HELP AVAILABLE FOR PARENTS WITH ADDICTIONS

HELPING troubled parents recognize the signals their children are
giving them and to give them the help they need is the theme of a
two-day workshop that's attracted more than 300 professionals from
across the province.

Organized by the Attachment Network, the workshop at the Holiday Inn
Airport West has attracted teachers, counsellors, therapists,
psychiatric nurses, welfare workers and other health care
practitioners.

The workshop is designed to help professionals show parents with
backgrounds in addictions and violence how to become parents, said
Yvette Preston, chairman of the Attachment Network.

"These parents don't have a history of being or being in contact with
warm, caring and supportive parents," Preston said. "The workshop will
help the professionals recognize that people with this kind of history
will have a harder time to understand what the child needs."

The workshop began Thursday and concludes this afternoon.

Preston said the workshop has brought in two of the preeminent
specialists in the field, Dr. Neil Boris, of Tulane University, and
Dr. Bob Marvin, of the University of Virginia. Boris's research focus
has been on the social and emotional development of high-risk
children. Marvin's work has led him to focus increasingly on clinical
issues, including assessment and intervention with families
experiencing divorce and with foster and adopted children.

Preston, who is the attachment services co-ordinator at the Aulneau
Renewal Centre, said many troubled parents have good intentions and
don't want to harm their children but they often fail to understand
what problems their children are having and how to properly respond to
those situations.

Preston said professionals strive to establish a home environment
where a child feels comfortable exploring their world but also knows
that when they are having problem they can be re-assured and comforted
by their parents.

Situations that lead to children being placed into care is often the
result of parents not knowing what's happening with their children or
not properly responding, Preston said, adding that Boris and Marvin
will show the participating professionals techniques that they can use
to help parents recognize when their children are in trouble and how
best to help them.