Hamilton County is a non-profit organization that serves children and their family that have been affected by child abuse. In one setting comprehensive services are offered to minimize re-traumatizing the child telling their story to different people and ensuring they receive developmentally appropriate assistance with moving forward to have a healthy life. Helping children deal with trauma is necessary but also equally important is working with parents to help them process the trauma. 

This educational support group project was initiated by Clinical Department therapist, Janelle Billingy and approved by the Clinical Director. I was chosen as the lead intern to assist Janelle with setting up and co-facilitating the group sessions. The educational support group for non-offending caregivers met Tuesday evenings, one day a week for five weeks.  Our goal was for eight to fifteen members; eight parents registered but only six participated in and completed the support group. The main objectives for these groups are as follows:

    • Increase caregiver knowledge of Child Sexual Abuse and it’s effects
    • Enhance Caregiver understanding of the role of the Children’s Advocacy Center and the disclosure process.
    • Create opportunity for the Caregiver to learn and engage in healthy familial transitions for both youth and Caregiver
    • Teach healthy and appropriate coping and grieving skills
    • Educate Caregiver on appropriate trauma informed parenting perspective, skills, and techniques
    • Provide Caregiver opportunity to share personal experience
    • Support Caregiver in self-care exploration and enhancement
    • Facilitate group-based opportunity to engage in, help, hope, and healing activities

I was responsible for the registration process of gathering and collecting participant information from the online application I created through survey monkey as well as marketing by way of creating the Flyer for distribution and Program Schedule. I contacted the parents via phone to confirm their attendance. An hour before each session I gathered all lesson materials and organized them into each participants’ information packet. In addition each week before and after the session members took a Pre & Post Weekly Quiz to test their knowledge of information covered.

Therapeutic model used as tool of intervention was Cognitive Behavioral Therapy as well as Kubler-Ross for complex trauma and grief. The purpose of this research was to apply grief concepts with trauma of abuse. Janelle and I started conducting research on the exclusions to the model, which is ongoing for future parent support groups. 

The support group was a success and all the parents reported on their Overall Evaluation that they were satisfied with the group, objectives were met, and they would attend future parent support groups. The parent also learned helpful information as well and this showed on the post quiz Outcomes report. 

 

Competencies Met Through This Project

  • Competency 1: Demonstrate Ethical and Professional Behavior – Demonstrated this by communicating effectively to parents and maintaining professionalism when engaging with the parents. I also consulted with Janelle after each session to evaluate if the session was beneficial and target objectives met.
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  • Competency 2: Engage Diversity and Difference in Practice – This competency was demonstrated by facilitating a mixed group of parents and being open to engage each individual’s perspective and addressing cultural differences when appropriate.
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  • Competency 3: Advance Human Rights and Social, Economic, and Environmental Justice –  This competency was demonstrated by providing an opportunity a support system around the victims and giving voice to protect them in the future.  
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  • Competency 4: Engage in Practice-Informed Research and Research-Informed Practice – Janelle and I conducted research to ensure that content being presented best meets needs but also was evidence-based therapeutic strategies. 
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  • Competency 6: Engage With Individuals, Families, Groups, Organizations, and Communities – Engagement with a group in a therapeutic setting requires being able to read the room, encourage participation of all members, and utilization of interviewing skills (i.e. listening, summarizing, empathy, etc). 

 

  • Competency 7: Assess With Individuals, Families, Groups, Organizations, and Communities – This competency was demonstrated with the formulation of pre and post quiz to assess parents’ level of knowledge of information (ACE’s, trauma, grief process, communication, etc). In comparing responses we were able to determine if information was taught well and retained. 
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  • Competency 8: Intervene With Individuals, Families, Groups, Organizations, and Communities – This competency was demonstrated with the creation of Parent2Parent Support Group to give parents and guardians a safe space to share their personal story, bond with others in similar situations, and assist processing and coping with trauma. 
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  • Competency 9: Evaluate Individuals, Families, Groups, Organizations, and Communities – This competency was demonstrated in the creation of evaluations to obtain parent feedback on the group sessions and effectiveness of facilitation efforts to resolve concerning issues about their familial experience with child sex abuse.