Contact Us
Visit The Character Effect website
The
Character
Effect
Visit The PCX website
PCX
App Coming Soon!

Beech Acres

Go to the home page
Facebook Linkedin Instagram
Donate
Careers

Author name: Parent Coach

Photo of a man lifting up a coffee cup in one hand and holding his phone in the other
Uncategorized

Natural Strength Parenting™ To Go. Text Courses from our Parenting Experts Now Available!

/

“Do you have parenting classes?” It’s one of the most frequent questions we’re asked. While we offer do classes through our Parent Enrichment Program and parent coaching through Parent Connext®, we also cover a wide range of parenting topics through our Natural Strength Parenting™ To Go text-based courses powered by Arist. Parenting courses wherever and whenever you are! That’s right, Natural Strength Parenting™, Beech Acres Parenting Center’s unique approach to parenting, is now available on the go with these unique text message-based courses! That’s right! You can get the latest parenting expertise delivered straight to your mobile phone*. Natural Strength Parenting™ to Go! Welcome to Natural Strength Parenting 101! This seven day course explores ways to positively utilize you and your child’s natural emotional strengths in your unique parenting journey. Using a strength-based approach aims to improve parenting quality and the quality of relationships between parents and their children. Welcome to Mindfulness with Intentionality! This five day course explores some basic concepts of mindfulness and how you can utilize them to set intentions for personal goals in your life. Any kind of intention that you would like to set can be used within this course. Welcome to Intentionality with Family Values! This five day course explores what your family’s shared values consist of and how you can implement them into your daily life to make a positive impact on your family. Parenting Infants and Toddlers is a five-day course designed to share information about physical, cognitive, and emotional traits in infants and toddlers during their respective developmental phases. This course is brought to you by Beech Acres Parenting Center. Parenting Preschool and School-Aged Children is a six-day course designed to share information about physical, cognitive, and emotional traits in preschool and elementary school-aged children during their respective developmental phases. This course is brought to you by the team at Beech Acres Parenting Center. Parenting Pre-Teens and Teenagers is a six-day course designed to share information about physical, cognitive, and emotional traits in tweens and teenagers during their respective developmental phases. This course is brought to you by the team at Beech Acres Parenting Center. Welcome to ADHD and ADD Basics! This five-day course explores some basic aspects of ADHD and ADD and how to spot them. This course will provide you with basic skills to help identify ADHD and ADD in yourself and your family. In this course, you’ll be given a brief introduction to who and what the term “transgender” refers to. You’ll also learn ways to support transgender youth while they learn about and express their gender identity. In this course, you’ll be given a brief introduction to talking to your children about divorce and how to keep them informed throughout the process. *Texting fees may apply.

Photo of a mother holding her child as a man stands behind her
Uncategorized

June is National Reunification Month

/

Whenever possible, reuniting children with their biological parents is a top priority. National Reunification Month June is National Reunification Month, an opportunity to celebrate the perseverance of parents, professionals, and children to keep families together. Beech Acres Parenting Center is committed to the path of reunification when that is in the best interest of the family. This month we will be highlighting stories of perseverance and reunification as well as some of our programs that aim to strengthen parents and empower them with the tools to succeed. Standing behind those who stand up for kids in foster care for more than 40 years. Serving Greater Cincinnati, Hamilton County, Dayton & Montgomery County. We build a community around our foster parents. Our foster families support each other, build each other up, and offer a support network of people with shared experiences and unique perspectives to help every family succeed. Whether you’re a grandparent, aunt, uncle or another relative, taking care of a loved one’s children full-time… we are here for you! Being able to be cared for by a relative reduces traumatic experiences for your grandchild, niece, nephew, or other relative or loved one. The Parent Enrichment Program provides comprehensive support for the “whole” parent, through a variety of proven and evidenced-based methodologies to help parents reach their goals. Learn more. Natural Strength Parenting™ is a unique approach to parenting from Beech Acres Parenting Center. Natural Strength Parenting™ encourages you to be intentional and mindful in your parenting while focusing on your child’s innate strengths. Building on their strengths will increase their confidence, self-esteem, and resilience all of which lead to positive well-being. We promise these skills aren’t hard, and more of your conversations will be about what’s going right vs. what they did wrong!

White graphic that says "natural strength parenting" in purple text with a description below
Natural Strength Parenting™

Integrating Natural Strength Parenting™ Into Therapy For Better Outcomes For Families

/

Guest Blogger Amy Blankenship, MS, LPCC Senior Specialist, Center of Excellence Child and Family Therapist, Beyond the Classroom “Imagine meeting someone who wanted to learn your past not to punish you, but to understand how you needed to be loved.” This quote has served as my mantra as a therapist for the past several years. The last thing families need is another person or system telling them what to do to “fix” them or their family. Instead, when facilitating healing with others, there is much more power in “power with” than “power over.” Natural Strength Parenting™ sets up a different “way to be” with parents and children. It encourages me to inspire families to tap into their own strengths and resiliency in creating interventions, rather than viewing me as “the expert.” The core principles of Natural Strength Parenting™ include empowering relationships, curiosity, expansive listening, and affirmation. Intentional change, based on the families’ vision, is much more effective than “advising,” which often serves as a temporary band-aid. Clarifying and solidifying family values, helps co-create solutions that will work, based on each families’ unique set of strengths.  When the voice of the family is heard and honored, it creates a safe connection and space for true healing to occur. Natural Strength Parenting™ is a culturally competent approach to change that relieves further oppression. Regardless of families’ concerns, it leads to truly understanding the world from the client perspective, allowing for genuine healing and moving forward in the direction the client wants to go. Change is facilitated toward their hopes, not my hopes. Regardless of my training, skill set, years of experience, lasting change with families comes from what is already present within them – it is just a matter of inspiring this inward reflection.  Equipping families for self-discovery, based on their values, based on their experiences, is far more meaningful than me burdening them with I think is right for them. And because Intentional, Strength-based, and Mindful practices inspire self-discovery, including ways to be present with each other and tapping into strengths that are already present, it also leads to sustainable change for when I am no longer working with the family. Natural Strength Parenting™ genuinely aligns with my top character strength, Love. It gives me permission to understand everyone I advocate for right where they are, creating an environment of safety to explore options and meet their goals side by side, as partners. Learn more about Natural Strength Parenting™, our unique approach to parenting, here.

White banner with a graphic of various people and text that reads "Talking to your kids about race Virtual Town Hall"
Events, Uncategorized

ICYMI: Highlights From Our Virtual Town Hall: Talking To Your Kids About Race

/

Last night we were pleased to host Talking To Your Kids About Race: A Virtual Town Hall. We were thrilled at the response, the authentic and genuine conversation, and the diverse perspectives. Thank you to all who were able to attend. Missed this Town Hall? Here are some highlights and also some resources from our team of parenting experts to help you have these difficult, yet important conversations with your children. Highlights Parents are a child’s first, most important, and hopefully best, teachers. Our personal and collective histories are important, both the challenging parts and those to be celebrated. We must learn from them. We naturally pick up our ‘implicit biases’ from our personal histories. We need to be INTENTIONAL about which values we want to take from that history and which to let go of. Kids are great observers of events, but parents must provide appropriate context for them based on all the above. Asking powerful questions and creating an atmosphere of openness is helpful in talking with your older children. Expose kids to all kinds of diversity starting at an early age, using many forms of media, showing them how beautiful and important diversity is….and inclusion follows right behind it. Admit mistakes as parents in our own lives, which models openness to learning on the journey. Leading with open-hearted acceptance and love is a great mantra to remember; but sometimes can be hard to be mindful of. Resources Additional Resources: https://www.embracerace.org/resources/teaching-and-talking-to-kids https://www.parents.com/kids/responsibility/racism/7-tips-for-raising-diversity-aware-kids/ https://www.pbs.org/parents/talking-about-racism

Photo of Laura Mitchell, Beech Acres Parenting Center's CEO, smiling
Uncategorized

BEECH ACRES PARENTING CENTER ANNOUNCES LAURA MITCHELL AS NEXT PRESIDENT AND CEO

/

Beech Acres Parenting Center announces its next President and CEO will be Laura Mitchell, whose extraordinary passion for families, children and community form a perfect fit with the contemporary parenting agency’s innovative, successful track record of helping parents and communities raise children who can thrive in today’s complex and confusing world. Ms. Mitchell will lead Beech Acres as it builds upon 42 years of progressive innovation under the guidance of Jim Mason, who is retiring in June. “I’m excited to embrace this new calling as President and CEO of Beech Acres Parenting Center and build on the achievements of the past 42 years under Jim’s leadership,” Mitchell said. “I look forward to being a part of the effort to help more children, families and caregivers unlock the power they already have to fully thrive during these challenging times.” Ms. Mitchell’s lifetime of service has been centered on helping children become successful. Since 2017, she has served as superintendent of Cincinnati Public Schools, Greater Cincinnati’s largest school district. She had previous roles as deputy superintendent, program manager, principal, and teacher over a period of 27 years. Ms. Mitchell is already a member of the Beech Acres family. She has served on the Beech Acres Board of Directors since 2016, and her familiarity with its people, programs, and the community position her for a seamless transition to accelerate the agency’s growth. Her first day with Beech Acres in this new role will be June 15. “Laura and I enjoy an authentic relationship, and we share a hopeful vision for the well-being of children, their families, and the institutions that serve them,” Mason said. “Her compassion for others and strength-based leadership style will leverage Beech Acres’ positive culture to achieve greater levels of community impact than ever before.” Ms. Mitchell has a special understanding of the challenges faced by many of the families and children Beech Acres serves. As superintendent of Cincinnati Public Schools, she sees the personal struggles children bring into the classrooms and has witnessed firsthand how Beech Acres’ unique, holistic strength-building approach can make a real difference in their lives. A Beech Acres search committee conducted a thorough, nationwide search after Mr. Mason announced his retirement last year. “We are looking forward to the next chapter of Beech Acres,” said Jenny Franta, the board chair for Beech Acres. “Laura’s passion for children and families, business acumen in leading complex organizations, her combination of strategic thinking and inspirational executive leadership, and her commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion make her the ideal candidate to lead Beech Acres.” Jim Mason led the former General Protestant Orphan Home through its transition from a 19th century orphanage to the 21st century parenting center it is today. Mr. Mason received numerous awards and recognitions for his forward-thinking approach to children and families. Under his leadership, Beech Acres deepened and expanded its mission, inspired by his vision which focuses on intentionally building upon children’s strengths. About Beech Acres: At Beech Acres Parenting Center, we uncover the natural gifts of children by unleashing the power of parents and caregivers. As a contemporary parenting center, BAPC serves over 15,000 people annually through a wide range of services including foster care, kinship care, adoption, behavioral health support in schools, parent coaching and much more. All of our programs are founded in our Natural Strength Parenting™ framework which enables parents to unlock their own potential by building on their unique strengths. For more information, visit www.beechacres.org. Media Contact:        Peter Osborne 513-729-9517 peter.osborne@keypointpr.com Download the full press release here.

Photo of a young girl talking to someone as they write on a clipboard
ACEs, Beyond The Classroom, Mental Health, Mental Health Month

A Dad’s Perseverance Helps His Daughter Get The Support She Needs

/

Families are complex. Unfortunately, so is healthcare in the United States. All too often, parents are unable to find, receive, or afford appropriate healthcare for their children. This applies to physical and mental health care, both of which are vital to raising healthy kids.  Mia’s* dad was desperate for help. Mia was acting out at home and at school. She was becoming more and more withdrawn. Their relationship was becoming increasingly strained. Dad wasn’t sure what to do or where to turn for help.  Mia’s parents are divorced. Though they share joint custody of Mia, the agreement is stressed by geographic differences. Mia moved out of Ohio with her mother after the divorce, while dad stayed home to care for his own father. Mia’s behavioral issues emerged shortly after she recently returned to Ohio to live with her dad. The problems became more pronounced as the school year progressed. Complications related to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic further exacerbated the situation.  Then Mia’s teacher discovered Mia was hurting herself.  Dad sought help at Cincinnati’s respected local hospitals but unfortunately encountered long waitlists for mental health services. Mia needed help right away. Dad reached out to Beech Acres Parenting Center to inquire if a student enrolled in the virtual academy would be eligible for services. He was hopeful Mia would benefit from a holistic, strengths-based approach to her treatment. Unfortunately, Mia’s mother held her insurance in another state, complicating Mia’s ability to receive treatment in Ohio.  Sensitive to the urgency in providing support for Mia, Beech Acres Parenting Center’s Beyond the Classroom, Client Access, and Kinship Connections teams brainstormed ways to remove barriers for Mia to receive services. Fortunately, we were able to provide flexible payment options that dad could afford to get Mia into services right away.  Dad was relieved. He agreed to the flexible payment option, and Mia began weekly sessions with Lindsay, a Beech Acres Parenting Center therapist. Lindsay’s goal was to get Mia back on track as soon as possible. Lindsay identified Mia’s strengths which included teamwork, hope, and perseverance. Lindsay reinforced these strengths and introduced Mia to some coping skills and affirmations based in mindfulness to help her confront and address her feelings in a positive way.  Mia began to see improvement.  Her discipline incidents in school decreased significantly. She stopped acting out so often in school and at home. Her relationship with her father improved. She became less withdrawn, building her strength of teamwork by playing softball. She is making tremendous progress both behaviorally and academically. And most importantly, her self-harm has ceased.  Mia is continuing with weekly sessions with Lindsay until she moves back in with her mom for the summer. The goal is to build as much resiliency in Mia as possible before she heads home. Resilience empowers children to overcome obstacles, effectively address their big emotions, and diminish the harmful effects of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) they encounter. Thanks to dad’s perseverance, hope, and love Mia was able to receive the care she so desperately needed.

Photo of a mother and son doing homework at a table
Kindness

Beech Acres Parenting Center Encourages Kindness Through “Signed to be Kind” Pledge

/

We could all use a little more kindness in our lives. And while it’s nice when kind acts enter our lives at seemingly random moments, what if everyone approached being kind intentionally? Kindness, above all your strengths, has the ability to change the world. Being kind makes you feel better physically and emotionally. Kindness improves your relationships with your family. Being kind increases your sense of community and brings you closer to those important persons in your life. Kindness can help shape and improve your world view.  We are asking you and your family to get signed to be kind! By signing this pledge, you are committing to being intentional about sharing your strength of kindness with yourself, your family, your community, and by doing so making the world a kinder and better place. Once you’ve signed the pledge, you will be receiving weekly text messages motivating you to be kind to yourself, your family, your community, and the WORLD! We’ll also be sharing kindness on social media and via email so be sure to follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest to join the kindness conversation. Parents and guardians, whether your child is in pre-school, middle school, high school, or have long since graduated, #kindness is for everyone! Sign your family up today! Click here to sign the pledge and text kind to 69922 to get started today! Be Kind to You Being kind to those around you is easy. You probably already do it every day without even thinking about it. A smile in the hallway. Helping dad with the dishes. Being quiet while mom works from home. Holding the door at the library for an elderly neighbor. But being kind to yourself? That can sometimes be more difficult. Try and be kind to yourself with these simple thoughts. May I be safe. May I be happy. May I be healthy. I am perfect just the way I am. Be Kind To Your Family Being kind to your family doesn’t have to be a chore! There are so many little things you can do every day to make your house smile. Kindness and love go hand in hand. In fact, kindness is the best way to show your family you love them. Start every day with a smile and end each night with some words of encouragement.  Be Kind In Your Community Here is where it gets good. Being kind to yourself and your family is just the beginning. Signed to be Kind means intentionally spreading kindness to your neighbors, your friends, your teachers, your entire community. Imagine what’s possible if the community rallies together around kindness? Download and share kindness on social media with these posts. Be Kind To The World Kindness can make a difference in your community, but can it have an impact on the entire planet? Absolutely. You’d be surprised at the huge impact a little kindness can have. But how can you scale kindness on a global scale? Once your signed to be kind you can do it! Download your Signed to be Kind Family Certificate!

Green "Kindness costs nothing but it means everything." graphic
Kindness, Signed To Be Kind

Share Kindness

/

Tired of “doomscrolling” through so much negativity on social media? Break up the negativity with kindness. We Could All Use More Kindness We could all use a little more kindness in our lives. And while it’s nice when kind acts enter our lives at seemingly random moments, what if everyone approached being kind intentionally? Signed to be Kind encourages you to find time for kindness in your life. Kindness, above all your strengths, has the ability to change the world. Being kind makes you feel better physically and emotionally. Kindness improves your relationships with your family. Being kind increases your sense of community and brings you closer to those important persons in your life. Kindness can help shape and improve your worldview. Get started today. Download these squares to share on social media and replace “doomscrolling” with “kindscrolling” today! Bonus! Our friends at the Cincinnati Public Library put together this “kindness” reading list! Check it out!

Photo of a child holding a pen and notebook with red text over the image that reads "Self-reflection is scary but necessary for growth."
COVID-19, Intentional, Uncategorized

Set an Intention to Reflect on the Past Year and Allow Yourself to Grow and Move On

/

Set an Intention to Reflect on the Past Year and Allow Yourself to Grow and Move On. Guest Blogger Craig Dobson, Team Lead Beyond the Classroom Reflection is a healthy, appropriate activity for you and your family to complete regularly. This might be something you do on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis. You may also find that you are too busy to even make dinner between work, school, and activities, let alone time to reflect on your day. But intentional, mindful reflection is so important and can have a big positive impact on your life.   When we reflect, it helps our brain connect our memories to our emotions and provides valuable perspective on our experiences. Regular reflection helps us to understand why a situation happened the way that it did and what we can learn from it. This is all part of the learning experience. If you set an intention to allow your mind time for reflection you are more likely to have less stress, reduce resentment over past situations, and increase positive emotions.  Thinking about life since the pandemic began until today, here are some powerful questions to ask yourself. How often are you reflecting on your life? Do you have a conversation with your children about self-reflection? Do you have conversations about COVID-19 with your children? Are you both sick of hearing about it? What are your children sharing about how they feel?  If your children are younger, do they remember before March 2020, aka “the before times”? Do you? What strengths have they been using to cope?  What strengths has your family relied on this year? As a parent, what is something you learned about yourself as a parent?  What is something you are proud of from this past year? Set aside some time to reflect on these questions. Use a journal or a notes app on your phone to jot them down. This allows you to be intentional about your reflections. Someday you also may want to go back and read some of your reflections 10, 20, 30, or 50 years from now and remember “What was it like to live through and experience Covid-19 in 2020-21.” Of course, you might not want to, as well. In fact, you may want to throw these reflections and the whole year right in the trash. The power of reflection time is allowing your mind space to sort, embrace, and deal with your emotions. The past year has brought sadness, pain, anger and regret to many. If you are feeling this way, do this activity slowly, give yourself grace, and permission to step away from your reflection, and return when you are mentally ready.  “Self-reflection is scary but necessary for growth.”

Photo of a person sitting on the ground with their head on their knees and their arms crossed with one hand on the side of their head
Mental Health, Mental Health Month

May is Mental Health Awareness Month. Learn How to Talk to Your Child About Mental Health.

/

May is Mental Health Awareness Month. 1 in 5 children lives with a serious, diagnosable mental illness. 1 in 5. Think about your child’s friends, their class, and their school. That’s a lot of kids. It’s never been more important to be able to speak openly and honestly about mental health with your children. Fortunately, today’s parents are more open to discussing these important issues than previous generations. Speaking to your child about mental health is important for every parent, but you may not know exactly what to say or even where to start. As with most essential topics, start at the beginning. Talk with your children about their feelings, focus on their strengths, and most importantly listen to what they have to say. Check out our complete guide to talking to your child about mental health at any age. Learn more about discussing mental health with your preschooler. Learn more about discussing mental health with your child in elementary school. Learn more about discussing mental health with your teens and high schoolers. Looking to go further? Check out Natural Strength Parenting To Go! These text-based courses from our parenting experts help you get the most out of Natural Strength Parenting™ with easy-to-implement parenting strategies. Get started today!

Scroll to Top