Creating Lasting Family Connections (CLFC)
General Program Information
The Creating Lasting Family Connections program is a structured curriculum for youth ages 9-17 and their parents, guardians and other family members to improve their ability to provide a nurturing environment for each other in a very effective and meaningful way. Participating youth and parents are encouraged to improve their personal growth through increasing self-awareness, expression of feelings, interpersonal communication, and self-disclosure. Participants are taught social skills, refusal skills, and appropriate alcohol and drug knowledge and healthy beliefs, which provide a strong defense against environmental risk factors that can lead to negative outcomes for youth. The Creating Lasting Family Connections program also provides parents and other caring adults with family management, family enhancement, and communications training. All participants are provided opportunities to practice these skills in a safe peer-group setting.
The Creating Lasting Family Connections program has demonstrated results in reducing alcohol, tobacco and other drug (ATOD) use, delaying onset of ATOD use, and reducing uncontrolled and violent behavior with youth. The program has been recognized as an effective science-based program by the Substance Abuse Mental Health Services Administration, the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention, the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, the U.S. Department of Education, the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, and the International Youth Foundation.
The Creating Lasting Family Connections program consists of 6 modules. The parent modules are: ”Developing Positive Parental Influences”, “Raising Resilient Youth” and “Getting Real”. The 3 youth modules are: “Developing a Positive Response”, “Developing Independence and Responsibility”, and “Getting Real”. Each of the 3 individual parent trainings is a 5-6 session module with each session lasting from 1-1/2 to 2-1/2 hours depending on breaks and possibly including a meal. Each of the individual youth trainings is a 5-6 session module with sessions lasting 1 to 2-1/2 hours in length again depending on snacks, breaks and/or a meal being provided. (Sometimes it is very helpful for recruitment if families are provided meals in conjunction with the program.) An optional Parent and Youth combined “Getting Real” session usually requires an additional two or three sessions.
For maximum effectiveness, parents and youth are each involved simultaneously in their own separate three-module track lasting for 15 to 18 sessions.
The CLFC program provides parents and children with strong defenses against environmental risk factors by teaching appropriate skills for personal growth, family enhancement, and interpersonal communication, including refusal skills for both parents and youth.
The CLFC curriculum is designed to:
- Improve refusal skills, resulting in both delayed onset and reduced use of substances by youth
- Increase communication and bonding between parents and children
- Foster greater use of community services in resolving family and personal problems
- Decrease uncontrolled behavior (i.e., reduce violence)
The CLFC curriculum is also designed to increase the following specific resiliency factors:
Youth
- Refusal skills
- Bonding with mother and father
- Honest communication
- Participation in family rule setting
- Bonding with community
- Social Skills
Family
- Appropriate parental substance use knowledge and beliefs
- Appropriate parental substance using behavior
- Family management skills (including family meetings)
- Bonding with youth
- Involvement of youth in family rule setting (both substance related and not)
- Help-seeking for family and personal problems
Appropriate expectations and consequences
- Family stability, harmony, cohesiveness, and positive communication
- Family recreational and community activities
Community
- Youth and parent perceptions of community support
- Access to health and social services
- Community empowerment
- Responsiveness and flexibility of social service provision
- Community service
School
- School bonding by youth
- School attendance
- Positive school climate
Berks County Programs
Programs are currently running at the following locations: Berks Advocates Against Violence (BAAV), Berks Counseling Center, Berks County Children and Youth Services, Community Alliance Reinvestment Endeavor, Inc. (CARE) and the PAL Unit of the Olivets. For more information on any of these programs, please contact the CLFC Coordinator.
