Our Parental Mental Health Support for Survivors program is going strong! We are happy to announce that we are now accepting intake applications for the cohort starting in January 2025. Are you a parent or caregiver impacted by low income and lack of access to mental health support as you navigate parenting and life after surviving family violence? If so, please join us for our online January cohort offering a series of workshops followed by peer support meetings for six full months of healing, learning, and support alongside other survivors.
UPDATE: Registration for the January cohort is now full. If you wish to sign up to hear about upcoming cohorts please fill in our Expression of Interest form here.
About the Program
The Parental Mental Health Support for Survivors program aims to support parents and caregivers impacted by intimate partner and family violence by providing evidence-based coping practices and fostering long-term social connections for participants.
The support program is now entirely online and consists of six online workshops offered every other Saturday morning over a three-month period. The therapeutic workshop series is followed by three months of online bi-weekly peer support meetings led by a designated peer facilitator.
The program will provide strategies for coping, growth, and recovery that can be integrated into daily life between and after the workshop series. The support program offers a consistent, structured program where participants feel safe to attend as they are. Particpants will be supported to share, heal and grow within the structure of a compassionate, nonjudgmental group setting with peers who are experiencing similar challenges. Workshops will honour the experiences of all participants while respecting differences and protecting the mental health of all members of the group. We will focus on the collective goals of growth, recovery, and the rebuilding of self-worth and hope.
Six therapeutic workshops facilitated and designed by a licensed clinical counsellor will cover the following topics:
- Emotional regulation and nervous system grounding with concrete exercises.
- Coping and communication strategies in high-conflict situations.
- Building social connections to support intimate partner and family violence recovery.
- Strategies and skills for parenting in challenging transitions.
- Self-empowerment and self-advocacy.
- Goal-setting and future focus.
We will run another cohort from January to June 2025.
All workshops are mandatory.
Workshop Dates:
- Saturday, January 11th 10 am to 12:30 pm
- Saturday, January 25th 10 am to 12:30 pm
- Saturday, February 8th, 10 am to 12:30 pm
- Saturday, February 22nd 10 am to 12:30 pm
- Saturday, March 8th 10 am to 12:30 pm
- Saturday, March 22nd 10 am to 12:30 pm
Six facilitated peer support meetings will provide:
- On-going healing and support in a supportive peer-based setting.
- Social connectivity and connection through difficult times.
- Scheduled for a week night evening that works for group.
- Start after the workshops finish.
Online peer support meetings will take place bi-weekly on a weekday evening after dinnertime from 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm. The peer support meetings are an optional extension to the workshops and participants can access them for the three month period on an as-needed basis but we hope all participate fully.
Please note that a participant can take only the program once.
Information About the Application Process
The program has space for 8-10 participants. The Centre for Family Equity will meet with the first 10 who apply for an initial 20-minute intake session by Zoom led by the program facilitator. After you sign up, we will reach out to book the intake online session.
Filling in this registration form and/or attending an intake session does not guarantee a space in the program. The selection of participants is at the full discretion of the Centre for Family Equity and program facilitors. Applicants will be considered generally but not exclusively on a first-come first served basis. All intake sessions will be held in confidence with the program facilitator and no data will be collected and stored from the intake session. If you have questions or thoughts about the intake process please get in touch: [email protected].
We are so glad you have come forward. Thank you for your interest in the Parental Mental Health Support for Survivors program and we look forward to connecting with you!