Family Check In Lab

“Family Check-In is a 3-step program designed to help families with children ages 2-7 who have concerns and questions about their family’s overall well-being. Description: Clinicians and family members collaborate to assess how the family is doing, identify family strengths, and generate individualized feedback. The team will then collaborate with the family in developing an action plan to make the changes for their well-being. Clinicians will help connect the family to opportunities and services that fit their family’s needs.”

Family Check-In Program (FCI) is a 3-session family assessment and referral service for families with children ages 2-7 who have questions or concerns about their parenting skills or child's behavior. We collaborate with parents to assess how their family is functioning, identify their strengths, and generate individualized feedback. We then help them develop an Action Plan and connect them to mental health and related services that fit their needs, such as parent training or child treatment. FCI sessions are held with doctoral student clinicians who are supervised by Dr. Vidair, a licensed psychologist and faculty member in LIU Post's Clinical Psychology Doctoral Program. FCI sessions take place in LIU Post’s Psychological Services Center, which provides mental health services on a low-cost sliding scale in order to reach as many families as possible. Unfortunately, research has shown that engaging parents and children in mental health services can be challenging. As part of our recruitment efforts, we offer workshops in schools and community settings to help provide parents with information on topics pertinent to FCI, such as stress management and common parenting roadblocks, as well as to increase motivation to participate in early-invention programs.

Our students work on this faculty-led project. Dr. Hilary Vidair leads students in a weekly lab meeting and the students see the families in our Psychological Services Center on-campus. The project is directed towards low-resource families not otherwise accessing/aware of services.

Family Check In Website: http://myweb.cwpost.liu.edu/hvidair

Program Information on the PSC webpage: http://liu.edu/CWPost/Academics/Schools/CLAS/Dept/Psychology/PsyD2/PSC/PSC-Overview/Family-Check-In