Sherry's Story

Sherry was at the end of her rope after years of trying to combat the problem behavior of her school aged son. Her therapist recommended trying a parenting course offered through Butler County United Way’s Parent Project Collaborative in partnership with Catholic Charities of Southwestern Ohio, Butler County Family and Children’s First Council, Butler County Juvenile Justice Center, and Hamilton City Schools. Sherry quickly signed up for the 10 week course, and attended every class. After finishing the course, she says her son’s behavior and the overall atmosphere of their home had completely changed.

Sherry shared her experience with the class through her own words.

“The biggest take away for me was learning skills on how to respond more to the kids and react less. By me remaining calmer while the kids are fighting or arguing with me or with one another has tremendously changed the atmosphere in our home. The different steps of success we learned, such as thinking things through before discussions and consequences with kids and being consistent has helped me with the follow through on consequences of them not making good choices. Consistency has always been hard for me and this is something that really helped me in the class- to start small- and the results will be evident with time. It’s now becoming a healthy habit. I have found with me responding to the children calmer, or taking a few minutes to gather my thoughts before I talk with them has helped deescalate the situation and have a calmer home.”

Other parents like Sherry say Parent Project Collaborative has personally reduced their stress, while others credit it to improving not just their relationship with their kids, but their spouses as well.

“My relationship with my husband is in a better place because our household is running more smoothly. There was so much stress in our home with yelling and arguing and now we have the tools to approach situations in a more communicative way. This has helped us to be on the same page with parenting.”

Parent Project Collaborative has been a major resource for strengthening families across Butler County. Catholic Charities of Southwestern Ohio reports that 86% of participants in the past year have demonstrated an increase in positive family functioning. Juvenile Court reported an 89% decrease in court cases for participating families as measured by court records over 6 months.