The Parent Support Network™ is a program of The Youth Mental Health Project that seeks to provide support for parents and guardians who are concerned about the mental health of their children through confidential, peer-to-peer meetings.
Parents and guardians need support to navigate the challenges that arise when raising kids who struggle with their mental health. By sharing experiences and personal stories, parents will connect with each other and gather strength from the knowledge that they are not alone.
Basics of parent support meetings:
- Meetings are confidential, free and open to any parent or guardian who is concerned about their kids (ages 1 – 25) who struggle with anxiety, depression, mood dysregulation, or other emotional, behavioral or mental health problems;
- A child does NOT need to have a diagnosis for a parent to benefit from meetings;
- Meetings are organized and led by a trained Facilitator who is a parent or caregiver with lived experience raising a child with a mental health condition;
- While the dialogue among parents is facilitated, the content is driven by the needs of the parents in attendance;
- Parents work together to share experiences and resources. Parents also work together to gather a reliable and vetted list of invaluable community and regional resources to help each other and to enable other families to seek and find the help they need. Vetted for parents and by parents, there is no better resource than a referral from someone who shares your experience.