Parenting support

Inspiring and Supporting Parents

Donna Zander & Assoc. have supported many families through our parenting education and resource programs throughout Australia.

We have helped parents from different cultural backgrounds and in all types of families to improve their knowledge and confidence through the running of seminars and parenting sessions. This has helped them to build positive relationships with their children, and to raise happy and confident children and young people.

Our team shares the joins and challenges of parenting. Donna herself has been a foster, step, natural, single and blended family parent in her lifetime and Maz a natural parent of two.

We have facilitated sessions to parents across the county from the underground of Cooperpedie to the burbs of Melbourne. Our most recent contract was with Reach Out for Kids in Nunawading, Victoria, where we ran an evening forum titled:

"Fostering Emotionally Healthy Teenagers". This forum was dedicated to a young person, Stephanie Bailey who committed suicide at age 20 and was aimed at suicide prevention.

 

Testimonials

"Role play illustrations by Donna and Maz were most useful as we do want to know how to do the parent thing better." parent

"Practical discussion by Donna about teenager's physical make up and impact on them was very useful." parent

"To the president of Reach Out For Kids. We wanted to let you know what a fantastic job Donna and Maz did in presenting the forum. Their role plays with each other were so good we can only assumed that they had been thoroughly rehearsed on other occasions. Nethertheless the scenarios presented were authentic and instructive. Our thanks go to them for making the forum the success that it was. This success has been verified by the feedback subsequently received. For us the Forum provided the first tangible opportunity we have had to show our son who attended and two of Stephanie's friends, who also attended, what Stephanie's gift is doing - the practical application of her legacy." Marika and Phillip Bayley

Donna's note - the role play scenarios were not rehearsed but were initiated in response to parent questions about management of behaviour or how they should respond to statements made or questions asked by the young people they care for.

Donna presenting at the Reach Our for Kids forum

 

Parenting Groups

We facilitate a range of groups for parents. For example:

Understanding and handling anger in yourself and your children?

For parents or carers of children from newborn to 18 years. The feeling of anger is okay. How we act may not be okay!

• Find out what anger is all about and why we get angry.
• Learn when anger is helpful and that When not it hurts parents and children.
• Learn what to do when children are angry or when you are angry towards them.
• Understand what feelings, needs, and other issues are caught in the anger and how to deal with these in a positive way.
• Discover how your thoughts play a part in anger and learn how to make good use of them.
• Learn how to avoid unproductive arguments and solve problems without destructive fighting.
• Learn ways to recoonect with your child/Young person.

Session facilitators - Donna Zander and Maz Ellerbokblock will help you develop new strategies for constructive handling of anger when current strategies are not working or are inappropriate. Strategies explored will be practical and based on real-life situations.

Format: Eight weekly sessions or can be a one-off introductory session.