Today on Intentional Partnerships, we discuss how professional family counselors can create an environment where their help feels more accessible to families in need of information. We move past conventional understandings of accessibility hindrances such as a family not having the time or means to get to sessions, or their children being in daycare. We learn that a family’s ability to access professional help can also be jeopardized by the way they respond to counselor strategies, institutional procedures, and even decor and layout of a help center. We also discover that all families perceive these variables differently. Ultimately, what is at stake is the prospect of creating an environment of trust where information can be shared reciprocally by the professional and the family. This enables the shared information to have the maximum positive impact on both parties and sometimes it is simply about imagining oneself in a family’s shoes. For an incredibly insightful conversation, don’t miss out on today’s episode!

Key Points From This Episode:

• How issues of accessibility relate to a family’s ability to engage with a professional.
• Accessibility is about more than conventional issues of time, transportation and childcare.
• The psychological and emotional aspect to accessibility: importance of creating an environment of trust.
• Architecture, decoration, and customer service in a help center can make an experience feel less institutionalized and more welcoming.
• Accessibility means building trust, which leads to reciprocal benefit for counselors and families.
• Why professionals shouldn’t set their boundaries based on the “1%”, or the most challenging families.
• Understanding the power dynamic between a professional and a family. 
• Learning how to effectively break down the power dynamic to build a space for information to flow.
• The benefits of between different modalities to account for the subjective experiences people have with so-called ‘welcoming environments’.
• Why your choice of language as a professional can make a family feel alienated.
• The importance of professionals reassessing their strategies: better strategies lead to healthier children.

Tweetables:

“When we have institutional procedures, we want them to be smooth, but nothing is welcoming about a procedure.” —  @TheJMichaelHall [0:10:33]

“Sometimes we get scared as professionals that if we have too much familiarity we won’t be effective, and I don’t think that’s true.” —  @TheJMichaelHall [0:13:25]

“When we talk about emotional and psychological aspects of accessibility, it’s all about perception.” — @LindseyForton [0:19:15]

“You have to dig deep sometimes to figure out where the points of the barrier to accessibility are for your family, because they are not always obvious.”  — @LindseyForton   [0:29:22]

“As professionals, we need to take a step back and say, ‘When I put myself in the family’s shoes, what would stop me from coming in? What would stop me from getting access to this information?’” — @LindseyForton  [0:29:45]

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

J Michael Hall

Michael on Twitter

Lindsey Shah

Lindsey on Twitter

Strong Fathers Strong Families

On today’s episode, we are talking about generosity and its role in family engagement. Often generosity comes across as being a lofty ideal, but upon closer inspection, we come to see that it is very much embedded in our work as practitioners. While it is difficult to completely define, generosity is ultimately about giving and taking and the organic ebb and flow between you as a practitioner and the families you work with. It is so easy, because of the type of work that we do, to conflate responsibilities with generosity. Of course, responsibilities are necessary to do our work properly, but generosity takes it one step further and can often lead to softer, more intimate engagements with families. It is within these moments that we find the richest information that we would not have been able to get otherwise. It is easy to think that generosity takes more time and in some instances it does, but often being generous can also be something as simple as being more flexible and changing the way something is done. Whichever way you choose to be generous, it is a practice worth cultivating. In the next episode, we are talking about accessibility, so join us for that!

Key Points From This Episode:

• Generosity is both virtuous and concrete in engagement practices.
• Willingness to give and take is at the heart of any successful partnership.
• Generosity entails going above and beyond and doing more than explicit responsibilities.
• Being generous does not mean that you no longer have boundaries. 
• How being generous allows you to be more effective and save time in future engagements.
• Giving of your time is one of the many ways that you can be a generous practitioner. 
• Ensure that families are given the space to comfortably share of themselves.
• Why it is important to think outside of the scope of your immediate responsibilities. 
• In veering ‘off-script,’ we often learn the most about families. 
• How rolling with setbacks and ideas of generosity are related. 
• An example of how Michael used a setback constructively in one of his own programs.  
• Why it is important to show families tangible outcomes of the feedback they give. 
• How generosity extends to working and sharing with other organizations.
• And much more! 

Tweetables:

“If parents aren’t coming to your programs, it’s not your parents, it’s your programs.” — @TheJMichaelHall  [0:19:02]

“The setback is not an unsuccessful event, it's an unsuccessful approach to what you’re going to be doing in the future.” — @TheJMichaelHall [0:22:04]

“Keep thinking about that ebb and flow of generosity and that it’s two ways. And think about not only what are the ways in which you’re expecting yourself and families to be generous, but how are you both allowing each other to be generous as well?” — @LindseyForton [0:28:12]

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

J Michael Hall

Michael on Twitter

Lindsey Shah

Lindsey on Twitter

Strong Fathers Strong Families

Strong Fathers Strong Families on Twitter

Parents as Teachers

Parents as Teachers on Twitter

Parents as Te

In this episode of Intentional Partnerships, we are going to dive into the topic of responsibility. When we think about responsibility, the questions are always concerning who does what? What are the boundaries? And who are all the players that are involved? Inside this episode, we discuss what it means to be responsible for engaging families within our organizations and within our schools. There are so many assumptions made about responsibility and often times it is not clearly outlined, leaving impossible burdens to fall onto individuals. One of the things that we talk about a lot is discussing the difference between certain roles and responsibilities for individuals and those things that ultimately everyone is responsible for. There is a lot of responsibility that goes into engaging families and so when our mission is to truly engage families, then it really is everybody’s job at different levels. Family engagement needs to be part of the fabric of what we are doing, partnering together in our responsibilities for achieving that one common goal. To listen in on an incredibly insightful conversation, be sure to join us on today’s episode!

On today’s episode, we build on last week’s discussion about trust to talk about respect. These two values are some of the most important, but least understood when trying to meaningfully engage with families. This is because, even though respect is such a widely held value, its realization is highly specific to a particular family and each individual within the family. Ultimately respect comes in understanding the importance of this context and not imposing your own definitions and values on a family, but rather finding a way to mediate the two ways of thinking. Due to respect being so subjective, it is important to define what it means for each person from the outset to gain a clearer insight into what people need. In doing so, we can show a greater level of respect for them. We give some examples of how to show respect during home visits and in times of conflicts with school administration. Often in new situations, showing respect can be difficult, but it a skill we can continue to grow and nurture. Next week, we will be talking about responsibility, so join us for that!

Key Points From This Episode:

• The meaning of respect is highly specific to each family context.
• As professionals, we cannot impose our definitions of respect on families. 
• Not understanding where people come from and what informs their thinking is disrespectful.
• What other people are doing is right for them within their context and culture.
• Importantly, respect should not be conflated with liking someone and their rules.
• Unpacking the duality of mutual respect as professionals who work with families.
• Some small ways to show respect for families when doing home visits.
• Part of respect is being comfortable in people’s homes, which may be different from yours.
• Relishing in our differences, rather than judging ultimately leads to greater respect.
• How body language is an important signifier of respect for families.
• Ask questions that help you to get to know families better so you can respect them fully.
• Some questions to ask to get past conflict with school administration.
• Serving children is the most important thing as a professional. 
• Try to understand how someone else views actions you think are ‘right.’
• And much more!

Tweetables:

“The respect goes down to the family unit, not a broader cultural context, not a broader neighborhood context, not a broader racial or ethnic context.” — @TheJMichaelHall  [0:02:19]

“Being a professional in this, is you’re here to serve children. And the best way to serve children is to respect where they come from and their families and help that family raise a child within their parameters, not within ours.” — @TheJMichaelHall  [0:21:02]

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

J Michael Hall

Michael on Twitter

Lindsey Shah

Lindsey on Twitter

Strong Fathers Strong Families

Parents as Teachers

In today's episode, the first of Season Two, we start our journey of family engagement and the bigger issues that surround it. We want to start this season-long discussion with the topic of trust, as we believe it to be the central stone. We want to unpack what trust really means, to teachers, parents, and children! In our conversation, we talk a bit about the things that have come up over and over again during these processes and how displaying interest and genuine care can go such a long way. Trust is such a delicate concept and the reality is that every interaction is the opportunity to either build it or destroy it. We talk about home-visiting, the importance of listening and how to let parents be experts in their own spaces. We also cover finding commonalities and how all the pieces, big and small fit together to make a difference in these relationships. Next week we will be discussing the topic of respect so make sure you join us for that too!

Key Points From This Episode:

• Trust as the foundation for engagement, intentionality, and relationships. 
• The simplicity of trust and how we can sometimes overlook this. 
• Accountability as a central tenet for building trust together. 
• Mike's experiences as a headmaster and a lesson he learned with a family. 
• The delicacy of trust and the opportunities to build and destroy it. 
• Home visiting and the practices that enhance this service.
• Building psychological safety and finding commonality through communication. 
• The first setting of meeting a family and how to navigate a crisis.  
• Going slow to go fast; building up to progress securely. 
• Steady, small pieces instead of singular grand gestures. 
• The common threads that arise; accountability, consistency, and allowance.  
• And much more! 

Tweetables:

“When we talk about building relationships with families, we cannot get anywhere if they do not trust us and if we do not trust them.” — @LindseyForton [0:00:45]

“What exactly are we talking about when we talk about trusting our families?” — @LindseyForton [0:01:14]

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

J Michael Hall

Michael on Twitter

Lindsey Shah

Lindsey on Twitter

Strong Fathers Strong Families

Parents as Teachers

Brené Brown

Daring to Lead

Hey everybody and welcome back to the Intentional Parenting Podcast! This quick episode serves as an introduction to Season Two and a taste of what we will be covering in the upcoming shows. This season we want to dive deeper into conversations about family engagement, something that we did in our first run of shows and wish to continue now. Family engagement is something we often poke at when there are very effective and clear processes and activities that can be used in this regard. This is what we want to share with you in Season 2! We have had amazing conversations and guests so far on the show and we want to put these pieces together, especially in commune with the work Lindsey did, researching and writing her book! In Season 2 you can expect more conversations with great guests, more reflection on these themes and a book club read-along of sorts with the new book! For all of that, stay tuned and join us on the ride!

Key Points From This Episode:

• Season One's interviews and the book Lindsey was writing at the same time. 
• The process and activities that go along with real family engagement. 
• How we can dive deeper into this topic; the lens to look through. 
• Looking forward to going deeper on the book through this new season. 
• Your involvement and feedback. We want it! 
• The excitement around bringing all these threads together as we continue. 
• The theme of intentionality that will carry on flowing through our conversations. 

Tweetables:

“We want you input, anywhere we can get it online or otherwise.” — @TheJMichaelHall [0:05:01]

“I am excited about the book coming out, I am excited about Season 2.” — @TheJMichaelHall [0:14:43]

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

J Michael Hall

Michael on Twitter

Lindsey Shah

Lindsey on Twitter

Strong Fathers Strong Families

Parents as Teachers

This week we are bringing you short stories from folks who attended the Parents as Teachers International Conference in Phoenix Arizona. All throughout the week Mike was busy talking with attendees about their experiences and we want to make sure we get a chance to share those with you. Listen in as we hear more great ideas about working with families!

Michael and Lindsay are live at the Parents as Teachers 2018 International Conference discussing responsibly. Our guest are Yolanda Chapple Munson and Loretta Miles.

This week we talk with Matt Arend, principal and family engagement champion at Sigler Elementary in Plano Texas. He highlights why engaging families is so critical to the work that they do, and how he gets his whole team to buy in and believe in the power of partnerships.

We would love for you to join us in Phoenix for our upcoming conference. Because we are getting ready for the conference we took the week off and will be roaming the conference floor. Look for our "Podcart" on the floor of the conference exhibit hall and join us for live interviews during the week.