Parents Together Support Group

The Parents Together Support Group is a religiously unaffiliated support group and is run the same as a NAMI Family Support Group but is focused on supporting the parents and caregivers of adolescents aged 12-18 living with mental health challenges. Participating in a support group can help you gain insight from the challenges and successes of other families facing similar circumstances. This group meets twice a month on select Thursday evenings (see at left below the picture) virtually via Zoom.

NAMI’s support groups are unique because they follow a structured model, ensuring everyone has an opportunity to be heard and to get what they need. The Parents Together Family Support Group is:

• No cost to participants

• Focused on adult parents and caregivers of adolescents aged 12-18 living with mental health challenges

• Led by family members of adolescents living with mental health challenges

• A group that endorses or recommends no specific medical therapy or medication

• Confidential

What You’ll Gain

By sharing your experiences in a safe and confidential setting, you gain hope and develop supportive relationships. This group allows your voice to be heard, and provides an opportunity for your personal needs to be met. It encourages empathy, productive discussion, and a sense of community. You’ll benefit through other’s experiences, discover your inner strength, and learn now to identify local resources and how to use them.

The Parents Together Support Group will help you:

• Identify help in your community

• See the individual first, not the mental health condition

• Recognize that mental health conditions are medical conditions that may have environmental triggers

• Understand that mental health challenges can be and often are traumatic events

• Aim for better coping skills

• Find strength in sharing experiences

• Reject stigma and not tolerate discrimination

• Not judge anyone’s pain

• Forgive ourselves and reject guilt

• Embrace humor

• Accept that we cannot solve every problem

• Work for a better future in a realistic way