Katherine Picarou and Marc-Olivier Proulx have been psychoeducators with the outpatient rehabilitation team in youth protection since four and five years. In 2018 they developed a new program entitled
Des grands et des petits (
Big and Small)
. This intensive, 13-week program has offered alternating meetings at home and in groups with parents and their children aged 6 to 12 since January 2019. Its goal is to help parents in their role with their children who are at risk of being placed in the rehabilitation centre due to their behavioural disorders or neglect.
Over three intensive months, this innovative program has parents and children reproduce methods learned in workshops at home with the individualized help of the same workers who were in the workshops. The psychoeducators are thus present once a week or more during key moments, for example, the morning and evening routines. According to both psychoeducators and the feedback from participants (see Steve's testimony), this formula adequately meets the needs of parents. They feel better qualified in their interactions with their children and many protection files have even been closed. Furthermore, that specific client group was not being monitored in this way, so Katherine and Marc-Olivier are proud that they can now make a difference in the lives of those families, giving them the opportunity to turn a blank page.
Psychoeducators who work with youth support parents in their role to structure, reassure, and educate their children, and teach children to communicate effectively and to manage their emotions. To work with this client group, the psychoeducators mentioned that you must feel comfortable dealing with youth and parents, who both often have a troubled past. You need to be able to assess the strengths and challenges faced by the parents and children, to provide concrete examples to improve problematic issues, to motivate others to attempt to make changes, and to highlight progress. Wanting to help others is a prerequisite.
"My greatest reward is seeing parent-child bonds reinforced. Then there is hope for the future," said Katherine.
