Parent’s Group is a 10 week long support program for parents (or primary caregivers) raising kids with special needs. Raising a child with special needs can feel overwhelming and isolating. Parents may struggle with self-blame and self-doubt. It can be exhausting and often parents spend so much time and energy focused on their kid they neglect their own needs. This is a safe, nonjudgmental space to focus on what they’re going through. Each session is virtual and focuses on a different topic each week. Participants will be able to share their experiences about the topic and give feedback to each other. The group will focus on topics such as; dealing with the diagnosis and changed expectations; impact on marriage/parental relationships; impact on siblings; struggles with the school system; dealing with extended family; navigating services; dealing with social settings; and self care. Sessions will have an eclectic approach but will lean heavily on CBT, Mindfulness/Relaxation and Strengths Based. It will encourage self-care, general emotional understanding/processing, and relaxation skills.

Through participating in this group, parents can hope to find emotional support, some relief from being able to express themselves in a nonjudgmental setting and support by seeing that others have similar struggles/emotions. This group welcomes any parent or caregiver of a child under the age of 18 with any special need. However, this is for an individual parent, not a couple. Ideally, this group is for parents feeling stressed and overwhelmed with the challenges related to their child’s special needs. They may be feeling overwhelmed, socially isolated, or like their friends and family don’t get it. This group is for parents seeking community and support.

Karen Grossman will be leading this group. She’s an empathetic, open-minded, and gentle therapist with ample experience working with adults, teens, kids and families. She has worked with people of varying ages on the Autism Spectrum. She’s also a mom with 2 kids with special needs- which she is forthcoming about but still wishes for the group sessions to focus on the families seeking support and their experiences and issues. Karen has run many groups (IOP and PHP for mental illness and dual diagnosis as well as a social skills group) and thoroughly enjoys helping clients interact with each other during groups.

While Karen normally recommends individual and group therapy in most cases, parents in this group can solely focus on the community support they get from a group setting. This is probably a major stressors in their life and they might benefit from getting support on this one issue. The group is a great way for a parent to be able to focus on themselves and get the support and understanding that they need, potentially relieving some self-blame and self-doubt.

It’s very normal to be nervous about starting a group but in a little time it should feel comfortable. No one will be forced or pressured to share and lots of people find it comforting to take their time opening up and to spend a few sessions listening and observing. We hope clients will commit to the whole 10 weeks but there is no actual consequence to stopping, if they want to stop attending they can.