Parents and families today face an increasing and more complex variety of problems and meeting these challenges can be quite daunting. There is a program that can help meet these challenges that is called “Strengthening Families Program 10-14.”

SFP is a parent, youth, and family skills-building curriculum designed to:

* Strengthen parenting skills
* Build family strengths
* Prevent teen substance abuse and other behavior problems

The program is fun and interactive. It includes activities such as role-plays, videos, games, and family projects.

The program is for families who have children between the ages of 10-14. Childcare is provided on site for younger siblings. Dinner is served at each session and all families who participate receive a $100 gift card upon completion of the program.

The program takes place at the Williamsport Area Middle School starting February 28 and will run every Thursday evening for seven sessions with graduation night, April 11. The families arrive at 5:30 p.m. and eat dinner together until 6. Then they separate and attend the parent or youth session for an hour and then the final hour is spent together for the family session, which concludes at 8 p.m.

Danielle Hardy of the West Branch Drug and Alcohol Abuse Commission helps to coordinate this interesting and innovative program.

“We have a wonderful group of dedicated facilitators who really care about our families and helping them with their daily struggles as well as celebrating their accomplishments,” Hardy told “Webb Weekly.” “It is a pretty neat experience to watch how the families grow stronger during the seven-week program.”

She said the activities taught in the program help with communication skills, setting rules and limits, and peer pressure refusal skills. All of these skills will help decrease the likelihood of a child using a substance.

The families also participate in a family dinner each night at the middle school to start the sessions. This is another way a parent can increase the protection of a child from substance use. Families who eat dinner together can ask their child how their day was, who their friends are, how school was, etc. This helps form a bond with their child and a way of checking in on them.

One area parent who had been involved in the program stated, “The Strengthening Families Program helps with strategies and ways to handle difficult situations. I enjoyed the ease of the environment; everyone was very helpful and friendly.”

An area student familiar with the program said, “The Strengthening Families program is a lot of fun, and you can learn a lot. The Strengthening Families Program is helpful for making families stronger than they were before.”

If you wish to participate in this program, you can contact Danielle Hardy at the West Branch Drug and Alcohol Abuse Commission at 213 West Fourth Street, and her phone number is 570-323-8543, Extension 114. The registration deadline is February 14.