4 December 2017

Group work empowering Otago families

We facilitate a range of group work programmes, for children and whānau. The impact they have for participants is significant and lasting.

Rayleen Hubac, Family Works Group Work Coordinator, said, “Families come to us every week looking for support. We will work with them and often connect them to various group programmes. This provides an environment where participants learn from each other.”

“I had one young child who wouldn’t even look at you, or greet you, when I first met him. Grant* became a much more confident, happy and expressive young person after completing a three month programme.”

“We were able to help Grant learn about his emotions, which was significant for him. One of the topics that helped him was to understand the impact on others when you express your emotion through aggression.”

“By giving Grant tools, and building a relationship with him, he came out of our course as a completely different person.”

“We also had the opportunity to work with Grant’s mum, and give her skills and techniques that changed her approach to parenting.”

“One of the things we talk about regularly is ‘catching the good and praising it’. Our Incredible Years programme often changes the view of parents, as it encourages them to focus on positive reinforcement with their children.”

Several family members will often attend different programmes at the same time. They all learn new skills and discover how they work as a family unit.

Because of generous support from the public we can continue to run a number of group progammes each year, making a difference for families across Otago.

Most group programmes are timed to run alongside school term dates. Full details of our group programmes can be found on our website - psotago.org.nz

*name changed to protect identity