Description

CORE TEEN (Critical On-going Resource Family Education)

Session 6

Understanding and Managing Youth’s Challenging Behaviors – Part 2

October 25^th, 2023

10:00 AM-12:30 PM EST

Via Zoom

Stephanie Spires

2.5 credit hours

Navigating the teen years can be challenging. It is even more difficult for youth that have experienced trauma. The University of Kentucky in collaboration with DCBS, will offer training to equip foster and adoptive parents to meet the needs of older youth who have moderate to serious emotional and behavioral health challenges.  

There are many reasons that foster and adoptive youth display challenging behaviors. For some youth, living in a family and accepting parental guidance and support is exceedingly difficult. Behaviors that have been useful in the past for survival and self-protection, can become instinctive, automatic reactions.  Intellectual and developmental disabilities as well as dealing with grief are also contributing factors for challenging behaviors. Whatever the case, having sufficient trauma informed parenting skills are required to help navigate the teen years for youth who have experienced trauma.  

During this session parents will gain a better understanding on the vulnerabilities and high-risk behaviors that foster and adoptive youth that have experienced trauma are challenged by. By the end of the session parents will: 

• Learn and demonstrate skills needed to assist their youth during a crisis situation. 

• Parents will learn how to respond appropriately when teens display high-risk behaviors like: 

• • Risky sexual behaviors 
  • Aggressive behaviors towards others 
  • Using the internet and social media appropriately 
  • Self-injurious behaviors and suicidal ideation   

• Parents will learn strategies to keep their youth and others safe. 
• Parents will learn crisis intervention and de-escalation techniques. 
• Learn how to access and be actively involved in professional supports that their foster/adoptive youth may need to access.  

This session will teach foster/adoptive parents  learn skills needed to address, intense, frequent, or long-lasting high-risk behaviors that they threaten the quality of life and/or the physical safety of the teen or others. For additional information about this session, please feel free to contact Carla Jordan, TRC Training Specialist, at carla.jordan@uky.edu or 1-833-859-3278 (1-833-UKY-FAST). 

Please note each session is approved for ongoing, elective training credit for Kentucky Foster Parents. This program also meets the requirements for CarePlus Training. Basic & Advanced Foster Parents, Fictive Kin Foster Parents, Care Plus, or Therapeutic Foster Parents can all take advantage of the opportunity to fulfill their training hours. A reliable internet connection and computer/smartphone with webcam are required.