“Transforming Systems through Parent Knowledge & Family Experience"
Building Organizational Capacity for Coping and Planning
At the G.E.A.R. Parent Network we believe that extensive collaboration of providers, communities, government and parents is necessary in achieving wellness for our children with emotional, behavioral or mental health challenges. The G.E.A.R. Parent Network has developed a training institute to help parents acquire skill sets in advocacy that are necessary for effective collaborations. The training is designed by parents for parents who want to become more skilled and effective. The participants in this training can utilize these skills in their own family, helping other families or at local, state and national levels (paying it forward). The G.E.A.R. Parent Network is seeking parents who truly want to make a difference.
The Family Empowerment Institute is a full-day of training. Each participant will be compensated for child care, mileage and a $100 stipend for attending the entire day. Breakfast, Lunch and Snacks are provided.
Tuesday, September 20, 2011, from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. at Mid-Coast Maine Community Action, 34 Wing Farm Parkway in Bath
Institute Facilitator: Norm LeBlanc, Regional Parent Support Coordinator
Institute Trainers: Carol Tiernan, G.E.A.R. Program Director and Cindy Seekins, G.E.A.R. Program Manager,
Call 1-800-264-9224 for more information and to apply to attend the Institute. Applications close 9/1/11.
To learn where the Institute will be holding trainings across the State, click here, or apply to attend the Family Empowerment Institute, by contacting us at 1-800-264-9224.
“Transforming Systems through Parent Knowledge & Family Experience”
Building Organizational Capacity for Coping and Planning
At the G.E.A.R. Parent Network we believe that extensive collaboration of providers, communities, government and parents is necessary in achieving wellness for our children with emotional, behavioral or mental health challenges. The G.E.A.R. Parent Network has developed a training institute to help parents acquire skill sets in advocacy that are necessary for effective collaborations. The training is designed by parents for parents who want to become more skilled and effective. The participants in this training can utilize these skills in their own family, helping other families or at local, state and national levels (paying it forward). The G.E.A.R. Parent Network is seeking parents who truly want to make a difference.
The Family Empowerment Institute is a full-day of training. Each participant will be compensated for child care, mileage and a $100 stipend for attending the entire day. Breakfast, Lunch and Snacks are provided.
Friday, November 4, 2011, from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. atLoring Job Corps Center, 36 Montana RoadinLimestone
Institute Facilitator: Tonya Gray, Regional Parent Support Coordinator
Institute Trainers: Carol Tiernan, G.E.A.R. Program Director and Cindy Seekins, G.E.A.R. Program Manager,
Call 1-800-264-9224 for more information and to apply to attend the Institute.
Applications close 10/7/11. *This training is offered for family members only. A family member is defined as: A person that is raising or has raised a child/youth with emotional, behavioral, or mental health challenges.
Welcome to the Family Empowerment Institute and congratulations for making an investment in YOU as a systems change leader!
The G.E.A.R. Parent Network Family Empowerment Institute has been designed to provide training with a continuum of support to parent and family members of children with behavioral health concerns to develop skills needed for effective and sustainable involvement in all aspects of the care of our children. The Institute’s design is to promote active family voice via the family driven care principle of systems of care. This strategy is based on a What, Why, Where and How model developed by the staff of the G.E.A.R. Parent Network.
All too many families/parents risk the success of needed systems change due to insufficient knowledge and understanding about our role historically and legislatively. By participating in this training, you choose to make a positive statement that knowledgeable and conscientious steps are needed by families/parents in order to bring the kind of change necessary for systems change.
The institute was developed to help you disseminate the definition of family-driven care with fidelity, train others to apply its principles with integrity and use its characteristics to help families, family-run organizations, systems of care, and communities transform the way behavioral health care (as well as any other relevant service) is delivered to children and youth and the way their families are involved in making decisions.
As a graduate of the Institute you will be given the opportunity to serve as a representative of the family movement and systems of care, promoting the definition, principles and characteristics of family-driven care and encouraging families and their system partners to move from rhetoric to reality through the F.A.C.E.S. Council.
The Institute was formatted by families for families with consultation and shared materials from the National Federation of Families and their state organizations and chapters with funding provided by Maine’s Children’s Behavioral Health Services.
The principle of “family-driven” seems to imply that something is being driven, so buckle your seat belt and enjoy the journey.
Sincerely, Carol Tiernan, Director G.E.A.R. Parent Network
**To express interest in having an Empowerment Institute Workshop hosted in your area, please Contact Us at 1-800-264-9224.**
Empowerment Institute Testimonials "Paying It Forward"
G.E.A.R. Parent Network is a Parent-to-Parent Network of Information & Support of Children with Behavioral Health Concerns and is a program of Crisis & Counseling Centers funded by DHHS, Children’s Behavioral Health Services, United Way and Private Donations.
