Yellowknife (Oct 25/06) - As a child becomes a teenager, their brains go through developmental changes that can make them seem like strangers to their parents.

That's why Pat McKeon, counsellor with CSJ Counselling Service, has teamed up with St. Patrick High School to offer parents a course in understanding their teenager and help them deal with the problems of raising a young adult.

McKeon has done the workshops in Hay River, Fort Resolution and Yellowknife over the last few years.

"Teenagers start acting differently. They pretty much know what their parents are going to do, but the parents don't know what they're going to do," McKeon said.

The course will be held this Saturday at the Catholic School Board office and will run from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Parents will be helped with a variety of things, such as communicating with a teenager.

"Kids' brains don't work the same as they did before," McKeon said. She said when a child becomes a teenager increased brain activity can make them unpredictable.

"There's such a danger that if the teen starts acting out the parents can get pretty desperate."

Gail Gerwing is a high school counsellor and is eager to see the workshop in action. "Often there's just a breakdown," she said of communication between parents and teenagers.

"Parents see it as just acting out, when (the teenagers) really have deeper feelings they just can't explain.

"What the workshop is doing is having parents look at their parenting styles. It's hearing from other people that 'okay, we're not going crazy'."

Cathy Landry took McKeon's course four years ago, looking to better understand her children.

"One thing was the role playing," she said of what helped her. "It heightens your awareness."

She said it helped her prepare for future talks with her kids. "You need to prepare for situations, even though they may never happen."

Landry said the workshop drew many parents when she took it. "People that came out were people who generally cared about parenting."