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“Perhaps the most stringent test of a course’s value is teaching it to parents and teenagers of an alternative school where teens have been sent because of discipline problems, felony offenses, or as an alternative to expulsion for ESE (Exceptional Student Education) students. These parents have usually experienced a gamut of courses, counseling and other professional services. The reports from parents regarding the COMMON GROUND course are excellent. Comments from parents include, ‘I didn't know a course like COMMON GROUND existed;’ ‘Communication has improved not only between my son and me, but also with all family members and the school staff. Thank you! Thank you!’”

—Linda Hock
Curriculum Coordinator
Phoenix Center

“Taking the COMMON GROUND instructor training with my teen-age daughter improved our already good relationship and created a bond between us that is indescribable. I look forward to having my daughter assist me with teaching this life-changing course. It is so neat to finally be able to offer a course specifically designed to help parents and their teens. COMMON GROUND gives both parents and teens the opportunity to stand in each others’ shoes—to see what it is like from the other person’s perspective.”

—Keith Sperring
Certified Instructor
Gainesville, FL

The Course

If you knew you could provide a way to prevent school violence, youth suicide or drug abuse, and gang involvement—one family at a time—would you take action?

What if you could change your community through every family you helped?

What is the COMMON GROUND Parent-Teen Course and What Makes it Unique?

How many times have you read a great book on parenting and then tried to implement what you read without great results? The principles sounded great but they just didn’t translate into real-world application.

Master trainers acknowledge that educational courses using role-plays, demonstrations, and coaching of real-life scenarios anchor the learning principles and provide more opportunity for behavior changes. This is the format for the COMMON GROUND Parent-Teen Relationship Building Course. Both parents and teens attend the six-week course. Much of the time they are taught separately and then brought together to practice what they have learned, while being coached by the group and the instructors to build confidence and promote success.

COMMON GROUND is theory-driven—based on the knowledge that parents and teens have a great deal in common. What often keeps us from acknowledging this are strong emotions that drive the teens and strong fears that drive the parents. When these core issues are addressed honestly, openly, and respectfully, each party begins to see the other from a different perspective.

The course is designed to help both parent and teen learn to slow down their communications in order to fully listen to each other and to strive to understand differing points of view. When this happens, common ground IS found and something magical happens in these relationships—a deeper bonding occurs.

Our instructors teach parents to approach their teenager from a position of letting go of their need to “fix” him or her and to set firm boundaries and to communicate clear expectations. To parallel that principle, the teenagers are educated on letting go of their need to view their parent as THE enemy, and to be open to viewing them as people who also need encouragement and support from their families. No other parent training course approaches these emotions that under gird these vital relationships.

The course explores the parent-teen relationship from a perspective of:

unconditional love balanced by clear expectations
examining conflicts and the means to their resolution
teaching skills to lessen the developmentally normal power struggles
replacing retributions with setting boundaries and consistently maintaining them
exposing the underlying beliefs each holds about the other
fine-tuning the communication techniques already in place while offering new ones to enhance cooperation and mutual respect
compassionate, effective ways to cope with anger, depression and the threat of suicide

How This Certification Training Benefits You

Because we have a commitment to quality service, we offer a unique training format. Part of the training involves spending time on personal development that encourages you to examine your own belief systems and judgments. This experiential framework offers you an invaluable opportunity to move past barriers so that you can be a successful instructor. We have certified over 120 instructors who now offer professional and high-impact courses by bringing creativity, confidence and humor to their educational process. Qualifications to take the certification training include any of the following:

Experience as a parenting instructor of another quality parenting course
Experience working with families through teaching, counseling, or social services
On-the-job training as a parent, grandparent, or foster parent

Building Your Own Business—There’s Consistent Demand Out There!

The demand for the COMMON GROUND course is overwhelming! Parents, teachers, counselors, psychologists, social service agencies, churches, private and state organizations are searching for ways to bridge the “gap” that every generation experiences. Many organizations are interested in offering the COMMON GROUND course on-site for parents and their teens. Some of our instructors have been successful in obtaining grants for the purpose of teaching COMMON GROUND (some people have been successful in winning a grant to pay for the COMMON GROUND instructor/co-instructor training course!). Others use the handbooks and the skills they learn in this training to enhance their work with youth and families.

It is easy to enroll families into the COMMON GROUND course. Many instructors recoup their training expenses with the first COMMON GROUND course they teach, which is almost unheard of with a new business. Since very few courses address the parent-teen relationship, this makes the COMMON GROUND course at the forefront for preventing the major issues that tear families apart.

Who Will Certify Me As An Instructor?

Your trainers will be the co-authors of COMMON GROUND. They have combined, extensive experience in parenting, training, family counseling, marketing and public relations. In addition to training you to teach the COMMON GROUND course, they will also instruct you on ways to be effective in marketing and enrolling students for your courses.

Once you have graduated from the COMMON GROUND instructor training, you set the fees and the schedule for your courses. You can adapt the format to meet the needs of the community in which you live. This becomes your business and the only requirement is to purchase your materials through our company—there are no royalties or membership fees, ever!

How Much Does the Training Cost?

Tuition for the COMMON GROUND instructor training is $695. We encourage you to bring a partner with you to the training to become certified to co-teach with you. The course can be taught with one instructor, but you will have to decide how to deliver the education to both the parent and teens on separate nights. To encourage the participation of teens as assistant course instructors, there is a nominal fee of $115 and they will be allowed to teach with any certified instructor. Each instructor and teen assistant will receive an instructor manual and one copy each of the parent and teen workbooks used in the course.

The Location for the Training

The next COMMON GROUND Certification Training will be held in Redding, CA on July 8-11 at the Holiday Inn. For more information, see our training schedule.

COMMON GROUND is about magic. Not sleight of hand, pull-the-rabbit-out-of-the-hat kind, but rather the magic that happens when people with different perceptions begin to cherish each other and join together for a unified goal. We invite you to become a COMMON GROUND instructor and to be an active participant in the positive force that can heal our society—help us create a new legacy for our children and our children’s children.