BPT

Behavioural Parent Training

Parent training and education is an empirically-supported therapeutic approach using principles and techniques derived from behaviour therapy, attachment theory and neuroscience. Parent training invites parents and caregivers to identify and examine the impact of various influences that can strengthen or strain the parent-child relationship. These influences can include personal history, cultural or ethnic values, religion or spirituality, lifestyle choices, the home environment, community, a child’s developmental level, personality, and more. As these influences are identified and the impact better understood, parents can begin to assess how these interact with their own behaviours and expectations as well as those of their children, and begin to modify these where needed to accomplish personal goals such as improved family closeness, reduced arguing and fighting between parents and siblings, and increased family quality time. In individual sessions, on a weekly to biweekly schedule, parents will learn a range of behavioural, developmental, and anxiety and mood management skills. They then work with the clinician to customize a family plan utilizing those strategies that are best matched with their unique and diverse family needs. Families that might benefit from parent training and education may be seeking guidance with the following:

-Establishing an effective and smooth morning routine
-Sitting down for family meals
-Getting your kids to bed on time with reduced conflict
-Cultivating pleasurable family time
-Encouraging resilient and responsible children
-Fostering a Growth Mindset
-Transitioning from full-time parenting to back to the workforce
-Relocating homes and communities
-Arrival of a new sibling
-Sibling rivalry

Although there are many parenting books, articles, and websites, there is no guidebook on how to manage each scenario that arises. For those who struggle to decode what is best for both their child and family, parent training can bridge this gap. All parents have the capacity to create an environment that meets their children’s needs and supports them in their development, while retaining their own values and meeting personal goals. It is through the larger context of parents understanding themselves and their children that builds the foundation for a healthy and strong family relationship.