Our History
LIFE Seminars (Living in Families Effectively) began in 1981, when Dr. Alison Miller developed the program while working as a child psychologist in mental health services. Through her work with children and families, she recognized the profound influence of early family experiences on emotional development, behaviour, and relationships.
Her insights led to the creation of a program that went beyond traditional parenting techniques. Rather than simply focusing on changing children’s behaviour, LIFE Seminars encouraged parents to understand themselves, explore the influence of their own upbringing, and recognize the unconscious patterns that can be passed from one generation to the next.
Dr. Allison Rees began teaching LIFE Seminars alongside Dr. Miller in 1993. For more than three decades, Allison has continued to share and develop this work, helping parents, couples, and individuals deepen their self-awareness and create healthier, more meaningful relationships.
The LIFE Philosophy
1) Each person is a growing creature with unique potential, and deserves to be unconditionally loved, cherished, nurtured, esteemed, respected, and encouraged to develop to his or her full capacity. Parents can provide unconditional love and encouragement by allowing every child to develop at his or her own pace, and by appreciating each child’s uniqueness.
2) A healthy family is a place in which each member is loved and respected for who they are. As they grow, members are encouraged to take increasing responsibility for their own life decisions and the development and use of their unique gifts. Children’s moves toward independence are encouraged and appreciated, rather than regarded as insubordination. Roles and areas of authority are determined by individual gifts, maturity, experience, expertise, and interests, rather than by gender or hierarchy.
3) Parents and families deserve to be empowered with education, so that they can understand and solve their own problems. The knowledge of effective parenting does not reside only with “experts”.
Why LIFE Seminars are Effective
1) A comprehensive parent education content that emphasizes not only the
usual discipline issues but also both child development and individual child temperament. Parents are taught what child behaviours are normal before being given techniques to change behaviour. As well, parents can address age-related issues through their small discussion groups.
2) Parents learn their parenting and family living skills in their family of origin. Education based solely on skills training is ineffective. Deep-rooted attitudes and patterns learned in childhood must be identified, challenged, and replaced with a
new set of beliefs and attitudes, if parents are to make permanent changes in their approach to family living.
3) Presentation guidelines that maximize learning through a combination of lectures, cartoons and printed materials including homework, and small group discussion. Participants of different backgrounds develop a sense of trust and community despite socio-economic and cultural differences and find themselves sharing in small groups about common family concerns.
4) An emphasis on the parent’s own self, intimately focusing on overcoming the shortcomings of one’s upbringing, learning effective ways of handling emotions and meeting one’s needs, and building self-esteem on a lasting basis. This goes beyond the “skills training” of other parent education programs, which often leave parents feeling informed but personally inadequate.