A 6-8 week workshop focused on providing single parents with the necessary tools to successfully manage the emotional test of raising children alone. This course is appropriate for individuals who are court mandated to participate in an anger management program.

Target Audience

• Single Parents
• New single parents
• Single parents in alcohol/drug recovery
• Teen Parents
• Foster/Adoptive Parents
• Grandparents raising grandchildren as single parents
• Grandparents raising grandchildren in a two - parent household
• Court Referred Parents for anger management
• Any Parent

A parent’s emotional health plays a vital role in creating the healthy home environment that nurtures children into healthy, productive and successful adults. First understanding, then managing one’s emotions and emotional health is the focus of this series.

It is a common misconception that emotional health means being happy all the time. However, to be human is to experience emotions of all kinds including sadness, anger and fear, as well as happiness and love. Emotional health does not mean getting rid of unpleasant emotions; rather, it means having the skills to effectively acknowledge, express and deal with them in a constructive manner. It also means having positive self-esteem and a strong sense of value for oneself and for others.

The first step is to understand how one’s emotions affect how one thinks, acts and parents. It is also vital to understand how a parent’s emotions affect their children’s behavior, mental and emotional heath.

Failure to manage emotions appropriately can lead to disastrous results for families. Violence, physical, verbal and emotional abuse can result from poorly managed emotions allowed to spiral out of control.

It is a commonly held belief that one cannot help the way one feels. In this series, participants first learn that emotions can be controlled and that one can indeed help the way one feels. They also learn that to manage emotions is to “direct or control the use of,” not to stifle or ignore. To be aware of feelings is crucial to managing those feelings as well as one’s overall well-being.

Knowing one’s emotions is key to knowing one’s self. Ignored emotions do not go away. Instead, they intensify and can sometimes affect the body in a negative way. Participants learn to identify emotions, the underlying causal factors and develop positive coping strategies to manage these emotions to improve family stability and decrease incidences of violence and/or abuse.