Juggling It All: Services

Parent Educator

Joyce Marie Brusasco teaches a variety of Parent Education Classes.

Parent and Toddler Educational Class - currently offered through the Child and Family Studies Center on the campus of California State Universtiy, Northridge

Open to the public: specific sessions focus on activity play, modeling behavior, healthy foods, exercise, communication, parents as teachers, home safety and emergency preparedness. Enrollment starts late August 2009.

Parent Effectiveness Training (PET) by Gordon Training International -Joyce Marie is a certified instructor for the 8-week parenting course, based on the parenting philosophy of Dr. Thomas Gordon.

Open to the public: specific sessions focus on Thomas Gordon’s behavior window, learning helping skills, active listening, confronting unacceptable behavior, applying “I-messages”, resolving conflicts, applying win-win techniques and recognizing values collisions. No session scheduled at this time.

Active Parenting for Teens by Michael Popkin. Preliminary certified to teach the video based educational program geared towards parents of teens.

Open to the public: specific session focus on the .........

University Professor

Part-Time Faculty

California State University Northridge, Northridge, CA – Department of Family and Consumer Sciences

Parental Development, FCS 436: 15-week upper division course. An overview of Parent Education with focus on family theories, parenting curriculums, parent’s role as a facilitator, parenting styles and appropriate parent and child interactions. Classes available to matriculated students only.

Adjunct Faculty

Los Angeles Mission College, Sylmar, CA – Department of Family and Consumer Sciences

Marriage and Family Life, FCS 31: 12 week course

An overview of the family as a social institution, historical changes in family structure and the function family relationships have on the development of the individual. An overview of gender roles, religious attitudes, mixed marriages, communication skills, conflict management, financial and family planning, parenting, contraceptives and sexually transmitted diseases.

Life Management FCS 91: 12 week course or Life Management FCS 91: 4 week course

Life Management covers techniques for improving self-understanding, interpersonal relationships that reflect decision-making, an overview of personal and work related topics, including values and ethics, communication skills, conflict resolution skills, time management, stress management and money management.

LA Mission classes are available to the public with registration through LA Mission College - availability from semester to semester

Researcher

Joyce Marie can help with interpreting research survey data.

Currently, she is working with Nobel Middle School, Northridge, CA, on evaluating school success based on Joyce Epstein’s Six Types of Parent Involvement: Parenting – Helping all families establish home environments to support children as students. Communication – Design effective forms of school-to-home and home-to-school communications about school programs and children’s progress. Volunteering – Recruit and organize parent help and support. Learning at home – provide information to families about how to help students at home with homework and other curriculum-related activities, decisions and planning. Decision making – include parents in school decisions to develop leaders and representatives. Collaborating with the community – Identify and integrate resources and services from the community to strengthen school programs, family practices and student learning and development.

Guest Speaker

Joyce Marie can put together workshops on basic parent education skills, communication skills, time management skills, relationship skills and a variety of other topics.

Presenter – Parental Involvement (May, 2009)

Nobel Middle School, Northridge, CA

Presented research and survey data to Nobel Middle School faculty. Surveys based on Joyce Epstein’s Six Keys of Parental Involvement.

Presenter – A Discourse with Parenting Experts (February, 2008)

16th Annual Conference on Parent Education, Denton, TX - Hosted by the University of North Texas

Presented own research findings from masters thesis on the effectiveness of Parent Education

Facilitator – Family Focus Resource and Empowerment Center (September, 2007)

4th Annual Family & Educator Conference, California State University, Northridge, CA

Facilitated a table of educators - Ivor Weiner, PhD., Professor & Director

Guest Lecturer – Marriage and Family Relations (May, 2007)