Parents Helping Parents

1. Parents Helping Parents Presented by Randall Block, Executive Director Wednesday, October 5, 2016

2. PARENT SUPPORT GROUPS IN MASSACHUSETTS • Many different types of parent support groups exist in Massachusetts: • Parents of autistic children can find groups at early intervention centers • Parents of babies can find breast-feeding and other groups at birthing centers • Parents of children with mental health conditions can find groups at PPAL (Parent Professional Advocacy League) and NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) • Parents of LGBT youth can find groups at PFLAG (Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays) • Only PHP offers generic parent groups using the COP (formerly Parents Anonymous) mutual support model

3. DECIDING WHERE TO START A COMMUNITY-BASED  GROUP • We do not attempt to establish a group unless one of the following conditions is met: • A local organization badly wants to establish a PHP group and is willing to become a collaborating partner; and/or • One or more parents contact us looking for a local support group and is willing to work to create one • If we have identified a community where we want to have a group (based on rates of poverty, incidence of child abuse, etc.), we need to find a local partner that meets our criteria. • The availability of funding is generally not a factor in this decision.

4. STRUCTURE FOR IMPLEMENTING PHP GROUPS • A PHP group needs three things to be successful: • A trained volunteer facilitator • A place to meet • Parents to attend • A trained Parent Leader is highly desirable but not required

5. RECRUITING VOLUNTEER FACILITATORS • Facilitating a group is an important job. We consider it a part-time, unpaid position (i.e., 4-5 hours per week). We ask for a one year commitment. We don’t mind if people are scared off. Better sooner than later. • Volunteer Match – Most volunteers find us on this web site. We pay for a premium membership so we have more flexibility posting. • Inactive Volunteers – Sometimes we can persuade previous volunteers to come back. • Community List Serves – When a person living in a community can email to a church or neighborhood network, sometimes we recruit volunteers this way. • Social Media – Sometimes volunteers find us through our Facebook page. • Mailings– When desperate, we will do a direct mailing (e.g., to licensed social workers) in an area where we need to establish a group. For a small fee, Massachusetts will provide an electronic mailing list of licensed professionals. • United Way, Idealist, etc. – We will post volunteer opportunities on other web sites but they are not very successful. We often don’t bother. • Sometimes a collaborating partner provides a staff person to facilitate the group. That can create its own problems but at least we don’t have to recruit a volunteer.

6. TRAINING VOLUNTEER FACILITATORS • All volunteers take a 2-day training – usually on successive Saturdays. • Two trainers familiar with the PHP model conduct the training. • A training manual is the basis for the training. (A copy is available upon request.) • Many different types of group role plays are practiced. • A parent from a group is invited on one of the training days to describe how group has helped her/him. • If a volunteer fails to show up for training, they probably won’t make a good facilitatorand we screen them out. • A major weakness of this model is that volunteers starting a new group do not get exposed to how groups work in practice. They have to learn on the job.

7. FINDING SPACE TO MEET = FINDING A COLLABORATING PARTNER • Free meeting space at a churchor libraryis not enough. WE NEED A LOCAL PARTNER. • A collaborating partner must agree to: • Provide a free meeting room with a closed door • If possible, provide free child care space • Publicize and promote the group on an ongoing basis • Respect the principles of a PHP group (e.g., anonymity, etc.) • Sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) making this commitment. A template MOU is available upon request. • The MOU will generally ask the collaborating partner to support grant applications to fund the group.

8. PARENT LEADERS • Facilitator training includes explaining why Parent Leaders are so important to a well-functioning group. • Facilitators are responsible for identifying parents who may be interested in becoming Parent Leaders. • Parent Leaders self-identify by being more open, more caring, and more committed to sustaining the group than the average parent. • These parents are invited to attend the Facilitator Training (in fact we call it the Facilitator/Parent Leader Training). Some attend; some decline. • Parent Leaders take on special responsibilities in the group (e.g., making sure there is a box of tissues available; posting flyers in the neighborhood; etc.) and within PHP (e.g., writing their story for an e-newsletter; telling their story at a Facilitator training; etc.)  They will often facilitate a group meeting if the regular Facilitator can’t make it. • Parent Leaders are often asked to serve on the PHP board. Currently five out of 15 board members are Parent Leaders.  We aim for 50% but one-third is the minimum % required by our bylaws.

9. MAINTAINING QUALITY • The Program Director contacts each group facilitator on a monthly basis to provide supervision. Some places might call this “technical assistance”. • The Program Director asks: •  How is the group is doing? •  Are there any difficult group dynamics? •  Do any group member have special issues that need attention? • Facilitators are encouraged to contact the Program Director any time but especially if they suspect an adult or child is being seriously harmed or under threat of serious harm. • Site visits to group are done only when the situation is very serious. The Program Director is part-time and group meeting times and locations are often not convenient for her.

11. OUTREACH • The biggest challenge is getting parents to attend group. Parents are very busy. They may be fearful they will lose their kids. They may be in the country illegally. The MA child protection agency (Dept. of Children and Families) often discourages parents from going to group because for DCF, this is a low priority. • The most successful recruitment is parent-to-parent. We encourage members of a group to bring other parents with them; • When a group is starting, volunteer facilitators post flyers in the neighborhood and at other locations (e.g., DCF waiting areas; juvenile courts; etc.)  Sometimes PHP staff has to help. This is hard to sustain over time. • After a group is established, we expect parent members to take responsibility for at least some outreach. Remember, “the group belongs to its members”. • We do periodic mailings statewide, for example to pediatricians, libraries, WIC offices, etc. We send a few brochures and provide a form with all of our outreach materials (see our web site) that we will send free of charge. • We publish a quarterly e-newsletter featuring a parent’s story or a volunteer’s experience. This is sent to about 5,000 email addresses in our data base. (NOTE: YOU MUST MAINTAIN A DATA BASE TO DO THIS.)

12. FINANCING OPERATIONS • PHP has a state DCF contract for $100,000 to provide 15-20 groups around the state. Group locations are not specified. Funding does not rise or fall with the # of groups or attendance. This is a very unusual contract. Although funding is capped, the contract provides great stability. • An additional $100,000 must be raised from grants and individuals to cover our budget. • Sometimes foundations will fund groups in a specific geographical area. We do our best to find these funding sources and then to maintain the group. • Each county in Massachusetts has a Family Resource Center (FRC’s) funded by the state. FRC’s are required to offer parent and grandparent support groups. We have subcontracts with a few FRC’s to run these groups for a fee. The cost is $2,500 per year for a group if we recruit the volunteer facilitator; $1,500 if they provide a staff member as facilitator. We are paid about $10,000 annually from FRC’s.

13. FINANCIAL IMPACT OF VOLUNTEERS Using volunteers is a probably the most important factor in developing groups in an affordable way. • The marginal cost of starting a new group is practically zero. • The cost of recruiting and training volunteers is already in your budget. • A collaborating partner is usually recruited by phone and email with only one site visit to inspect the space and get personally acquainted. • Community outreach is done primarily by the Collaborating Partner and the volunteer facilitator. • This financial model only works if you have funding that will cover your general operating expenses.

14. The End!