Parent Coaching

OhioGuidestone is dedicated to the well-being of the whole family with healthy parenting at the core of our services. Parent coaching services and parent education classes, are among the many mental health services we provide.

Our family resource services allow us to give parents and children an early start to success, starting with parenting classes with a parenting coach.

Parent Coaching vs Family Counseling

Some of the ideas within Parent Coaching will overlap with Family Counseling, but the two are quite different. A parent coach is a mentor, with one-on-one guidance to address specific parenting issues.

In the same way you might hire a personal trainer to teach you how to address a physical challenge, a parenting coach can create a plan to help you overcome a parenting challenge and put you on the path to becoming the healthy, effective caregiver your child needs.

Family Counseling addresses and treats the issues that may have led to parenting problems. A therapist can assess and treat the mental health concerns that come from a history of family trauma, substance abuse and other issues. Parents who are dealing with active drug and alcohol addiction issues will need to be sober and drug free before coaching can be effective. The same is true for a parent who is not treating their own mental health needs, or in families who are dealing with sexual abuse or domestic violence.

Parent coaching is an effective tool for parents who see their children’s safety as a priority and want to provide a safe, loving, and enriching living environment.

The Parent-Coach relationship is one of trust and cooperation as parents need to be open to accepting feedback regarding their ongoing, real-life parenting decisions and actions. Just like a physical trainer, the parent coach will correct behavior that doesn’t further parenting goals, or worse, can lead to injury or harm.

A parent coach can also provide on-call support during parental emergencies. The coach will mentor and guide the parents through issues as they come up, offering problem solving and specific parenting skills, especially valuable for new parents and for parents who struggle with a child who has mental and behavioral health problems.

Parent coaching can be an essential resource for parents who risk losing their child because of a court order. It could also reduce the number of children in foster care because of abuse or neglect.

Child abuse is a public health issue…at least 1 in 7 children have experienced child abuse or neglect in the past year in the United States. This is likely an underestimate because many cases are unreported.

CDC (Center for Disease Control and Prevention)

ChildWelfare.gov encourages ongoing, strength-based, family-centered intervention to treat and prevent child abuse and neglect. We share that same philosophy at OhioGuidestone.

Parenting Classes

Even under the best of circumstances, parenting can be a challenge. For parents in recovery or other circumstances or needing extra support for a child with special needs, OhioGuidestone offers education and training to improve family functioning. These services can help families learn positive parenting skills, improve communication skills, or reunite after a separation.

OhioGuidestone is part of a nationwide network, certified to teach the evidence-based Nurturing Parenting Curriculum.

Nurturing Parenting is designed to prevent and treat child abuse and neglect by reaching families who have come to the attention of Social Services.

The program offers the following guidelines to help parents prevent child abuse and neglect.

1. Age-appropriate expectations: Help children and teens build a positive self-concept and self-esteem.
2. Emotional regulation: Adults, children, and teens can develop higher levels of empathy, and appropriate ways to get one’s needs met, along with helping others get their needs met.
3. A dignified system of discipline: Use empathic responsiveness, behavior management and modification techniques, and never corporal punishment.
4. Self-awareness: Teach appropriate roles within the family, and family cultural practices and beliefs.
5. A healthy sense of empowerment: Develop protective and resiliency skills to manage safe sex protection, unwanted sex, and negative peer pressure. Learn appropriate communication skills, tips for anger and stress management, strategies to handle bullies, and how to spot signs of possessive and violent relationships.
6. Humor and Laughter: Increase positive interaction among family members by laughing more, developing a sense of humor, and finding fun in life.