How can

If you are the parent of a teenager who is at-risk because of the emergence of some or all of the following behaviors, we can help:

• disruptive at home, frequently arguing with family members
• poor academic performance or frequent suspensions
• refusal to follow rules at home, violating curfew, etc.
• negative changes in personality and peers
• using alcohol, marijuana or other substances

Harmony At Home is a comprehensive service to assist your teen or pre-teenaged child in tackling barriers to successful progress in vital areas of a child's life. What we offer isn’t limited to hourly sessions once-a-week. Instead, we utilize the most advantagous opportunities to strengthen the foundation that a young person’s life is built on. Every interaction is an opportunity. The skills developed during this process will serve your child into adulthood, such as:

• problem solving
• establishing and maintaining healthy peer relationships
• building self-esteem and self-concept
• conflict resolution and self-advocacy

Is your child involved with therapy, Juvenile or Family Court, CHINS & DCF?

If your child has current services in place, such as outpatient therapy or perhaps, family court and the Department of Social Services, we can help maximize the benefits of these services. By collaborating with other providers and working towards the goals established for your child at home, successful achievement of those goals can be reached more quickly.

Navigating the way through the court and social service arenas can be confusing and anxiety-provoking for both you and your child. Having a resource who knows the system and can provide clear, reliable guidance will assist in preventing any misunderstandings or further complications.

Home

Often, when we are close to a situation, our perspective can be skewed. Overcome by the onslaught of so many small details, parts of the larger picture are obscured. It’s as if we’re standing so close to a Monet that it appears to be nothing more than a jumble of colored dots. Stepping back into objectivity is difficult in intimate family relationships. Just as you know your child better than anyone, so your child knows you; emotions influence reactions and each others “buttons” and how to push them may as well be branded on our foreheads.

School

A major area of your child’s life, the experience at school has a significant impact  during the tumultuous years of adolescence. The feedback received by influential factors – relationships with peer groups, teachers and of the overall environment impacts how a child views him/herself as they begin to define themselves into adulthood. As most of us will remember, school (particularly high school) felt almost like a universe unto itself where the gravity of peers - the hierarchies of popularity, the close scrutiny of what we wore, how we acted, who our friends were, etc. were as real as a vivid, feverish, other-worldly dream - and once it was over, we were left with an evaporating memory of what it was all about.

Social

The company we keep, especially as a young person, is both influential and telling.  Has your child's peer group changed recently? How well do you know who your child hangs out with? This is the one area of a child’s life that parents have the least influence over and also the least supervision of. If your child's peer group has changed, you may ask yourself why - a wise question.