Your Journey Together Spotlight – Building the Resilience of Children and Families

By: Debbie Alleyne and Susan Damico, Devereux Center for Resilient Children

DCRC is delighted to announce our newest resilience resource, Your Journey Together (YJT), a strength-based curriculum designed to promote the social and emotional well-being and resilience of vulnerable children and their families. YJT focuses on empowering parents to promote safe, trusting, and healing environments—all key elements of a trauma-sensitive program.

YJT was initially developed in response to DCRC’s desire to promote the resilience of ALL children and families, including those involved in the child welfare system. With the support of Heartland for Children, the lead child welfare agency in central Florida, DCRC began modifying the DECA Program resources to best meet the needs of children in foster care.  Working in collaboration with foster  families, case workers, and other valuable partners, our team began designing a resource that would enable  parents  (all adults responsible for parenting children) to gain the skills and tools needed to promote the resilience of their children and themselves!  The development process included convening focus groups, reviewing the literature, pilot testing resources, and ultimately engaging with a designer to layout out a beautifully designed coach guide with 29 scripted lessons to support parents.   Along the “journey,” it became evident that YJT was not just a valuable resource for families involved in the child welfare system, but for all vulnerable children and families.

YJT is a four module curriculum that can be delivered to families in home visitation or group settings, including parent education programs, over a period of approximately 8-10 hours. The four modules include lessons and activities for parents on introducing resilience, promoting caregiving practices that build resilience,  nurturing children’s protective factors, and fostering the resilience of the adult caregiver.

We invite you to learn more about Your Journey Together in the following ways:

• Click here for an Information Packet.
• Click here to visit the Your Journey Together website.
• Click here to sign up for a free one-hour overview webinar on Monday, December 14 from 1 to 2 PM East Coast Time.