Supporting distressed and stressed parents and carers: From coercion to collaboration

Practitioners working with vulnerable children and families can sometimes find themselves struggling to engage with and maintain empathy for parents and caregivers who present with complex behaviours.

How do we balance being child-focused yet also hold empathy for the caregiver when harm is being done?

In service systems driven by outcomes, timelines and risk management, practitioners (and programs) under stress may feel pushed into coercive and even punitive approaches with these adults.

This session supports practitioners to recognise how using coercion and consequence-based approaches undermines both the intrinsic motivation of the adult, as well as the relationship between them and the practitioner. Without these two key ingredients, research tells us that genuine change by adults is unlikely.

Participants will learn about the impact of power dynamics on work with adults, and strength-based strategies to enhance collaborative, and effective, work.

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Target Audience: Supervisor and practitioner level
Duration: Half day
Location: on-line or in-person