"'Being a Parent' course and EPEC project"

I was introduced to the EPEC project at my local children's centre when enquiring about volunteer opportunities. I attended the 10 week training course which consisted of completing the 'Being a parent' course and then being taught to deliver this course to other parents, in a volunteer capacity. 

I found the course fascinating and very useful, learning new strategies and techniques to deal with various issues that arise when caring for children, so that I took more time to think about the reasons behind behaviours and encouraging positive mental health to both children in my care and my own mental state. I also saw ways to use this with other adults in my life plus in day to day situations, defusing potential 'flashpoints' and listening in a more reflective way. 

From this training, I delivered a course with another volunteer to 3 parents. This was over an 8 week period. I found this to be satisfying both personally and to those participating in the course. The feedback received showed that these parents found the course beneficial and they gave examples of how the strategies discussed during the sessions were tried with their children with various degrees of success. The main positive seemed be the parents felt more confident in their parenting abilities and described a calmer, happier home environment. I am hoping to deliver another 'Being a parent' course in the future.