What is Guiding Good Choices?

A FREE five-part workshop (once per week for 5 weeks) for parents or caregivers of children ages 9-14. The program seeks to promote healthy youth development and to prevent teen alcohol, tobacco and other drug use by helping parents gain skills to:

  • build family bonds,
  • establish and reinforce clear and consistent guidelines and expectations for behavior,
  • teach children skills to resist peer influence,
  • improve family management practice, and
  • reduce family conflict.

Session Topics

Session One – Getting Started

How to Prevent Drug Abuse in Your Family

Session Two – Setting Guidelines

How to Develop Healthy Beliefs and Clear Standards

Session Three – Avoiding Trouble

How to Say No (Children attend this session with their parents.)

Session Four – Managing Conflict

How to Control and Express Anger

Session Five – Involving Everyone

How to Strengthen Family Bonds

Research

GGC is based on research and has been PROVEN to:

  • Improve parenting skills and parent-child interactions.
  • Reduce adolescent substance abuse.
  • Reduce adolescent depressive symptoms.
  • Reduce rates of self-harm by teens.

In high quality research studies, children of participants had:

  • 40% lower rates of alcohol and marijuana use,
  • 54% less progression to more serious substance abuse,
  • 26% greater likelihood of remaining drug free if not already using drugs,
  • 38% lower rates of self-harm,
  • 28% fewer feelings of worthlessness.

Free!

Includes a FREE light dinner for the family and FREE onsite childcare! All materials are provided at no cost to participants.

Convenient!

  • The workshop series is only a five night commitment
  • Series are offered on several different days of the week.
  • Series are offered at different times of the day.
  • Series are available throughout the school year.
  • Series are offered in all five towns.

We will be offering the next Guiding Good Choices session beginning on  Tuesday, September 18 and going through October 16.  Registration forms are due in our offices by September 11.  Call (207) 236-9800 for more info.

Here’s what parents in our community are saying about Guiding Good Choices:

"…the best thing about the course was getting together with other parents going through this challenging period with their kids. The whole issue feels a little more manageable now. I strongly encourage all parents to give this a try. It is well worth the committment of time for both parents and children."