St. Clair Child & Youth Services selected to deliver new parenting program
Sarnia, Ont. – St. Clair Child & Youth Services is partnering with IWK Health Centre in Halifax, Nova Scotia and McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario to research the effectiveness of Strongest Families, an evidenced based parent training program delivered by telephone to parents who are experiencing behavioural difficulties with their children.
Strongest Families, is a revolutionary distance treatment program that delivers evidence-based mental health services to children and families in their homes. Trained coaches, located at the IWK, provide telephone support to families as they work their way through user-friendly educational modules, and provide support to issues that arise as families apply the new skills in their daily lives.
“This research study provides a very real and concrete option for parents seeking assistance for their children and youth,” says Rick Shields, Executive Director of St. Clair Child & Youth Services. “We are pleased to have been invited to be one of four test sites throughout Ontario.”
Strongest Families is funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR). It is led by co- principal investigators Drs. Patrick McGrath, Vice President Research, IWK Health Centre and Professor of Psychology, Pediatrics and Psychiatry at Dalhousie University; Charles Cunningham, Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioural Neurosciences, Jack Laidlaw Chair in Patient-Centred Health Care, Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine, McMaster University; Patricia Lingley-Pottie, Clinical Manager Strongest Families, IWK.
“Parents who have participated in our clinical trials have found the program to be very effective,” says Dr. McGrath. “By not having to travel and offering the flexibility to have appointments fit each family’s schedule, the program helps ensure families who need support are receiving it.”
About St. Clair Child & Youth Services
St. Clair Child & Youth Services is a progressive Children’s Mental Health Centre dedicated to helping children and youth to cope with and adapt to life’s challenges. With vision, creativity and flexibility, St. Clair works with parents and the community in providing integrated early intervention, prevention, residential and non-residential treatment services.
About IWK Health Centre
The IWK Health Centre, located in Halifax, Nova Scotia, provides quality care to women, children and youth of the Maritimes and beyond. In addition to tertiary (highly-specialized) care, the IWK also provides primary care services. The IWK is engaged in leading-edge research, the promotion of healthy families and the education of health professionals and other learners.
About McMaster University
McMaster University, one of four Canadian universities listed among the Top 100 universities in the world, is renowned for its innovation in both learning and discovery. It has a student population of 23,000, and more than 140,000 alumni in 128 countries.
For more information contact:
St. Clair Child & Youth Services, (519) 337-3701
IWK Public Relations, (902) 470-6740
Office of Public Relations, McMaster University, (905) 525-9140, ext. 22169