Connect - a programme for parents of adolescents with aggressive, violent and antisocial behaviour

The Connect programme is a 10-week manualised attachment-focused programme for parents (or other caregivers) of adolescents who engage in aggressive, violent and antisocial behaviour. Each session of the Connect programme begins with the introduction of an attachment principle that captures a key aspect of the parent-teen relationship and relates to common parenting challenges. Experiential activities, including role-play and reflection exercises, are used to illustrate each principle and build parenting knowledge and skill. More specifically, the programme focuses on the development of skills related to the core components of secure attachment: parental sensitivity; partnership and mutuality; parental reflective function; and dyadic affect regulation.

The programme begins with an information night where parents are provided with information on the focus and format of the Connect programme and are invited to participate as partners in programme development. This is followed by nine sessions, each focused on a principle and a set of learning objectives. Sessions include a didactic component (generally the first 10 minutes) and hands-on learning exercises (approximately 40 minutes).

During the didactic portion of each session, group leaders present an attachment principle that helps parents understand attachment issues related to child development and to challenging interactions with their children and teenagers. Each session builds on principles covered in previous sessions, which are revisited over the course of the programme and consolidated in the final session.

The manual provides important background information for group leaders on key concepts and issues in attachment theory in relation to each principle. Leaders learn this material in training and are encouraged to prepare for each session by carefully reviewing background information and additional readings as necessary. Connect provides ongoing updates to trained and certified group leaders, including on new papers on theory, research and clinical practice, to promote continued learning and development.

In each session, after the didactic component is completed, parents engage in hands-on learning exercises, including role-play and reflective exercises. These exercises are integral to each session as they facilitate parents’ understanding of attachment principles and help parents develop the skills of recognising, reflecting on and responding to their child’s attachment needs.

Role-play exercises enact parent-child interactions to illustrate key issues and explore alternative parenting options, their risks and their benefits. Group leaders refrain from telling parents that there is a ‘right’ or a ‘wrong’ way to parent children; rather, they encourage parents to see the costs and benefits of different parenting strategies, particularly as they relate to their needs, their child’s needs and the quality of their relationship. This minimises parental blame and defensiveness and maximises parental motivation and openness in relation to developing new skills.

Group leaders take responsibility for the role-play exercises in early sessions; however, as parents become more comfortable, they are invited to participate in role-play exercises. This provides them with first-hand experience of how their child might feel and respond in different interaction contexts and how they might feel and respond as parents in these situations.

Each role-play exercise is followed by exercises to help parents attend to the behaviour of the child and themselves, their feelings, thoughts and underlying needs. Such activities help parents slow down their reactions to problem child behaviour, modulate their own feelings and thoughts, and consider the inner world and needs of their child. Reflection exercises also help parents to understand their reactions to problem child behaviour, modulate their own feelings and thoughts, and consider the inner world and needs of their child. Furthermore, these exercises also help parents to understand their reactions to problem behaviour in relation to their own experiences as teenagers and in their current relationships. They consider their past experiences of conflict, what needs they had as adolescents and the impact of others’ responses to them.

Practising sensitivity, empathy and mindfulness helps parents realise that they have the option to respond in ways that set clear limits, balance their own and their child’s needs, and strengthen their relationship with their child. Connect exercises help parents develop the necessary skills to navigate conflict without turning to coercion and escalating aggression.

Parents are provided with handouts summarising the key points and the take-home message for each session.