Skip to content
Join our Newsletter

CONNECTING FAMILIES: Program looks to develop family skills, strength, resilience

Away from the hallway chatter that crescendos with the recess bell Devon Michelle Gatey's principal guides her into a sparse room with her father and a trio of program facilitators.

Away from the hallway chatter that crescendos with the recess bell Devon Michelle Gatey's principal guides her into a sparse room with her father and a trio of program facilitators.

The shy seven-year-old scrambles onto Michael Gatey's lap and smiles up at him as he helps coax answers about their experiences during 14 weeks of family skills sessions the year before.

The quiet contrasts the way the group used to meet at Van Bien elementary, in a loud room filled with local families and staff for a pilot program created to develop family skills and connection in vulnerable populations.

"You stress about money and different things that come into play. Those things can be dealt with but I don't have to get angry at her," said Michael, a single dad who is open about his struggles with bipolar disorder, living on low income and being clean from the addiction that meant he couldn't be there for his other kids. "I would get upset and argue quite a bit. Coming into Strengthening Families helped me step back and take a look and get down to her level.

"I've learned how to talk to my daughter in a way that I couldn't before, so just an understanding of her needs and her feelings over mine."

Almost a year later, both say they still see the difference in their interaction.

"His tone was nicer," said Devon, who mostly replies in short sentences but spoke more freely about her efforts to put soft pink streaks through her blond hair.

It's better now, because before he would yell if she got in trouble and now "he would nicely say 'What happened?'" she expanded.

"It's like I programmed her," joked Michael, who proudly described his daughter as confident, outgoing, intelligent and charismatic - qualities that have emerged even more since her behaviour changed.

"It's done a world of good for me and my daughter shows the results of it. Being a single dad's tough enough but we're doing a hell of a lot better since we've done this program."

DevonFamily123116.jpg
Michael Gatey and his seven-year-old daughter, Devon Michelle Gatey, took part in the Strengthening Families Program last fall and say it made a big difference in their lives. - Samantha Wright Allen

Now in its third year, the Strengthening Families Program (SFP) was made possible with just under $2.5 million in federal funding over five years that came out of the Crime Prevention Action Fund. It sees between 20 and 30 families each year, hosted at three elementary schools - Harwin, Van Bien and Westwood - and the Prince George Native Friendship Centre. There has been some discussion of expanding into high schools. Anything that could prevent people from participating is covered: namely, childcare, dinner and transportation. The group is split between parents and kids, with facilitators for each working on similar themes. Then everyone comes together for family sessions and dinner.

At the November 2014 announcement months after the summer launch, city officials said the goal was to increase parental involvement, targeting children aged six to 14. The Public Safety Canada-supported program is evidence-based and was picked for Prince Goerge after a years-long Communities That Care planning initiative that focused on youth crime prevention through social development.

It was a collaborative community approach to healthy development, explained the city's social development coordinator Sarah Brown, using data from a survey looking at risk levels with Grades 6, 8, 10 and 12 students.

"Really the focus is on connecting families to schools and to a community agency and being able to increase family strength and resilience and ultimately by doing that reducing risk factors for behaviours with kids."

A program description said it was brought in to act on concerns for violence in the city among youth aged 12 to 17 and to reduce problem behaviours, delinquency, alcohol and drug abuse in Prince George. The weekly sessions are run by social workers, youth outreach workers, and a resident co-facilitator, all who are trained in the SFP model.

"We have a really clear picture where our strengths are and where we need to do some work and so strengthening families were in response to that... it wasn't an arbitrary program choice," Brown said. "We are seeing this is having a really positive effect on families and schools."

At the time, former Mayor Shari Green called the funding targeting kids as young as six "a game-changer."

The city sees the program as complementary to its work on collective impact, a child-friendly approach that says all families deserve the opportunity to achieve optimal health, development and well-being.

"(It's) very much in line with the city's social development goals around health and wellness, equity and inclusion, safe community," Brown said. "This program is really working toward supporting all of those goals."

But that reality differs depending where children live in Prince George, according to University of B.C. researchers at the Human Early Learning Partnership. Nearly a third of children starting school in School District 57 are considered vulnerable, using markers that touch on physical health and well-being, social competence, emotional maturity, language and cognitive development and communication skills.

Its most vulnerable neighbourhoods are South Fort George-the Bowl, with 58 per cent of children performing poorly on one of those scales, Peden Hill with 33 per cent, followed by Heritage-Ospika with 30 per cent.

While the Strengthening Families Program targets children after they've entered school, Brown agrees there's a connection.

"Once the kids are in the schools and then have access to the strengthening families program by connection to the schools, hopefully then it's having a positive impact that way."

After Devon leaves the room that day in late October, SFP district coordinator Pippa Northey opens a large black suitcase full of posters and coloured markers and snacks and lessons, the tools of her trade.

Northey speaks about how the work with the parent and student groups support each other so they can take those lessons home. The youth classes, which can have up to 12 kids, and parent and caregiver classes delve into communication, problem solving and coping skills. Then the program has family classes that allow the child and parents to learn together through practical exercises.

Often parents will start by listing all the problem behaviours, and Northey said they always respond where parents think it's coming from. With the benefit of a separate kids group, the facilitators can listen to the kids and come back with suggestions and questions for parents.

"They start to piece things together."

What happens in the classroom can translate to personal change, said Northey, who pointed to participants who started holding regular family meetings.

"Now they're really making that a focal point. If something comes up and it's tough to talk about, they schedule that time. We've heard from the parents that the kids behaviour has improved," said Northey.

Staff describe it as a one-stop shop, a neutral place where many are already comfortable. It's also a logical place for parents to access resources and build support, said Van Bien principal Debbie Kaban, since their kids are already there.

"Right after school it just blends in and it's not one more thing that they have to try and go access in the community," said Kaban, who said the evening sessions also have an impact on students act in school. "That's been interesting to watch how it shifts culture in a very positive way."

Removing barriers is essential. Transportation to and from the schools is covered, as is dinner, snacks, prizes and childcare for younger siblings at each of the sessions.

"We would never be able to fund that," Kaban said, who said she hopes the program continues beyond the five years when it's slated to end in July 2020. "Do we find it valuable? Absolutely. But it's the resourcing."

The taxi to transfer Cheryl Gonu and her five kids made the difference.

"There was no excuse not to go. Every curve that there was, it was already taken care of. And the food was amazing," said Gonu, whose three children go to Van Bien and another two go to Prince George Secondary School."It's important to have structure and I think this is one of them that really helped with my kids on how important it is when you set goals and you need to accomplish something, you stick to it."

GonuFamily123116WEB.jpg
Diamond Gonu-Venn, 5, and Tanner Gonu-Nelson, 10, sit with their mom Cheryl Gonu on Oct. 28. The family takes part in the Van Bien Strengthening Families Program. - Brent Braaten

Over the years, facilitators like Northey and Tracey Fuller have helped adapt the program.

They've found the learning outcome shifts with each group because the dynamic is different in a group that includes every kind of primary caregiver: grandparents, single fathers, couples and more.

"Every school is different because what the parents bring is what the program is. They're open ended questions. We discuss which direction the parents want to go in," said Fuller, a second-year facilitator who says she also pulls parenting tips from the group. "There's no such thing as a perfect parent. It's an ongoing journey."

The value of learning from peers was a sentiment shared by program participants.

"You just realize you're not alone in the struggles and your family," said Gonu.

"It sets a good role model to me. I see other people how they deal with their kids and what they have to say," Michael said.

There has been some criticism about the amount of paperwork required to participate, but it's a necessary reality so researchers can collect information to see if the approach works for Prince George. It also means families can't participate again, another common complaint.

While University of Northern British Columbia professor Shannon Wagner can't yet talk about the results, she said she's proud it's adapted some of the model, built on participant feedback and data.

"We're really making some movement towards figuring out how these kinds of programs can be changed to be the most value for especially northern Canadian communities," the health sciences professor said.

Prince George and Quesnel represented the first two Canadian sites, according to the U.S.-based Strengthening Families Program, and later expanded to Alberta, Ontario, Prince Edwards Island.

UNBC's involvement is unique, Wagner said, and shows both the university's commitment to community and the partnership that's developed over the years with the city.

"It's sort of the best case scenario of an example of community-based research," Wagner said. "It's just become a real natural flow from a lot of the large city organizations, including Northern Health, the city, and the school district right back to the university."

While advocates like Brown said they've been thinking about finding sustainable funding since "day one," Wagner said the connections between the program and other efforts to improve social development mean, either way, the work won't stop.

"Even though one program might come to an end, the synergies that are created through that program are not ending," said Wagner.

Sarah Dixon, who was part of the very first session, said she still talks to the parents she met two years before.

"It's not like 'Hi,' it's like 'Hiiiiiii,'" Dixon explains with a big smile and outstretched arms. "It's like a little connection."

The mother of three hung the program's graduation picture in their home and they still use a chart listing their favourite things and chores to make sure time is set aside for family.

"We barely fight now and we play more games. We all realized what's the good and not the bad," said her Grade 7 daughter Rebecca Griffiths.

"We talk to each other, we read books at night, we get along, I help make dinner. We all do chores and stuff and it helps my mom a lot more," added Griffiths. "We got stronger, we got kindness."

Dixon said the program taught her to slow down and open her eyes to the importance of one-on-one time and that they would join again "in a heartbeat."

Whatever happens with the funding, Kaban said she's watched the program build and foster community.

"It's from that connectedness between school, home and community that we get better outcomes for kids."