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Mellow Dads
A pilot version of the core programme has been developed and run for dads.
Practitioners who have trained in the core programme can request copies of Mellow Dads which follows the style and structure of the core programme with additional and modified worksheets 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.
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.
We always recommend that a male practitioner runs or co-runs the group.
Kinship Care/Mellow Grandparents
A modified Mellow Parenting group was run in Aberdeen for grandmothers caring for grandchildren. Seven families in which children were being looked after by their grandparents had been referred to the Family Centre as a direct result of the children’s challenging or severely challenging behaviour.
However, from the onset, it became evident that a high proportion of the families’ problems were extremely complex, and, in general, historical. For example, each of the grandmothers had experienced:
- Emotional and/or physical abuse as children.
- Difficulty in establishing and maintaining positive adult relationships.
- Difficulty in parenting their own children.
Two out of the four families who agreed to join the group had experienced domestic violence in addition to the death of one of their children as a direct result of a drugs overdose.
In relation to the customary “what next step” at the end of the Mellow Parenting Programme, the grandmothers were given several options in respect of their individual (and group) future needs.
Consequently one of the decisions was to set up a support group for grandmothers, across Aberdeen City, who find themselves adopting or being launched into a parenting role.
GAP (is now a separate charity, running a telephone advice line for grandparents in Aberdeen.
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What people say
"I really enjoyed the course and hoping I would be able to deliver it and hope parents find benefits from it"
