Paul Szmal: FLX Morning continues, now it is 8.15, we're at 59 under clear skies with some sunshine. I'd like to welcome my guest at this time, and that is Dawn Wade-Dinehart, who is the Parent Services Coordinator for Child and Family Resources. Dawn, good morning. How are you this morning?
Dunway Dinehart: Good morning. I'm good. Thank you. Yeah, great to have you on. Tell me a little bit about your history and how you come to work for Child and Family Resources.
So I have been actually with Child and Family for 22 years. I actually worked in the educational field for 13 and found myself wanting to work with a family as a whole because I was working with students, children, and so I landed in this position as in that 22 years ago I was a preschool teacher and parent educator, and now I'm the Parent Services Coordinator. So I oversee all of our parent education programming.
Paul Szmal: And that's what we want to talk about this morning is the parent education programming. The first thing that comes to mind is that first-time parents are probably trying to prepare themselves as best they can, but they still need a little leg up and a little help.
Dunway Dinehart: Yes, of course they do. We serve all families, so families that are becoming new parents or families that have been parents for a long time. We offer a variety of curriculums that are research-based for whatever needs the families have.
Paul Szmal: And how do you determine what that curriculum is? Is that a lot of research work that gets done?
Dunway Dinehart: So we actually have staff that are trained in several curriculums, but the one contract that we offer these parent programs in Ontario, Seneca, and Yates counties for free, they ask us to pick specific curriculum that they've approved of. One of the main ones that we use is called Flip It and Build Your Bounce, which is focusing on working on children with challenging behaviours and identifying their emotions and gaining self-regulation and then building resiliency in children as well.
Paul Szmal: Building resiliency. How does that work?
Dunway Dinehart: So when we ask people what they think about resiliency, we ask them to look at a rubber band. So when you stretch a rubber band out and when you let go of it, it bounces back. So when people have had struggles in their lives and they are able to bounce back from those struggles, that's how they build that resiliency.
Paul Szmal: Ah, understood. We're talking with Dawn-Wei Dinehart from Child and Family Resources. She's the Parent Services Coordinator for the organization. CFresources.org, by the way, is the website if you want to find out more information about Child and Family Resources.
Dawn, tell me, what classes tend to be the most popular amongst parents?
Dunway Dinehart: So we definitely provide classes in all three counties, as I said, all different locations. Flip It and Build Your Bounce have been one of our main curriculums that people like. They like that piece of identifying emotions. It's very relatable to the parent themselves because when working with a child with challenging behaviours, sometimes we as parents can get very overwhelmed. So we need to identify how we're feeling in that moment in order to be positively interacting with our child.
Paul Szmal: Do the classes also include things like financial planning and trying to maintain your financial state while you have children?
Dunway Dinehart: So we have offered budgeting in the past. It's not like a typical ongoing one, but if a family shows interest, we are able to provide that.
Paul Szmal: What do you think the biggest need is for parents in the area that are coming to Child and Family Resources and taking advantage of these classes?
Dunway Dinehart: I feel like we've seen a lot of families that have had struggles, do not have support systems and just don't know who to turn to or who to reach out to. And I feel like they're the ones that come to the agency, as well as we do get a court or ordered population that have been ordered through family court to get a certificate for parenting that they've attended. So it can be a combination of different types of families.
Paul Szmal: And the families that make their way to Child and Family Resources, what kind of feedback do they give you after taking these classes?
Dunway Dinehart: So I'd say the majority of the time it's very positive and they actually return to do other classes or utilize other programming within the agency because they've built a relationship with the facilitators.
Paul Szmal: How many different classes do you actually offer?
Dunway Dinehart: So we offer classes ongoing, regularly. And it can be two or three a week in different offices or different areas. We do collaborate a lot with local libraries to provide classes at their sites. But we offer as many as we can to the community, depending on the needs.
Paul Szmal: I have to think that it's a great amount of personal satisfaction that you get from being able to work with these families and build on some success stories for them.
Dunway Dinehart: It really has been very rewarding for myself and my staff. We also have been, through this particular grant, been able to offer programming within Ontario County Jail and are going to be starting in Seneca County Jail. So it is very rewarding to help families feel confident in their parenting skills and feel like they can have support systems within their communities.
Paul Szmal: If there was a family listening that was looking for that, like I said, little leg up or that little bit of extra help, what would you say to them?
Dunway Dinehart: I would say call Child and Family Resources and reach out to one of us, myself, or I have two other staff that facilitate groups. We would just have conversations about them, what we can help and support them with.
Paul Szmal: Beautiful. And again, the website is cfresources.org, cfresources.org. What do you see as the future of the Parenting Services Program? Do you see things kind of morphing or changing as time goes on? Or do you feel like what the curriculum that's being offered now is tuned in pretty well with the needs of the people that are coming?
Dunway Dinehart: So I think it's always evolving and we're here to evolve with, you know, the communities that we serve. And so it could be, you know, maybe something new down the road. But right now, I feel like, you know, what we're offering is a variety of things that does meet the immediate need for families currently.
Paul Szmal: Okay. Anything else that you'd like to add into the conversation here, Dawn?
Dunway Dinehart: I don't think so. Just call CFR and sign up for a class.
Paul Szmal: There you go. And again, well, let's give out that phone number again so people have that information. So our number is 315-536-1134.
Okay. And great to have you on, Dawn. Thank you very much for being here with us this morning. We certainly appreciate it.
Dunway Dinehart: Thank you, Paul. It is 824 on FLX Morning.
