What Parents and Teens Say about Step-Up

The following quotes are from questionnaires parents and teens filled out at the end of the program, and from letters parents and teens wrote to the King County Council in 2008 when the program had been cut from the budget. Thanks to the many letters from parents and teens, and their testimony at public hearings, the Council put Step-Up back in the 2010 budget.

“Step-Up has helped me cope with anger and violence problems with my teenage daughter and son and with the feelings of helplessness and depression that family violence cause. I was able to meet each of these challenges with a problem-solving approach, an approach that focused on the control I had of my own behavior. The tools and support that made this problem-solving approach available were provided by Step-Up.”
            -Mother who attended Step-Up with her daughter and son in 2001.

“The Step-Up program gave my son and I a language for what was happening in the home and allowed for an open and frank conversation about it”
            -Mother who attended with her son in 2002

“I feel like I have grown out of the troubled, lost person that I used to be due to the help of this program. Before entering Step-Up I was always getting into arguments and fights with my mom. Now we talk things out and we like each other more.”
            -14 year old girl who attended Step-Up with her mother in 2008

“I want to tell you that the Step-Up Program has been the most effective program for our family. Step-Up was a great place to experience acceptance and see kids truly change. Our family saw more growth in our son than six years of one-on-one therapy”.
            -Mother who attended Step-Up with her son and husband in 2004

“This program is changing people’s lives. Making kids more respectful and less abusing. It helps us come to grasp with ourselves and realize we don’t have to act out the way we do.”
            -16 year old boy who attended Step-Up in 2009

“For teens who are using abuse as a way to deal with difficulties, Step-Up provides something that other counseling cannot. Step-Up provides peer support, peer review, peer judgment. The peer interaction is a very powerful tool that Step-Up uses to get abusive teenagers to entertain viewpoints that they might otherwise dismiss”
            -Father who attended Step-Up in 2009

“After just starting the program I’m remembering what my new friends in the group have said about themselves and realize that I can turn around. I’ve been thinking more before acting. This is truly an amazing place to go to and I feel free there.”
            -15 year old boy who attended Step-Up in 2009

“After six years of frustration with therapy, medications, violence and abusive behavior in our home, the real progress for our son was through Step-Up. We watched him transform from an angry, violent, out-of-control, verbally abusive teen to a less angry, more behaviorally responsible person who apologizes (!) and maintains his composure much more effectively. Our family has begun to heal and function well, thanks to Step-Up.”
        -Mother and Father who attended Step-Up with their son in 2006.

“The Step-Up program has been a haven in the storm, for both my teenager and me.” 
            -Mother who attended Step-Up in 2009

“….everyone else in the group sees other people in the raw. It makes us look at ourselves and realize that we too are here because of this kind of behavior.”
            -17 year old teen who attended Step-Up in 2008

“The Step-Up program is designed to help parents and teenagers address their own emotions, and then it inspires you to translate your discoveries and growth into walking hand in hand with your teenager. “
            -Mother who attended Step-Up in 2009

“Before starting this program I was disrespectful, angry and disconnected. Now I can talk to my parents without yelling or getting so angry. ”
        -16 year old girl who attended Step-Up with her mother and step-father in 2007

“Step-Up made a huge difference in our lives. I’d tried other therapies, churches and venues. Step-up was the one that got through to my son and gave him tools he could use. He learned first- hand from the other kids: peers who had been using the Step-Up tools to great success. Step-Up gives hope and solace to families.”
        -Mother who attended Step-Up with her son in 2008

“I was told by state agencies that unless I was willing to sign my parental rights away and put my child into the foster care system that there was nothing they could do to help us…. Step-Up has changed my family’s life. My child is no longer aggressive or violent. He uses the skills he learned in Step-Up at home, school and in the community. His teacher’s are happy and report ways he uses skills he learned at school. We use the skills and tools we learned together as a family in our everyday lives”
        -Mother who attended Step-Up with her autistic son in 2008

“Prior to finding Step-Up, I had nearly given up on my son having learned that a batterer’s behavior is rarely changed through counseling. I was so impressed with the rapport that it built between parent and child that I brought my second son to the program and attended with a foster child as well”.
        -Mother who attended Step-Up with her son in 2002