Ann Hefferan 

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I began delivering the approach as a sole operator, in July 1992, mentoring both parents and professionals (including family services, child care centre and pre-school staff) in using what was then known as Listening to Children.  

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From 1996 to 2001, I worked in the community services sector as an employee - first with youth, then (as a senior social worker) with people assessed as having multiple, severe and complex needs.

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In 2001, I contacted parents who had continued to meet in parent support groups to keep them on track and supported by their peers in using the tools they'd learnt in Listening to Children classes and ongoing support groups. They were very keen to take up my suggestion that we form a non-profit organisation to take the approach to more parents and more of the organisations which supported parents.

 

So, we founded of Community Transformations Inc which delivered the Hand in Hand, Parenting by Connection approach to parents and organisations - government and non-government - from 2001 to recently. 

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Over that time, I was able to deliver what had became Parenting by Connection, to hundreds of groups of parents and many professionals working with parents and children 

 

I have since established Elevate Parenting to both continue and to develop the work of the previous, community-based organisation.



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Since then, my work enabled me to delivering Parenting by Connection to hundreds of groups.



Ann managed the 2006 'Listening to Children Project' that successfully implemented the approach in three child care centres.  She also worked with centre directors and staff to engage in a complementary research project on the implementation.



Ann's other roles have included counsellor and professional development consultant in the private, business, government and corporate sectors, delivering training on a range of topics.  She has taught "The Art of Listening" to many groups and has been a senior social worker, working with people with 'multiple, severe and complex needs' and a youth worker. Ann has a BA Degree from the University of Adelaide, where she studied Psychology, Biology, Philosophy, History and Political Economy.



She began training in the Parenting by Connection approach in 1989 and first trained with Patty Wipfler, of Hand in Hand, in 1992.  Since then, Ann has trained and collaborated with Patty at regular intervals from then until the present time, in both Australia and the United States of America.

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Ann has an adult daughter and a granddaughter and baby grandson.