Parenting Groups

The journey of parenting is like driving a vehicle you’ve never been taught how to drive, and have only seen other people drive… but, not necessarily well. There’s no manual yet somehow everyone has advice on how they do it flawlessly, and they make it look easy. You have a fierce desperation to drive this vehicle the best you can, because your kids deserve to have it better than you did.

There’s another person in the passenger seat that also has steering controls. They don’t seem to know what they’re doing either. You can’t seem to figure out how to get in sync, and you know it’s making everything worse. While you’re white-knuckle steering, the kids are screaming. You’re juggling a job, a mortgage, friendships, never ending school emails, trying to eat healthy and get enough sleep, all while trying to hold onto some small sense of self. Sometimes you think you’re getting the hang of driving this thing, and then everything changes and the things that worked five minutes ago now completely backfire.

Why doesn’t parenting come with a manual?

The Circle of Security Parenting™ groups

This program is based on decades of research about how parent-child relationships can be supported and strengthened. These online groups give parents the closest thing there is to a parenting manual, tailored specifically for them and their children.

Each group is 60 minutes and is fully virtual. Groups are for parents of children ages 3 to 11, living in Illinois. Each group will have eight participants max per session. Sessions are specified by the age range of the parent’s child. Participants must attend all groups, and be willing to complete provided consents, parenting questionnaire, love quiz, and attachment style assessment. Parents will receive a caregiver workbook to utilize during the six classes, as well as a Circle of Security certificate following completion of the six classes.

Upon completion of these groups you will:

• Understand your child’s emotional world by learning to read and respond to their emotional needs

• Know to how support your child’s ability to successfully manage emotions

• Enhance the development of your child's self esteem

• Increase your confidence as a parent

• Honor your innate wisdom and desire for your child to be secure

These parenting groups are valued at $200 per parent. Empower Family Therapy is offering these groups to parents of our community free of charge for all of 2022!!

About the Facilitator

Yolanda Angelica is a couple & family therapist at Empower Family Therapy (check out her bio here) and a Registered Circle of Security Parenting Individual Facilitator.

Yolanda is passionate about helping parents develop confidence in their role, as they learn the keys of child development. Her favorite part about working with families is watching how both parent and child are able to become more authentically themselves within the safety and understanding of their secure relationship.

To find out the dates of groups that correspond with the age of your child, please visit our website or contact Yolanda Angelica at Parenting@EmpowerFamilyTherapy.com.

group schedule

Each class group is divided by age groups to ensure a cohesion and rapport with the members, and to address developmentally appropriate concerns and needs of parents. Each cohort will meet six times, once a week over six weeks, for 60 minutes each class.

Picking the Best Cohort for You: Consider the age of your child, and your availability for group sessions/times. For example, if your child is 3-8 years old: you can choose to join Cohort 1 which is on Friday evenings from January 21- February 25th. If Fridays don’t work well for you, you can join Cohort 3 or 7 on Mondays during your lunch break in April/May or November/December.

Parents should choose one Cohort to join. If your child is transitioning between these age groups (turning 9 years old) during 2022, you can absolutely choose to join a 9-11 year old cohort later in the year to learn about the new developmental stages you & your child will be embarking on!