Empowering Caregivers To Support Their Child's Mental Health Challenges
According to Kim McDevitt, director of Mental Health America of Lancaster County (MHALC), parents of children facing mental health issues could benefit from working with others who really understand their situation. "We feel there is a gap in services in terms of supporting the parents," said McDevitt. "We don't want (parents) to be alone in this."
To fill that gap, MHALC is launching family peer support, a program that provides parents with trained volunteer peers who understand what they are going through and understand the mental health system. "Support is known to be effective," said Rosie Mann, family peer support program consultant, who cited national studies of family peer support that show that intervention results in better school attendance and need for fewer disciplinary supports, among other benefits. According to Mann, peers are able to interact with parents in ways that clinicians cannot. "(A peer can) take away a sense of shame and judgment from a parent," Mann explained. "When (advice) comes from a peer, (he or she is saying), 'I have tried this and it worked. Maybe you want to try it.'"
Since the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic, mental health issues among young people have been on the rise. "The surgeon general put out an advisory for youth mental health," said McDevitt. "(Since the beginning of the pandemic) there has been a 51% increase in emergency room visits for (girls) who have attempted suicide." For boys, the number is up as well. McDevitt added that supports are in place for students in school, but those do not extend to the home. "We connect them to appropriate resources," she said.
Mann added, "You have a child that threatens suicide and goes to the emergency room, and the doctor says, 'You're all right (to go home),' but when you go home, you still have a family whose child threatened suicide. They are in crisis that their child feels that way." Mann said that is where family peer support steps in. "Parent education programs are part of supports for families," said Mann, who noted that the program can help parents determine what classes and other support systems will best serve them.
While clinical care is meant to produce outcomes over time, Mann noted many parents need help with daily issues. "With parents, oftentimes, they have had so much clinical care, but they still can't get through a day. That's where we come in," Mann said. Mann and McDevitt both noted that family peer support can provide parents with a sense of empowerment and efficacy. "Efficacy is the power to change my circumstances," noted Mann, who said the idea is to battle the sense of helplessness and hopelessness parents often feel.
Mann said that her goal in family peer support is to halve parents' distress and double their joy. While having a peer to share distress with provides support, sharing joy means emphasizing a child's successes to make parenting pleasurable and keep parents and children connected in spite of the challenges they face.
MHALC has plans to screen and train volunteers for the program. "We are looking for volunteers who are articulate and who have shown they can effectively advocate," said Mann. Readers who would like to volunteer may call 717-397-7461. More information about MHALC may be found at http://www.mhalancaster.org.
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