Could Your Parenting Use a Check-up?
Parents often wonder if they’re making the best decisions for their children.
A new assessment program at UW-Stout can help them determine if they’re on the right track. Parenting Check-up is being offered this fall through the university’s Clinical Services Center.
Completing the Parenting Check-up helps parents learn about how they parent together, and how they can be more effective, according to Markie L.C. Twist (Blumer), an associate professor in human development and family studies and the marriage and family therapy program.
“One of the most valuable parts of this relational assessment is the opportunity to gain insight into how one’s expectations and parenting style may be different for each child.”
– Anne Ramage, UW-Stout marriage and family therapy program
“When children return to school, sometimes behavioral issues start to emerge inside and outside the home,” Twist said. “Parents can use extra support getting everyone coordinated and on track for the year.”
The program, available to same-gender and different-gender couples, uses materials and tools from evidence-based assessments and related clinical practice.
Clinicians for Parenting Check-up are second-year students – in teams of two – from the master’s program in marriage and family therapy. The students are trained and supervised by faculty, who are licensed marriage and family therapists and approved supervisors.
“One of the most valuable parts of this relational assessment is the opportunity to gain insight into how one’s expectations and parenting style may be different for each child,” said Anne Ramage, who also teaches in marriage and family therapy. “Such information can contribute to important discussions among partners about how they each approach and parent each child differently.”
The Parenting Check-up isn’t the only counseling program available at UW-Stout. This fall, the Clinic Services Center also is offering Relationship Check-up sessions for couples. Relationship Check-up follows a similar model and is also conducted by second-year master’s degree students.
The cost for Parenting Check-up is $35 per couple for four hours of assessment, typically over four one-hour sessions. For UW-Stout students the cost is $10. To sign up, contact the Clinical Services Center, (715) 232-2404. The center is in room 221 of the Vocational Rehabilitation Building, 221 10th Ave. E., Menomonie. For more information about the marriage and family therapy master’s program, go to www.uwstout.edu/programs/msmft/index.cfm.
