A Parenting Support Toolkit for AOD workers

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A Parenting Support Toolkitfor AOD workers
VAADA, 2006 Ms. Kylie Burke Victorian Parenting
Centre Dr. Stefan Gruenert Odyssey House
Victoria
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The Parenting Support Toolkit

• Victorian DHS identified the need
• Funded this project as a response
• Victorian Parenting Centre Odyssey House
  Victoria partnership
• Consultations with the AOD sector parents

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Why include parenting in AOD work

• Enhance clients commitment to change
• Extend harm minimisation beyond the client
• Increase child wellbeing
• Work in a holistic and family inclusive way
• Improve service integration

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Drug Use Parenting

• Parenting is
• an important aspect of clients lives
• a motivating factor and a barrier to treatment
• both rewarding and stressful by nature
• Parenting and drug use often interact
• Some parenting good drug treatment

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Consultations

• 11 Parents and 30 Workers (Key Informants)
• Focus Groups / Interviews / Pilot testing /
  Reviews
• Main Themes
• Advice on content
• Ways to overcome worker resistance
• Ways to overcome client resistance
• Make it useful and accessible
• Demystify the role of child protection
• Strategies of harm minimisation for children

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Worker Survey

• 105 Victorian AOD workers
• Average 7 years in AOD sector
• 85 strongly agree or agree they always know
  whether clients are parents

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Issues for AOD workers

• Raising parenting issues (when it is not the
  primary/referral issue)
• Finding the resources (time, funding skills)
• Involving other sectors and agencies/workers with
  different perspectives/approaches
• Confronting worker values and beliefs
• Notifying child protection and balancing the
  needs of all family members

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What is the Toolkit?

• The Parenting Support Toolkit
• helps AOD workers identify the needs of parents
  and their children when parents attend drug
  treatment
• provides workers with resources and strategies to
  effectively respond to clients parenting needs
• contains 3 Booklets and a Quick Reference Card

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Content of the Toolkit

• Booklet 1 Exploring Parenting Issues
• how parenting is relevant to AOD work
• the impact of drug use on children
• a collaborative, strength-based approach to
  working with parents
• a self reflection guide

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Content of the Toolkit

• Booklet 2 Information Tools
• background information, strategies, measures and
  guidelines on assessment and interventions with
  parents
• eg. Questionnaires and screening tools, sample
  interview questions, parent-child observation
  guidelines, Ecomaps, Genograms, Treatment plans
  etc.

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Content of the Toolkit

• Booklet 3 Service Resource Guide
• a Service Guide
• eg. Victorian child and parenting services, child
  care options, specialist AOD family programs,
  family benefits and entitlements
• a Resource Bibliography
• eg. Tip sheets, websites, booklets, information
  links about parenting and children

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Content of the Toolkit

• Quick Reference Card
• 2 sided laminated card
• summary of the self reflection guide about
  including parenting in AOD treatment
• details of key referral service phone numbers and
  resources

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Training of AOD workers

• Over 100 AOD staff across 9 regions of Victoria
  (management frontline workers)
• Half day introductory training
• 35 strongly confident, 45 confident, 19
  neutral, 1 not confident in using it
• Encouraged trainees to present in-house

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Where to from here?

• Dissemination of the Toolkit across Victoria
• Toolkit to be made available on DHS website
• Contact Odyssey or Victorian Parenting Centre for
  information on additional training
• www.odyssey.org.au
• www.vicparenting.com.au