Caring for a child with a mental health disorder is an experience that few parents anticipate and plan for, yet it is one that elicits many strong emotional responses and presents parents with challenges that they are unprepared to confront. In order to help their children, parents are expected to understand complex county, legal, government, and health care systems. Often times the frustrations and challenges that exist for these parents leave them feeling lost and alone with no one to turn to for help. When asked what would help them the most, parents tell us that “the advice and support of another parent who has been there” is invaluable.
This concept of parents helping parents is the foundation that the Parent-to-Parent Program is built on. The program gives parents of children with mental health disorders the support and encouragement from other parents who are in their same situation. This support leads to education and the education leads to advocacy. The ultimate goal of the program is to provide parents with the tools they need to not only become advocates for their children but also to become advocates for an improved mental health care system that is responsive to their needs.
The Parent-to-Parent Program offers parents from different cultures a safe, familiar environment where they can begin to understand their child’s disorder. Parents are provided with the information they need to become knowledgeable and competent at locating, accessing, and making use of the available services within the multiple systems they encounter. Parents are also provided with the support they need to become a reliable resource for improved children’s mental health care within their cultural communities and the community at large.
Thanks to the generous grants from The Minneapolis Foundation, The Saint Paul Foundation, and The Blue Cross Blue Shield Foundation of Minnesota, Parent-to-Parent programs are already underway in a Somali community in Rochester, a Hispanic/Latino community in Willmar, a West African community in Brooklyn Center, African American communities in St. Paul and Minneapolis, and also a Hmong community in St. Paul.
If you are interested in joining one of our Parent-to-Parent programs or if you have any questions about the program, please feel free to call our office or email us at info@macmh.org.
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165 Western Avenue North
Saint Paul, MN 55102
Phone: 651-644-7333
1-800-528-4511
Fax: 651-644-7391
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