just his or her academic side.

Director of the revamped Family Learning Centre of Bermuda director Martha Dismont told The Royal Gazette : "Before, we focused on tutorials and academics. Now we are going to focus on the whole child and the family in a bid to strengthen the child.

"The focus is to strengthen families across the board, alongside Social Services and the Educational system. It's about a community effort.'' Assistant director Peter Carey added that through tutoring youngsters, the Centre discovered a greater need.

"We found that we were always serving kids whose academic needs were linked with their lifestyle, learning structure and their home life,'' Mr. Carey explained. "Martha and I developed a programme that responds to those needs.

"It's taken two years to develop the new programme and during that time we found that the earlier the intervention, the better,'' he added. "We found that you just can't intervene in one area, you have to look at the life as a whole, like the home and school life, because that is where they spend most of their time. We also learned that children need to feel a part of their community.'' With the completion of the pilot programme next month, the Centre will start gearing up for the new format this September.

The new programme will target primary school children whose parents want to do something to improve their children's lives.

"It is mandatory that parents are involved in the programme,'' Mr. Carey stressed.

Ms Dismont said the programme -- executed by a clinical director, two clinicians, and an administrator -- will involve some 25 to 30 children and their families.

And it will feature an after-school programme for children that combines academics, life-skills building and activities.

Meanwhile parents will participant in Parent Effectiveness Training Courses to allow them to explore their parenting skills.

"We would eventually like to open the Parent Effectiveness classes to the public, not just those in the programme, to enrich families that are willing to go that extra mile.'' And he said the programme will help teach adults about positive reinforcement, nurturing and how to look for warning signs.

The pair said anyone could walk into the Centre, on Victoria Street, and apply to be assessed for admittance into the programme.

And Ms Dismont said the Centre will be accepting referrals over the summer for this fall.

"The bottom line is that the parents have to be willing to get involved and open up to get help,'' Mr. Carey noted.

They stressed the programme was not just for abused children.

"Not all the children are abused, some are from loving families and their parents just need skills to help them face adversity,'' Mr. Carey explained.

"Often we work with kids whose parents are facing difficult odds and their kids are falling through the cracks. They want to make sure they don't fall through.'' FAMILY FAM CHILDREN CLD