THE IMPACT OF OUR SERVICES
MORE FUNDING - WILL HELP US SUPPORT AND SKILL ONE MILLION PARENTS BY 2026
PMH exists to skill and support parents through the unique challenge that is supporting a child with a mental health issue. We provide vital resources, training, guides, information and crucially, the connection and support to make it through each day – we believe that parents have the power the change the outcomes for their family and for future generations.
Established in 2016 by Suzanne Alderson, PMH started as a Facebook Community group aiming to reach out to, and connect parents who felt isolated and ill-equipped to deal with the situation they faced. Within 2 years, 3000 people had joined the group. When Facebook recognised Suzanne as one of 100 community leaders to join their Community Leadership Programme, a period of rapid growth ensued. Here's an overview of how our groups and other services have had impact.
HOW DONATIONS HELP
Parenting Mental Health focuses its services under three pillars – Support, Skill and Inform – designed to support and empower parents in an accessible way, as they navigate their child’s mental health issues. We offer FREE access to our services at any time of day or night, on a global scale. Funding helps us deliver projects across each of these 3 areas.
SUPPORT
FACEBOOK COMMUNITY
Our private Facebook community offers parents a safe space to share their experiences and gain support.
LISTENING CIRCLES
Listening circles is a six-week programme for parents providing essential face-to-face contact with other parents (with lived experience), managed by trained facilitators. Generous funding has enabled us to train for, and run this vital programme. The results from parents are startling:
CHAT AND CONNECT
Chat and connect are daily 'drop in' calls, where parents can access instant face-to-face support from trained facilitators. They are a crucial point of support to help reduce a parent's feeling of being alone in the challenges they are facing. We aim to be no more than 24hrs away from a 'live' conversation.
"PMH has got me through some really tough times and the support has been deeply appreciated. It has helped me build connections with other parents in similar situations and helped me understand how I can best support my children's needs".
TRAINING FOR VOLUNTEERS
Thanks to the generosity of Global's 'Make Some Noise' campaign, we have recruited a Volunteer & Community Development Manager, who supports and cares for our 200+ volunteers, ensuring PMH can continue to thrive.
RESPITE CARE
With special thanks to The Helen Hamlyn Trust, we're able to provide 10 parents with a 2-night respite wellbeing retreat, taking place in September 2023. The retreat will offer our parents the chance to rest and recharge, reflect on their journey with our meditative and healing sessions, and connect with others who are navigating similar challenges.
SKILL
PARTNERING NOT PARENTING BITE-SIZED
We created a bite-sized introduction to our Partnering not Parenting course to help more parents understand the principles of the course, at a pace to suit them. Our entire bite-sized course was funded by the Stephen Lloyd Award, and will help to ensure we continue to support many more parents in the future.
PARTNERING NOT PARENTING PROGRAMME
We make our Partnering not Parenting course accessible in 3 ways:
- Via the book 'Never Let Go', written by our founder, Suzanne Alderson
- Through our bite-sized films, which help parents understand our principles and begin to make changes at home, or help them understand what our full course entails
- Via an 8-week online course, which was developed to help parents reflect on their own behaviours and reactions, in order to help them support their child at home and navigate the journey of poor mental health together, more closely.
INFORM
OUR WEBSITE
With more than 12,000 active users in the last 12 months our website houses most of the guidance, resources and information we share with parents to help support them during their child's mental health journey. As we continue to grow, we are constantly updating and adding to our existing resources, and this is an area where we need to invest continuous funding - could you help us?
OUR GUIDES & BOOKS
Our guides and books are an essential part of how we deliver information and support to parents, particularly if they are not ready to join our community and explore our more contact-led support services. We want to commission legal, educational and social writers to develop more guides for parents. If you can support this project with knowledge or funding, we'd love to hear from you.
