Programs
Parent Stressline
(608) 241-2221
"Thank you for listening to me. I feel a weight has been lifted from my shoulders
just being able to talk about what is going on with my son."
~Parent on the Parent Stressline
"I really appreciate your being here. I know that I call the line a lot, but I don’t know what I would
do if there wasn’t someone for me to talk with when I feel this way. I just need a timeout, and an adult to
listen to me. It’s hard always being the one who has to deal with everything. It’s really hard being a single
parent."
~Parent on the Parent Stressline
The goal of the Parent Stressline is to reduce child abuse and neglect, as well as the stress in
families that can lead to child abuse and neglect. The Parent Stressline is an 18-hour, 7-day a week listening
service staffed by trained parent advocates. It is available to parents and caretakers who are experiencing stress
or who just need someone to listen. Parent advocates strive to assist callers with finding solutions
to their problems, and make referrals, as
needed, to Canopy Center programs or other appropriate community services that are equipped to meet the needs
of the caller. Parent advocates are recruited from the community and must complete
an initial day and a half comprehensive training, as well as on-going seminars, to continue the education needed to
serve callers on the line.
An essential service offered by the Parent Stressline is the promise of anonymity and confidentiality.
Callers are asked no questions that will provide the Canopy Center with identifying information about the caller.
With few places to go “just to talk” this practice offers a unique service to parents and caregivers in our
community.
OASIS
"Now my life is full. Back then, when I started your program, I never
thought my life could be like this. I had hoped and I had dreamed, but I never believed it could be like
this. Because of you, I value myself as a person."
~Teen in the Oasis Program
The Oasis Program offers group therapy to people who have been affected by incest and child sexual
abuse. The Oasis program model strives to increase the healthy functioning of families who participate in
the program therapy groups, and help children and non-offending parents or caregivers incorporate the
experience of the sexual abuse into their lives in a manner that reduces the short-term and long-term
effects, as well as the cycle, of sexual abuse. The program helps non-offending
parents and caregivers learn more effective and protective strategies to better parent their child.
Oasis has groups of children and teens, ages 5-18, who have been sexually
abused. These children and teens meet with others their own age, and play therapy is included in the children’s
groups to help them learn, process their feelings and have fun. Groups are also provided for
non-offending parents and caregivers, and Oasis offers separate groups for adult survivors of
childhood sexual abuse. Groups meet weekly, offer support from peers, and are led by professional therapists, to provide
structure and guidance. Group participation can reduce isolation and help in healing from the aftereffects of
sexual abuse.
Therapy groups are offered in cycles, with four cycles per year of between 8 and 12 groups.
Staff therapists use team treatment coordination and are active in the development and maintenance of services in Dane County’s
child sexual abuse prevention and treatment network.
Families United Network
"I am less likely to hit and scream at my children. I use different discipline
techniques and they work. I learned a lot about how being raised can and will affect adulthood and raising my
own children. Keep on doing what you're doing – it works!"
~Parent in the Families United Network Program
The goal of the Families United Network is to help families be safe, strong, stable and nurturing
and to allow children and parents to grow to their full potential. Using a guided self-help model, parent
support groups are offered weekly in which parents may discuss the current issues
in their lives that are or could potentially affect their parenting. Groups are available in English and Spanish.
As a member of the National Support
Roundtable Circle of Parents, this program follows a national model that has been shown to be an effective
tool in the reduction and prevention of child abuse and neglect. Most
participants are voluntary members of the program. These parents often come to this program due to feelings
of isolation, a desire to parent differently than they were parented, mental health issues in themselves or
their children, and/or they are parenting a child with special needs. This program is offered free to participants and,
while open to all parents and their families, tends to serve parents in poverty or on the margin. During the
two evenings of programming, groups are provided for the teens and adolescent children of support group
participants. Childcare is provided to children under 5 years old, and for all children during daytime groups.
The children/teen groups provide activity based programming that is fun but also teaches basic skills, such as
making and keeping friends, appropriately displaying of emotion (anger), and, for the teens, decision-making
and basic age-appropriate life skills.