Also of interest....
Practitioners who have trained in the core programme can request copies of the dads programme which follows the style and structure of the core programme with additional and modified worksheets for dads.
Pilot versions of the core programme have been developed and run for dads.
Couples groups, where mums and dads attend together, have also been run with a male and a female practitioner. The groups followed the core programme, with mums and dads working separately on gender specific issues and then working together on the parenting workshops.
Feedback from these groups has been very positive and having a gender specific space seemed to facilitate subsequent sharing of difficult issues including domestic violence which might not have been raised in a totally shared group.
We recommend that a male practitioner runs or co-runs the group.
Contact with dads is always important even in a mums group as the co-operation and understanding of dads contributes substantially to women’s freedom to attend groups and make changes in the family.
The programme has not yet been formally evaluated, but pilot work has shown that the programme is well received by dads.