Our curriculum has been updated with everything that needed to change, from content, how to purchase the curriculum, and how we train and support our certified facilitators and trainers.

The hardest part is not being able to nurture attendees in the same way as usual. Although, I must say the training and implementation of Nurturing Families is still extremely effective through a virtual platform. We are now being asked to be creative in a different way. Exercising creativity is a must when doing this work.

Most importantly, maintain your affiliation with our Center by regularly visiting our website. Visit our current events page often and attend the annual recertification virtual conference every November (2nd week of November). After two years in great standing and becoming well versed in implementing Nurturing Families™ directly to families, I invite you to sign-up to attend a Training of Trainers (TOT) held in May and December of every year. After meeting all the requirements, you can become a certified organizational/agency trainer.

Nurturing Families Center™ certifies facilitators and trainers so we can continue to serve and answer ongoing implementation needs of frontline providers. We do not charge you for added support. We only charge for added service. What this means is that you can contact us whenever you need us, and we will support you on this journey so you can continue to serve families with quality services. You can always contact us with questions or comments. We also provide facilitator coach sessions, fidelity audits and consultation services as added services.

Yes, you can find all updates on our “Current Events” page, and we will provide updates every year at the recertification conference. Remember you can always contact us or leave a question on the form above.

To keep your certification current, attend the annual recertification virtual conference every November (2nd week of November).  The other requirement is to implement the curriculum as much as possible to stay well versed in the content.

Before you can train others at your designated agency, you must first be a Certified Facilitator for two years. During these two years as a facilitator, you must be implementing the curriculum to fidelity directly with families. You will then attend a Training of Trainers (TOT) and after meeting all the requirements of a trainer, you will be Certified as an Organizational Trainer for Nurturing Families™. This designation lets you train facilitators in your agency on the art and skills of being a Nurturing Families Facilitator.

It does not expire if you attend the annual 2-day recertification conference in November and continue to actively implement Nurturing Families™ 2nd Edition to fidelity. It is at this online conference every year that we reinstate certifications to facilitators and trainers for the next year. If you do not remain active by implementing the program and attending the conference you will be placed on an inactive status where you will not be allowed to implement Nurturing Families™ until you attend another 18-hour facilitator training and/or the next recertification conference. If you are not a certified Trainer in active status you are not be allowed to train others.

Nurturing Families 2nd Edition™ has proven to be effective with all individuals playing a parenting role in a child’s life. Parents do not need to have daily or weekly access with their children to successfully learn. All “Home Practice Assignment’s” (HPA) reinforce the lessons learned and can be done with children, self, or other adults. It is highly recommended that you provide parents and others parenting children with HPA’s to help them interact in nurturing and fun ways when they do not always have access to their children.

Nurturing Families 2nd Edition™ was designed to work from a family systems perspective. Work extra hard to join with the adults in the family system before joining with the child. If this is not something you need help with consult with your supervisor on ways to join with parents or call us at the Nurturing Families Center. Once you build rapport with the adults, you can ask for their permission to do sessions directly with their child on a regular basis. Remember the adults in a family system define family. They are where the true change is sustained.

Nurture Us and Watch Us Grow. Be careful with language and attitude you have with a family that doesn’t yet trust. Sometimes people say, “the family is non-complaint or resistant”. This assumes that they do not choose to be on this journey. Possibly they have never been around nurturing facilitators that have empowered them and pointed out their strengths. Don’t give up on believing in people even if they do not currently believe in themselves. At first you may need to modify your approach and your teaching modality to fit the family, not to fit your schedule or and agency schedule. You’ve got this! Remember that you have passion for this work.

The best and most equitable way to serve families that speak a different language other than English is to educate the translator on the philosophy and values so they may be able to provide a cultural translation not a direct English translation of the content. You can also ensure that the translator comes from the same culture as the family being served.

Begin by recognizing that rapport and more time may be needed with some families. Families are not used to participating in a structured nurturing environment, where transparency is key to building trusting relationships. If a family misses, reschedule as soon as you can in that same week. Also consider seeing them for individual sessions verses placing them in a group. Discuss with the family what you could do differently to better serve them.

I would have to say a tertiary/treatment level because that is how I developed the program. I paid close attention to their needs and the needs of the Facilitators who have created a career serving our most vulnerable populations. Nurturing Families was also developed for families with children with special health needs, teen, Head Start, and populations struggling with mental health and substance abuse concerns.

Yes, Nurturing Families meets the standards for Texas Foster and Adoptive Pre-Service when they complete lessons from the 16 competencies. Co-parents are all individuals that consistently touches the lives of children. It can include Grandparents, Foster, Adoption, older siblings, teachers, and blended families.

Yes, the Nurturing Families program has proven effective on the phone with some families.

Let us start by commending you for your vulnerability. Practice! Practice! Practice! Stick to the order of the lessons so you learn the intent behind the lesson sequencing. We are here to serve, let us know if you would like an individual facilitator coaching session. The first session is on us.

This would not be our recommendation. We do not know how people feel. Everyone is unique in their feelings and life experiences. You can say “I am here to listen and try to understand”.  Emotional presence means it is not about you. Empathy means you can feel the intensity of the feeling the other is having because you have felt that intense feeling in your body, throughout your life. You don’t need to have gone through the same experience to be empathetic and emotionally present. Practice acts of compassion from an empathetic place to get better at this.

We would listen more and talk less. Just spend time bringing joy to their heart. Try not to give advice or ask too many head questions. The “Guess Who” activity, Family Eco-Story and Parenting Styles are great discussions to start with. Discussions should be informal, and the intent is to reach and nurture the heart.

Best practice recommendations for Nurturing Families 2nd Edition™ for tertiary/treatment families is two groups a week. If you are only doing individuals or home visitation, start with 6-8 and once you know the content, you can do 10-12 families very effectively.

You can work with any family member that wants to participate, welcome all with a personal invitation, and always serve from a family system perspective. Remember, your focus is the family when working with just one member of the family.

Competencies 1-3 were created for families that are upset or do not necessarily want services from the beginning. Start by always completing these competencies that consist of 10 lessons. This helps with building rapport, emotional regulation, and self-awareness.

Excellent question, thank you for asking. The great thing about the Nurturing Families 2nd Edition™  is that it is more about teaching empathy than it is about teaching parents how to parent their children. Because you have a heart and care about others you can be empathetic and supportive just as well as anyone else.

This program is about relationships with self and others. In some of the content you will see where Sonya Thorn, the developer, focused on the relationship between parents and children, and she also focused on the relationship adults have with themselves. You can relate because you are someone’s child, and you can learn the content through an adult lens in a relationship with yourself, and others. There are 85+ lessons, and less than half are through a parenting lens. The majority apply to all people even if they do not have children. Youth ages 11-19 love Nurturing Families 2nd Edition™ .

We are happy to say that Nurturing Families™ 2nd Edition is complete and available in English and Spanish. Visit the Nurturing Families Center website and click on the “Curriculum” menu item or use this link https://nurturingfamiliescenter.com/curriculum/.

You will have the option to place an order for the Facilitator Manual and the Family Workbook license in English and in Spanish. Once you have ordered the curriculum, the center will check their records to ensure you are an active certified trainer or if you are an agency, they will ensure you have active certified facilitators. Then you will receive an email with download instructions.

With all technology, sometimes things go wrong. Firewalls at you agency may filter emails, or the confirmation email may go to a SPAM folder. You may have to ask your IT person to let our email go through your protected firewall by adding our domain (https://nurturingfamiliescenter.com) to their whitelist. If you continue to have problems, please email sonya@nurturingfamiliescenter.com.

Once. When processing your purchase of the Nurturing Families 2nd Edition™ manual, it is important that you download the manual from your laptop or desktop. There are two ways to access the download purchased. 

1. When processing the purchase, you will have the option at the end to download OR
2. You can access the download from the email receipt that will be sent to the email address entered during purchase.

During your purchase of the Nurturing Families 2nd Edition™ manual, make sure you save it in a file that you will have easy access to. Go to the download file where you saved it on your laptop or desktop, and “open with” a web browser of your choice (Chrome, Explorer, Safari, Firefox, etc.) This will depend on your computer system and/or technology departments.

When you have someone else making the purchase for you, please ensure that they enter your information and not theirs. Keep in mind that at the end of the purchase process, there will be an option to open up the download. Ensure that they person making the purchase does NOT open the download as this will affect your ability to access the download.