Eric Williams and Kayla Harris are a product of how Brothers & Sisters United can benefit your life! They live out what it means to be in a healthy and loving relationship, as well as being great co-parents. Most times staff will always refer to them as the poster family for Brothers & Sisters United because they carry out the principals of what they learned in their Brothers & Sisters United class.
Though the co-parenting program, Brothers & Sisters United wasn’t created when Eric and Kayla took their classes, the principles remain the same for what they learned in their separate classes. That’s one of the reasons the Brothers & Sisters United Co-Parenting Program was started; to bring co-parents together to learn how to build healthy co-parenting relationships for the benefit of their children!
Kayla started out in Sisters United first, she decided to join the program because she was a first-time single mother who felt lost and was solely relying on her parents for help. By joining the program, she originally just wanted the money that was to come with it, yet as time went on, she began to become eager to learn more about motherhood, womanhood, and being able to gain a support system of other women who were experiencing the same things that she was experiencing. During this time, Kayla didn’t have many people that she talked to besides her mom, sister, and one friend so building this support with the other mothers in Sisters United was important for her.
About a year later, Kayla and Eric started dating, they had already been friends for some time but decided to then make that transition into an intimate relationship. After some time in their newfound relationship, Kayla told Eric to join the Brothers United Healthy Start Program because she thought that it would be beneficial for him, especially for him stepping into a father figure role with her son and soon-to-be father to their daughter. Before the Brothers United Healthy Start Program, life was mentally draining for Eric, and he felt that he truly wasn’t ready to be a father yet. Still, he decided to join the program because his daughter was coming soon whether he was ready or not. He gave the coaches a rough time when they tried to get him enrolled into the program and to follow through with completing the classes, though they didn’t give up on him and kept trying and trying, because of that, Eric gave in and finally committed to the classes. He’s grateful to have finally joined the program because he learned an abundance of information that allowed him to gain confidence in himself with him becoming a first-time father.
Brothers & Sisters United helped both, Eric and Kayla, get back on their feet, not just as parents but as human beings. Before the program, they both were drained, lost, and just didn’t feel ready or qualified to be someone’s parent, yet after taking the program, they felt more confident in themselves. The programs not only helped them become better prepared parents, but it also helped their relationship gain more substance. According to both, Brothers & Sisters United helped their relationship a lot, especially when it came to communication and understanding each other’s perspectives. Kayla said, “I learned how to communicate better and see things from a man’s perspective. After going through this lesson in class, I wanted to hear Eric’s perspective on things more to seek a better understanding of situations. This greatly improved our communication and our relationship because I learned to listen to understand and not just listen to respond. This also allowed me to really learn who he was and how to understand him.” Just as Kayla began to learn and listen to Eric more, Eric was learning the same thing about Kayla. Eric said, “There were many rough patches between me struggling to find better employment, financial mishaps, and all the hormones that were bubbling up within Kayla. Even through it all, Brothers & Sisters United allowed us to understand each other’s viewpoints better and allowed us to empathize with each other on what we wanted to voice out. This allowed us to have a calming way to resolve issues and to help each other find the solution.” In any healthy relationship, communication and understanding is key to be able to connect with one another in a way that is beneficial for both parties. Eric and Kayla learned that through Brothers & Sisters United and used what they learned to strengthen their relationship.
So, when the opportunity came to work for Pathway Inc. Brothers United, Eric openly accepted! He felt that it was his duty to return the type of help that he received when he was a Brothers United Healthy Start participant. He also feels that every child should be able to have the full experience of having two active parents with a healthy relationship, even if those parents are not together and living in the same household. As the Coach for the Brothers & Sisters United program, Eric pushes to connect with his participants for them to get the help and support that they need. Eric uses what he learned during his time in Brothers United and what he has been trained on to successfully help co-facilitate each co-parenting and fatherhood group month after month.
Through the work that he does with Brothers and Sisters United, he has learned that a lot of parents have an abundance of resentment against themselves and because of that they’re walking around with a lot of mental distress, shame, and guilt. Eric says, “It’s so good to see men and women come together in a setting where they can get an insight into each other’s perspective and even learn from each other on what they can do to become better co-parents for their children.” He believes that every man and woman should join Brothers & Sisters United because they can gain a wealth of knowledge that’ll help them become better parents and build better relationships with their co-parents. There is something to be learned from the program whether you are co-parenting, married, in a relationship, or even if you’re not communicating with your co-parent.
Brothers and Sisters United is here to make a difference in your life just how it has made a difference in the lives of Eric Williams and Kayla Harris, you don’t have to do parenting alone when there is help here for you! The program won’t only help you with your co-parenting struggles but will also help you look at yourself to see where you can grow and make changes. The change starts with you, and you have to make the decision to want to change your situation, not just for yourself but for the benefit of your children.