Because programs that support parents are needed now more than ever, Children’s Trust continues to work with its partners across South Carolina to deliver services to children and families during the coronavirus pandemic. While social distancing has limited much of the in-person contact usually employed by our prevention programs, our partners have skillfully adapted their work to ensure children and families receive the support and resources they need to stay strong in these trying times. Earlier this year, Triple P (Positive Parenting Program) service delivery began in Greenville County through activating organization Greenville First Steps with funding and support from Children’s Trust. Virginia Bikas, the Triple P community capacity coach in Greenville for Children’s Trust, and Nicole Sheppard, Greenville First Steps program director for the Triple P project, are guiding this effort. Derek Lewis, Greenville First Steps executive director, discusses the importance of positive parenting and the impact the program can have on families in the Upstate. Triple P gives parents simple and practical strategies to help them build strong and healthy relationships, confidently manage their children’s behavior, and prevent problems from developing.
Explain why Greenville First Steps is the right organization to implement Triple P in the Upstate.
“Since its inception, Greenville First Steps has served as a community convener, ensuring partner organizations have the resources needed to help parents. Our primary role as a convener is to equip those local community partners with the resources they need to serve their communities.”
Are you seeing how families are feeling added stress related to the coronavirus?
“Definitely. I think you would be hard pressed to find a family with school-age or preschool-age children that has not been emotionally impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Between school and child-care closings, social distancing, face masks in public, missed birthday parties and vacations to the incredible financial pressures that the pandemic has placed on our families, we are all dealing with stress of adapting to this new normal.”
Derek Lewis
How has the training of Triple P practitioners changed due to the pandemic?
“Without the ability to meet and train face-to-face, our practitioners have had to creatively embrace alternative means of communication. From Zoom calls and emails to handwritten notes, practitioners are rising to the task of providing tips and resources to help parents minimize their stress. One partner, SHARE Head Start, has had incredible success with online meetings, reaching dozens of families from their homes. Another great success is the Greenville County School District, which printed postcards with a note from the school’s principal with some Triple P stress management tips from the school counselor and mailed them to every family.”
Are the lessons of positive parenting more important in these difficult times?
“During this pandemic, parents are being asked to process a whole range of personal feelings, fears, concerns, and anxiety, while also putting on a brave face for children who are seeing their own routines and comfort zones disrupted. Now more than ever, parents need to understand methods to manage stress and how to help talk with their children about their own anxieties, concerns and fears. Whether it is missing a baseball season, missing out on personal interactions with friends, or just feeling anxious about an unseen sickness, parents need resources to help comfort our children through this crisis.”
Tell us how Greenville First Steps and key partners like Children’s Trust are helping make a difference in the lives of parents.
“Greenville First Steps has a long-standing history of partnership and collaboration with Children’s Trust. From the launch of Pinwheels for Prevention (a community-wide child abuse prevention campaign) to the implementation and expansion of Nurse-Family Partnership (an evidenced-based home visiting program that pairs first-time expectant mothers with a nurse mentor) to the development and implementation of the nation’s first maternal-infant Pay for Success project to the expansion of the Positive Parenting Program (Triple P), Greenville First Steps has enjoyed a relationship of collaboration and support with the Children’s Trust.”
Learn more about Children’s Trust and Triple P
