The Resilient Families Project provides educational experiences to strengthen families and promote resilience and wellness for children and parents experiencing homelessness. This project and its programs serve the residents of Wayside Christian Mission’s Hotel Louisville and Wayside Christian Mission’s Emergency Homeless Shelter. The Resilient Families Project (RFP) was established as a partnership of faculty from the University of Louisville’s Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences and staff at Wayside Christian Mission. We gratefully acknowledge support from the University of Louisville’s Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences and the University of Louisville’s Ideas to Action (i2A) Program and the Office of Community Engagement.

Our three programs take place from 6-8:30pm every Thursday at Hotel Louisville, and serve more than 100 family members. These programs aim to promote: (1) healthy attachment relations, (2) a sense of community / belonging, (3) interactive reading, and (4) school readiness (and readiness for the world!) in children and families.

(1) The Resilient Family Program (developed and led by Dr. Lora Haynes) is offered from 6-7pm on Thursdays, and provides a structured learning forum for children and parents to strengthen interactive reading, and engage in shared learning activities. The evidence-based practice of dialogic reading is employed, and carefully selected children’s storybooks are read aloud as a platform for promoting literacy and motivation toward reading, as well as sensitive, healthy interactions and positive attachment between caregivers and children. It is, furthermore, our mission to promote a strong sense of family (family matters!) and community caring (Compassionate Louisville! http://www.louisvilleky.gov/CompassionateCity/). It is our ultimate goal to improve school readiness (and readiness for the world) in these children and their families. Positive messages of resilience, mindfulness and compassion are conveyed in this community/family hour through a steady schedule of reading, music/singing, and dance/movement. We often have guest speakers from the Louisville community and from non-profit agencies who present their mission and needs to our families so that those in attendance are routinely asked to consider “how can I help?” and give back to the community. More than 100 parents and children attend and more than 18 University of Louisville students and 4 Hotel Louisville staff assist in the program.

(2) The Resilient Child/Adolescent Program (developed and led by Dr. Lora Haynes) is offered from 7-8:30pm on Thursdays, provides age-appropriate learning and enrichment activities including art, reading, homework and tutoring, music and dance, aimed at further promoting school-readiness and social/emotional skills. Typically more than 50 children attend. About 60% of children are under the age of five. More than 35 University of Louisville students and 3 Hotel Louisville staff assist in the program.

(3) The Resilient Parent Program (led by Dr. Lora Haynes and Valerie Mansfield, developed by Dr. Barbara Burns) is offered from 7-8:30pm on Thursdays and provides an empirically-validated strengths-based program focused on resilience and compassion, communication skills, and child management skills. Didactic material, discussion and reflection are enhanced by games, and crafts that underscore parenting strengths to promote strong and healthy parent-child relationships, child health and wellness. Interactive discussions on such topics as self-care and handling stress, discipline, self-esteem, building support networks, child development, compassionate listening, and communicating effectively. Typically 40-50 parents participate, and 7 University of Louisville students and 2 Hotel Louisville staff assist in the program.