Kids’ Turn in San Francisco was founded in 1988. It was one of the first programmes in the United States offering educational services to children and parents that help children get through the emotional storms of parental separation or divorce.
Kids’ Turn is a leader in this field in the US. We are different from other divorce programmes:
- simultaneous attendance by children (ages 5-17) and parents
- a six week commitment to a workshop
- service delivery in three languages – English, Spanish and Chinese.
Since 1988, we have served 17,000 parents and children in the San Francisco Bay Area, and that figure does not include the affiliate locations around the country and international partners who have purchased our curriculum.
Kids’ Turn is now evidence based, following the recent publication of a longitudinal study by Dr. Jeffrey Cookston at San Francisco State University. Dr. Cookston’s study took four years and the remarkable outcomes speak to the efficacy of Kids’ Turn programmes:
- Reduction in parent conflict
- Reduction in parental alienation
- Reduction in internalisation of negative behaviours by children.
Most recently, Kids’ Turn has undertaken a revision of its curriculum to include elements of Emotional Intelligence (EQ) developed by Dr. Daniel Goleman in the 1990s. EQ promotes the importance of each individual’s ability to manage complex emotions in any relationship.
The revised programmes encourage children and parents, using age appropriate methodology, to:
- Identify their emotions
- Manage their emotions
- Affirm a motivation for emotional regulation
- Identify emotions in others
- Manage relationships based on the ability to identify emotions.
The revised programmes are being tested now in the San Francisco Bay Area, and the feedback we are receiving from participants is very positive.
For more, visit www.kidsturn.org.
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