Walking back to the parking lot with her daughter after attending a class for parents and kids about how to communicate better, one mom was surprised by her child's response.
"My daughter approached me before we even got into the car to tell me she needed to talk which was uncharacteristic," she later told the facilitator who ran the session. "She unloaded some secrets she'd been keeping for months, and she said it was because she learned about being honest about hard things. Because of what I learned in this program, we were able to connect openly and authentically, and problem-solve together."
That more open, honest conversation between the pair and other families like them is due to the work of University of Alberta students from the Faculty of Agricultural, Life & Environmental Sciences.