If you live in Southern Arizona, you have likely heard of Frances Holguin. Frances has been providing community parent education training and behavioral health services in various settings since 2001. She works with the University of Arizona and Casa de los Ninos behavioral health. For the last seven years, Frances has been a strong champion of the Positive Parenting Program (Triple P). Frances explains, “When I initially started providing parent trainings using the Triple P curriculum, I wasn’t sure what to expect. I noticed a common trend, cohort after cohort, parental stress decreased and confidence within parenting interactions increased.”
Since, Frances Holguin has felt encouraged to reach out to community partners and share in the Triple P wealth. Frances was determined to connect families involved with the child welfare system to Triple P, which previously was not the curriculum of choice. Many child welfare professionals did not understand the benefits of Triple P or how it compared to other programs; this was a challenge that Frances was ready to confront. She held countless meetings across Tucson, sharing stories and information of Triple P’s success, usability, and high retention rates.
“I’ve seen parents reunify with their children; I’ve seen incarcerated parents increase their connection with their children ‘on the outside’ because of Triple P parenting. During one presentation at a halfway house with released incarcerates, an individual in the presentation who I did not know had previously taken a class with me exclaimed, ‘This sh*t works!’ Later, he added specific examples of how he’s used Triple P “on the outside,” shares Frances.
In spreading the power of Triple P across Tucson, Arizona, Frances has collaborated with Prevent Child Abuse’s Triple P program managers Cricket Mitchell and Carol Lopinski. She explains, “They have been an inspiration and support for me. They have listened to my outlandish ideas of how to connect Triple P with the community – some of the ideas actually worked! They are instrumental in expanding Triple P in Tucson, Arizona, and always thinking outside the box on ways to support agencies and individual practitioners delivering Triple P.”
Frances is also a National Master Trainer for Paxis Institute. Her experience in behavioral interventions, parent education, and community outreach allows her to work across many cultures and build community partnerships confidently. Frances is currently focusing on collaborating with community partners to determine unmet community needs for underserved populations. One of her passions is working with victims of domestic violence and providing training to parents of children with autism served under the Autism Society of Southern Arizona.