PCIT Gives Parents and Their Children a Second Chance...

Keri Newport, Family Services Manager at King County Sexual Assault Resource Center (KCSARC), receives calls from teachers and care givers on a fairly regular basis. Most would think that the calls are to complain about a child's behavior and to seek help, but it is quite the opposite. Keri specializes in Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) which is an evidenced-based program that strengthens the bond between parent and child, resulting in greatly improved positive interactions. The calls that Keri receives are to report that children who have gone through KCSARC's PCIT program are doing excellently in school or in their daycare programs. They want to know if all of their students can go through the program!

Developed by Sheilah Eyberg at Oregon Health Sciences University in the early 1970s, PCIT helps parents by coaching them on how to provide nurturing care while setting and maintain healthy limits and boundaries. Young children, age 3-7 years, sometimes express their fear, anxiety and frustration through negative behaviors. Defiance, back-talking and verbal or physical aggression by the child are not unusual responses to abuse. PCIT Coaches train parents on how to quickly extinguish negative child behaviors and replace them with positive ones so that children can better heal from the trauma they have experienced.

Results Oriented

For children who have been physically or sexual abused, PCIT is a program that teaches parents how to:

improve and enhance their relationship with their child
decrease their child's behavior problems by strengthening the parent-child relationship
increase their skill levels and abilities as a parent
decrease their stress level, which allows them to provide support and nurturance to their child
use positive discipline strategies when necessary

PCIT combines one-on-one coaching for parents by a KCSARC Coach utilizing structured parent-child play activities. The coach uses a two-way mirror to observe and provide continual, real-time feedback, directions and encouragement through a discreet radio receiver that the parent wears behind her/his ear. The program is mastery-based; in 12 to 20 weekly sessions, parents practice specific play, communication, and discipline skills, with the help of the trainer.

KCSARC offers PCIT in both English and Spanish, as part of its Dando Voz, Spanish speaking program. Keri Newport is KCSARC's lead PCIT trainer and provides PCIT consultation to social service providers across Washington State.

Foundation Support

KCSARC is pleased to be partnering with the following foundations to ensure that PCIT is offered free-of-charge to clients:

Boeing ECF
Chisholm Foundation
D.V. and Ida J. McEachern Charitable Trust
Gratia Ainslie Foundation
Harrington Schiff Foundation
Northwest Children's Fund
OneFamily Foundation
Washington Women's Foundation
Wilkins Charitable Foundation

PCIT Equipment Upgrade

KCSARC upgrades equipment in one room and equips a second room to meet the growing demand for PCIT.

Learn more about PCIT...