YOUTH MENTAL HEALTH PROJECT INC

SUPPORT FOR PARENTS AND CAREGIVERS

WHO WE ARE:

At The Youth Mental Health Project, we educate, empower, and support families and communities to better understand and care for the mental health of our youth. 

In order to address the devastating consequences of the current mental health crisis, we must provide support for parents and caregivers who are concerned about the mental health of their children, teens, and young adults. 

Providing parents concerned about their children’s mental health with a dependable and caring network, valuable peer support, and education in their local communities is essential to helping families move beyond crisis and enable them to find the help they need.

WHAT IS THE PARENT SUPPORT NETWORK™?

The Parent Support Network™ is a program of The Youth Mental Health Project that seeks to provide support for parents* (any adult caregiver, including guardians, parents, grandparents, foster or step-parents, of a young person between the ages of 1 and 24) who are concerned about the mental well-being of their children through confidential, in-person, peer-to-peer meetings in local communities.

Parent support meetings are either in-person or virtual, confidential, and free for all parents and caregivers who are concerned about their children 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. The model is based on an open-dialogue concept and is driven by the needs of the parents in attendance at any given meeting.

The Youth Mental Health Project partners with organizations and parents in communities to establish and build affiliates of The Parent Support Network. Facilitators are parents who have experience raising a child who has struggled with mental health challenges and are vetted through an extensive application, interview, and training process.

“There is nothing like the power of peer support, of being in a room with other parents who “get it” and don’t judge you. The Parent Support Network™ has been a lifeline for my family.” - Anonymous Parent Attendee

THE MENTAL HEALTH CRISIS:

Prior to COVID, 1 in 5 children (almost 18 millions children) in the United States struggled with a diagnosable mental health disorder. The Pandemic has caused a dramatic increase in mental health problems among youth and their parents, who simply do not have the knowledge and support they need to adequately care for their children’s mental health. The consequences of the increase in mental health problems could be disastrous and last longer than the virus itself.

The data prior to COVID demonstrate the need: 

• One in five children in the U.S. (18 million) has a diagnosable mental health disorder.
• Suicide is the second leading cause of death in children ages 10 to 24.
• Half of all lifetime cases of diagnosable mental health conditions begin before the age of 14, and 75% before the age of 24.
• Mental health conditions are more common than heart disease, lung disease, and cancer combined.
• Anxiety is the most common mental health disorder in the United States, half of which begin before the age of 8 years old.

OUR IMPACT:

Thanks in part to last year's Community Thrives' grant, we have directly supported over 1000 parents and caretakers, have trained 44 parent volunteer Facilitators, held over 220 parent support meetings, and partnered with community organizations to open 10 affiliates in New York, Connecticut, New Jersey, Texas, and Oregon. In March 2020, we immediately launched a platform for Virtual Support Meetings to be able to continue our work during the pandemic. In June 2020, we opened a national platform dedicated to parents throughout the country, which has provided 23 national meetings in 24 different states. 

Ultimately,  supporting  our  youth  means  supporting  their  parents and  caregivers.  No  parent  should  suffer  alone  and  in  silence  when a child is struggling  with his or  her  mental health.