Parent Support Program

Providing Support and Resources

Overview

Parenting has major influence on the behaviour, emotional, physical, and social development of a child. Many parents and guardians often face challenges in raising their children in the face of unemployment, balancing work and parenting, unhealthy relationships, domestic violence, divorce, separation, debilitating poverty, and lack of support systems. Parents and guardians also struggle with raising children, teenagers, or youth with behavior problems. Managing these challenges and supporting overall family well-being can be difficult, frustrating, and worrisome for parents, guardians, and the entire family.

The Parent Support Network aims to encourages, support, and educate parents and guardians through parent support group sessions, counselling, and social support to build effective parenting skills, support system, healthy community connections, and improve well-being.We also support parents and guardians who are facing challenges in managing behavior problems of their children and youth.

The strategic objectives include:

Help parents develop positive parenting knowledge and skills.
Enhance parent-child relationships.
Provide counselling to improve coping skills, relationships, and well-being.
Help address behaviour problems of children and youths.
Protect children from all forms of abuse.
Help children manage their feelings and behaviours.
Connection to support services and resources.

Parents or guradians with children or youth
with behaviour problems

The Parent Help service provides free non-judgement support services to parents and guardians experiencing parenting challenges with children, teenagers, or youth with behavior problems. Some parents and guardians are troubled by the behaviour of their children or youth including:

Consistently absent from school or not going to school
School-related issues such as suspensions, not completing homework etc.
Arriving home late or not at all
Withdrawal from family and friends
Stealing Money or valuable
Lying
Verbal or physical abuse
Fighting, violence or aggressive behaviour

Property destruction or vandalism
Drug or alcohol abuse
Addiction
Mental health issues
In conflict with the law
In some communities, youth also join cults or gangs and get involved in crime or other risky behaviours.

Managing these challenging behaviors and supporting overall family well-being, can be difficult, frustrating, and worrisome for parents and guardians. The Parent Help service assists parents, guardians and their children or youth with behavior problems to resolve their challenging situations and better equip parents to deal with the behaviour problems.

Support for Single Parents

This program aims to empower single parents who are raising their children without sufficient financial and support system by providing hope, support, and resources so that they can strive and become self-reliance.There is a growing number of single-parent households in Sierra Leone.The reasons individuals or families become single parents include abandonment, separation, divorce, rape, domestic violence, and death of another parent. Many single parents are facing challenges, vulnerable to poverty or living in poverty and poor health, and struggling to put food on the table, access housing, clothing, and other basic needs as well as lack of social support. Raising children is also challenging for these single parents. They are always stress-out looking for support and resources to help ease their burden. They are at high risk of stress, depression, anxiety, and other health issues. Intercommunity provides services that cater to the needs of single parents and their children.

Parenting Session

The Parent session plays a crucial role in educating, sharing experiences, and understanding the needs and concerns of parents and guardians. The parent support group offers weekly group-based sessions that provide parenting skills workshop, information, and other resources that help parents and guardians develop effective parenting strategies, become competent and better care for their children. The sessions are held in a safe, interactive, and non-judgement environment in which parents and guardians can talk openly about their experiences. The group-based sessions are held in various locations in the communities.

Parenting Counselling

Parenting can be one of the most challenging experiences in life. Parents often struggling with their mental health in coping with these challenges. Parents may be confused, stressed, and worried about how to effectively care for their children, giving up work, careers, either for the short term or long term, marital issues, Isolation, limited or no support system, behaviour problem of their children or youth and other challenges. We offer counselling to parents and guardians in need of help to deal with emotional, developmental, social, and behavioural problems that may arise in raising their children.

Parenting Counselling can help parents,
guardians, and families:

Support and guidance to parents, guardians, and families.
Provide psychoeducation relating to parenting
Coping with parenting issues or personal situations
Encourage effective parenting skills and positive behaviour
Address Marital issues
Create supportive and stable family environment
Deal constructively, decisively consistently with problem behaviour
Build positive and trusting relationships with children
Prevent or manage potentially difficult situations
Connection to support services and resources

Support Services

Intercommunity provide single parents the tools that enable them to make positive changes that lead to self-reliance and better life for them and their kids. These include:

Workshops on various topics such as financial literacy to improve knowledge, skills, and self–esteem
Vocational and life skills training such as catering, hairdressing, sewing, soap making.
Business skills training
Financial support and micro-credit to start up a business.

How to access parenting services?

Please call us:

Freetown: 074 713 939
Bo: 076 810 869
Kono: 075 606 802