Ella wants to be a good mother to her two boys. It’s an uphill battle because she had a traumatic childhood that led to addiction and mental health challenges. Ella is relying on The Family Center for help.

Jake is 7. There has been a lot of yelling in his house in the last few months. Sometimes he had to cover his ears to go to sleep.

Now Jake’s house is quiet, except when his mother shouts on the phone. Jake’s dad has moved out, and it feels strange. He misses his father a lot. His mother cries more and often stays in her room.

Do you ever feel overwhelmed by negativity?  Turning on the news, you see a stream of violence, drug abuse, scandal and scary statistics.  The weight of our social ills, mental health issues and rates of physical disease can make many feel helpless…or even worse, cynical. One research study is creating hope. See the original article on the STARS website. 

Mothers and fathers attend Family Center parenting classes to learn techniques that will help them raise happy, healthy children.  In the classes they will also take a look at adverse experiences that affected their own childhood.  Any parent can benefit from the research based curriculum in the classes, which are offered in two counties.

Science indicates it can be harder to recover from neglect than physical or sexual abuse. During the early years of life, children form 700 neuron connections per second, which means every second counts for brain building.

The brains of neglected children look different than those who come from nurturing homes. 

Two-year-old Jason doesn’t say many words, but he knows how to take care of himself better than most toddlers his age. He spends most of his day in front of the TV. His surroundings are filthy and there is little to eat.

Living in a hotel room with three children ages 2-10, Maria felt completely out of control.  Her youngest son was screaming and clinging to her as her boyfriend yelled and stormed out the door...

How would you feel if you knew that the worst experiences you remember from your childhood would be the legacy that you pass on to your children?

Often people parent how they were parented…

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Through an exclusive partnership with Lightning 100, The Family Center has access to the private VIP area. Click to find out more. 

If there were a way to decrease rates of our leading diseases such as heart disease, cancer, diabetes and stroke with one low cost approach, wouldn’t we invest in it?

What if this approach also substantially decreased incarceration, crime and substance abuse?