www.pupprogram.net.au 12/11/18 The Parents Under Pressure (PuP) Programme in Coolmine Therapeutic Community www.pupprogram.net.au 12/11/18

Ashleigh House

Mother and Child Programme At first, the primary aim of the mother and child programme was to provide childcare whilst mother received her treatment for addiction problems However, it has evolved from a programme that initially provided childcare to a recognition of the childs needs in conjunction with the mothers Parenting skills training primarily focused or teaching basic skills to parents such as routine bedtimes, dental and medical hygiene, dietary requirements and managing of childrens behaviours, techniques to boost childrens self esteem

Mother and Child Programme However something still missing? Attachment between mother and child How effective parenting skills programmes are, often depends on the emotional state of the parent One reason noted for this is the lack of focus or attention to the emotional state of the parent and the quality of the parent child relationship (Suchman, 2004) Attachment theory (John Bowlby)has shown that the capacity of a parent to recognise childrens emotional needs and repond to them in an emotionally available way are important predictors of childrens psychological development. Attachement researchers would suggest parenting programmes are primarily focused on behavioural management of children and pay little attention to helping parents understand the emotional needs of their children

PuP Integrated Framework There are multiple influences on parents ability- when we think of substance abusing parents, many would assume they lack parenting ability because they have abused substances, research has shown it is much more complex and muli-facted than that. Other more dominant influences can include the way themselves were brought up, attitudes and beliefs, domestic violence, lack of support, poverty, isolation, housing problems....... All of which influence the parents emotional regulation, which can in turn affect their ability to parent and develop secure and safe attachments with their child

SUMMARY FINDINGS FROM EVALUATION OF PUP PROGRAMME AT COOLMINE Dr. Jo-Hanna Ivers & Professor Joe Barry at the Department of Public health & Primary care at Trinity worked collaboratively with the staff and clients and Staff at coolmine to produce this piece of research that was formally launched on 13th September of this year.

What were the aims? Two key aims Effectiveness of the PuP programme at Coolmine Feasibility of PuP delivered in group format The research was aimed to investigate the feasibility and effectiveness of the PuP programme being delivered in the group setting in addition to one to one sessions.

Who? n=23 n=10 23 women took part across three roll outs and 10 men

Complex Needs Range of needs for each parent Addiction only one part Many of the participants experienced challenges while participating in the programme. External factors such as social services and criminal justice were familiar within the programme

How? Pre and post programme interviews and battery of instruments – women Ashleigh House Pre and post programme focus groups – men Coolmine lodge Post programme interviews Practitioners A combination of quantitative and qualitative research methods were employed.

What changed for the women?

What changed for child-parent? Perception of their child Behaviour Perception of support available

Impact / Findings Strengths based Approach makes Programme extremely effective Experience of both being a parent and being parented Guilt Group Setting/Programme fit Building Belief Importance of Children Both effective and feasible for working with substance misusing families Experience as parents and being parented- safe environment to discuss views of parenting and experiences growing up Guilt- Huge piece of work around guilt and shame and its ok to be a good enough parent and not be perfect Group Setting – Part of something, support, not being the only one Building Belief- in their abilities to parent- strengths based approach Importance of children- holding the child at the centre of the process-imperative to the PuP programme

Translating Theory into Practice “I see it all the time in how I talk to him and how I look at him, it’s such a difference. Because I went into PuP and just wanted to tell everyone how much I completely messed him [son] up… that I’d broken him basically. And…he’s not a damaged child, he’s a really happy, healthy little boy...” (Female Participant 1).

Translating Theory into Practice “I thought it was brilliant…when I joined this course I just wanted to leave, exit the door. I haven’t though and I got more out of it. I got to learn a lot about how my behaviour or my actions were having an effect on my child. I learned about her emotions and how she’s feeling when I’m doing things with her, I try and look at things the way she’s looking at it so I can understand…it’s worked out for the better now for the two of us. I have a relationship with me daughter and it’s basically thanks to this programme.” (Male Participant 9)

Thank You https://www.coolmine.ie/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Evaluation-of-PuP-Programme-at-Coolmine-Full-Report-1.pdf www.pupprogram.net.au emma@coolminetc.ie 0873517483 Link to the full piece of research and my contact details are there if anyone requires any additional information