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Life Skills Programs

Karen Benefits From Good Counsel's Program

Pregnant MotherMy name is Karen and my family came from the Dominican Republic. I grew up in New York City with my parents, my brother and my older sister. A number of years ago both of my parents died and my sister was left to raise my brother and me.

I was tough to raise and I caused many problems for my sister, who was very angry with me when I got pregnant with my son, Danny. I was kind of out of control and when I got pregnant again my sister told me I could no longer stay with her.

I am very happy that a woman I knew from a local church told me about Good Counsel. She gave me the helpline number and I was able to have a place to stay. One of the great things was that I could learn a lot about parenting.

Good Counsel has an EPIC program which stands for Every Person Influences Children. It teaches you how to discipline kids without spanking and to be patient when talking to your children. Danny, my two-year old, is a very active boy and EPIC helped me a whole lot in being able to correct him without yelling or getting out of control, which is always what I wanted to do!

I had never heard about "time outs" before coming to Good Counsel and I feel a whole lot better about my parenting since I came here.

Another great thing that has benefited me is Good Counsel's Spirituality program. It has taught me to love God more and has shown me the power of prayer. I am learning how to trust God and that I can ask him for anything, even for a place to live nearby once I leave Good Counsel. I am also glad that Deacon Peter Venezia is available for baptisms because my baby is born I want to get her and Danny baptized.

One last thing that has physically helped me a lot is Good Counsel's Health and Nutrition program. We learned a lot about what to eat and different changes the body goes through. We also learned about breast feeding and all of the issues that surrounds that. But when we started to talk about some of the mood swings and symptoms of diabetes, I perked up because it was like they were talking about me! And they were. I got a blood test and discovered I did have diabetes and so I was able to get a lot healthier just by going through the program and paying attention.

Thank you Good Counsel for being here for me!