Raising difficult or out-of-control teens can be one of the toughest responsibilities a parent will ever encounter.
A nationally-recognized eight-week course intended to help parents cope with these intense problems begins next month in Columbus.
After an initial meeting is held on Feb. 18, the Parent Project support group sessions will be conducted weekly at 6:30 p.m. inside Community Church of Columbus, 3850 N. Marr Road.
The curriculum is specifically designed to help parents curb at-risk behavior of youth in grades 6-12, according to Scott Hundley, Director of Counseling and Community with the church’s Community Downtown organization.
Parent Project is an award-winning intervention model designed to address the most destructive of adolescent behaviors. Those behaviors include truancy, drugs, runaways, media, early teen sex, violence and gangs, according to the curriculum.
But one of the program’s most attractive features is that there is no cost to participate other than the $29 fee for a workbook, Hundley said.
Hundley describes “Parent Project” as an evidence-based program that equips parents with skills, as well as an increasing emotional connection with their adolescents.
More than a half-million parents have received training on raising difficult or out-of-control children during the more than 30 years that “Parent Project” has been in existence, according to organizers.
When Parent Project for dealing with adolescents was held last spring, each support group session attracted between 10 to 15 persons, according to Community Downtown office coordinator Alison Kennedy.
But at least 30 people can be accommodated during each of the upcoming sessions, Kennedy said.
In other communities, Parent Project offers a separate program that helps parents raising difficult younger children — such as those with attention deficit/ hyperactivity disorder.
But in Columbus, there is a far more substantial demand for help from parents of older adolescents, Kennedy said.
In recent years, the Community Church of Columbus has been known for offering support groups, programs, and courses that can be used in conjunction with individual counseling or independently.
Support groups that include Celebrate Recovery, Embrace Grace, Insight and Griefshare are offered in the spring or fall, Kennedy said.
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To register or for more information, call Community Downtown at 812-348-6257.
Online: communitydowntown@cccolumbus.org
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