![How to run parent-to-parent support](/sites/default/files/styles/stories_header_image/public/migrate/files/Peer%2Bsupport%2Bpostcard_JPEG.jpg?h=0173be28&itok=ShVuqHVj)
How to run parent-to-parent support
By Louise Kinross
Parenting a child with a complex, life-threatening medical condition and disabilities is stressful and isolating.
Some of the best support comes from other parents—whether it’s families sharing practical or emotional support on a hospital unit or a formal program that brings parents together.
Holland Bloorview’s Peer Support Best Practice Toolkit combines firsthand parent stories, peer-support models, case studies of Ontario programs, FAQs (and answers!) and a review of the research for parents and professionals wanting to start a group.
“Through case studies and talking to families we shed light on the very unique experience of families with very complex children,” says Julia Schippke, a knowledge broker on the Evidence To Care team at Holland Bloorview.
The toolkit was funded by the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care. You can download it at the link. Section one of four gives a good overview of the project.
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