Read course descriptions below or view upcoming courses.
Most people take both Sidestepping and The Parent Child Connection. The order that you take them doesn’t matter. Together they encompass the A to Z’s of parenting. It’s best to take the eight week courses if you can. One day classes can be helpful as a tune up or to get you started.
Sidestepping the Power Struggle
This course turns things around for parents very quickly. Many parents struggle to understand their kid’s behaviour and try to find ways to change it which is one of the reasons behaviour gets worse! When parents develop an understanding of who they are parenting (and every child is different), they become much more effective with their discipline.
Sidestepping also challenges people to abandon outdated, primitive methods of parenting. Waiting until you are angry and unable to think clearly to address important issues in any relationship is ineffective. Instead, in this course, you will develop a creative, intelligent approach that will not only promote cooperation (rather than fearful obedience) but make you feel good… and that….matters because guilty parenting does not support healthy boundaries. Could it be that parents feeling calm and confident creates the fertile soil that allows for growth? 
When you take this course you quickly figure out how you might be preventing your child from becoming responsible, resilient and caring. You will be given tools and insight that will go beyond any cookie cutter approach.
One more thing. If you and your partner can’t agree on parenting then you should both take this course. Get in the same chapter! If you are reluctant to do this and don’t think a course is for you then do something! Parents not agreeing or undermining each other (whether together or not) is damaging to kids. If childminding is a problem then alternate weeks. The courses have extensive written weekly materials that can be read by the absent parent. One parent teaching the other parenting skills doesn’t work!
The Parent Child Connection: Parenting Children and Teens
The material from The Parent Child Connection is deep. Allison will discuss things in this course that you may never have thought about let alone discussed. It is the what you didn’t know you didn’t know course! Yet, when you hear the subjects, it will feel familiar because it relates to all of us and our patterns of behaviour. Perhaps you have read a lot of books, that is great, taking a course can deepen your learning.
Ineffective communication by adults is the root cause of aggression, rebellion and low self-esteem in our kids. It is just that simple. There are listening and speaking don’ts and listening and speaking do’s. Discover them. Many parents think they disagree about limits but it is usually about how the limits are set and the words we use. Communication can create emotional safety that allows for growth or it can intrude on the healthy development of a self. You choose.
As the course moves forward, parents learn conflict resolution and coaching skills. Of course this information applies to all relationships. Developing knowledge of feelings and needs is life changing! Conflict will no longer be a win/loose or fight to the finish. This course helps parents develop the reflective pause that can turn chaos into calm.
Finally Allison digs into boundaries. We all have blind spots. Some of us are over-controlling but we are so loving with our control that it might be hard to pinpoint. Messy boundaries are not about a lack of love, love actually isn’t the issue. Intrusiveness can appear to be supportive, but it isn’t. Over-protection can appear to be caring, but it isn’t. Indulgence can feel loving, but it’s not……… Once we see healthy boundaries there is no turning back and if we do take that step back, we figure it out. We all grow by taking two steps forward, one step back!
Self-esteem is not making your child feel that they are special or better than. As a matter of fact, the love of being ordinary is the foundation for living an extraordinary life. You might be surprised to hear how we inadvertently contribute to low self-esteem in our kids. Knowing this matters.
LIFE with a Teenager
Please note, this is a condensed course taken from The Parent Child Connection and Sidestepping the Power Struggle. Take the longer courses for more support to make deeper changes.
At some point we get fired as the general manager of our children and that usually happens in the teen years. If we can keep our connection strong there is a good chance that we will get hired back on as a consultant. How do we deal with the new meaning of the word trust? What do consequences look like when our kids are taller than us? How can we maintain personal dignity while being dismissed as somebody who knows nothing? Boundaries, resolving conflict and self-care are the primary focus of this workshop.
LIFE with a Preschooler
Please note, this is a condensed course taken from The Parent Child Connection and Sidestepping the Power Struggle. Take the longer courses for more support to make deeper changes.
Preschoolers present some bewildering behaviors in both parent and child! Who prepared you for this experience and how many people do think are sitting in the sidelines judging your parenting skills? Our children’s temperaments are on high gear during the preschool years and understanding their behavior is the most important part of parenting at this time. This workshop will focus on behavior, expectations, and strategies to deal with daily issues such as mealtime, bedtime and getting out of the house in one piece.
LIFE as a couple.
Mad Love
This is a course for couples (of any kind) who are committed to growth within their relationship. Intimate relationships have the potential to facilitate personal growth in a way that allows us to explore our monkey business. You know, that part of yourself that keeps you small, stuck or incredibly annoying. It will shine a light on typical relationship patterns that get couples into trouble. Developing awareness of patterns is the key to unlock emotional freedom within the relationship. Of course no couple’s course is complete without communication skill building. Yet, communication goes beyond skills because how you speak represents who you are. Knowing this means that you can use vocabulary as a vehicle for growth… growth, not manipulation so that means ownership of your feelings and needs sets the course for your own personal individuation.
LIFE for teachers.
A Pro-D Day? Presentation for Teachers: Front End Teaching
This workshop encourages teachers to take a deeper look at children to see what lies underneath their behaviour. Allison has worked extensively with teachers and EA’s examining subjects such as:
Children’s Unique Temperaments – What are the challenges, what are the gifts? Understand who is in front of you. When you can articulate various traits, it opens a door to understanding a child’s triggers. Antecedent (triggers) management is key to offering true support to kids. Allison will provide teachers with an analysis sheet to help them identify triggers.
Communication is likely the most powerful tool for offering support to kids or not. Poor communication can create resistance, promote aggression and be a major source of discouragement for kids…this includes how we praise children. Learning the skills of an effective communicator facilitates emotional safety for kids. When this happens, children can open themselves to hearing feedback without it discouraging them or affecting their sense of self.
Coaching Kids. In order to promote resilience in children, we have to strengthen their confidence to solve problems. Too often kids are told they are making poor choices… this paralyzes kids. Instead, involve kids by pulling out their ideas. Collaborative problem solving engages them, creates cooperation and promotes a sense of importance, belonging and integrity. One antidote for anxiety is using the part of your brain that problem solves rather than staying stuck in the primitive, survival part of the brain.
Allison will facilitate practical coaching skills that can be used as peer support for teachers as well. This can take staff meetings to a more productive place.
Time permitting, other topics can be covered such as…how to help children deal with their peers. Many kids act aggressive because they don’t know what else to say or do. Becoming aware of confident body language, developing snappy comebacks, and learning to growl not bite are part of this subject. Also, many kids react in ways that make bugging more 
entertaining. Kids are mostly parented by kind, loving people and so it can be a shock when they have to deal with their peers who, because they are kids, are egocentric and unable to speak in a way that considers their feelings. This is a Given of childhood and is for the most part, out of our control but responding assertively is in our control.
LIFE in the workplace.
A Workshop for Working With People
How you speak, how you resolve conflict, how you support people, how you deal with difficult situations is the focus for the life changing workshop. Can be offered as a one day but even better if taken weekly for five weeks as that is how it is originally written. All professions can benefit from this course.