Ohio Parent to Parent (P2P) Statewide Mentoring & Support Program
Ohio P2P, an Alliance Member Organization of Parent to Parent USA
What is Ohio P2P?
Find the flyer with more information here. Ohio Parent to Parent (Ohio P2P) is a statewide parent support program. It matches parents, siblings, self-advocates, foster parents, grandparents, etc. who have a family member, of any age, with a disability or special health care need, with an experienced, trained, volunteer support parent. The support parent provides support on needs and issues related to parenting and providing care to a loved one with a disability or special healthcare need. Support is provided via email, phone, virtual communication (e.g. Skype, Zoom, etc.) and/or in-person.
Ohio P2P is staffed by a family member of a person with disability or special health care need. Ohio P2P staff matches families who have diverse experiences, including but not limited to ethnicity, culture, race, language, socio-economic, disability and other child/family related factors with other families for support.
Ohio P2P is part of the statewide Ohio Family to Family Health Information Center (Ohio F2F), based within the University of Cincinnati Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities (UCCEDD). The UCCEDD believes that people with disabilities should and can be active, included and fully participating members of their communities. The UCCEDD’s vision is that all people, including children and adults who have a disability or special healthcare need, and their family members, fully participate in society and live healthy, safe, self-determined and productive lives.
How does it work?
Becoming a Support Parent:
Find the flyer with more information on becoming a support parent here. Support parents are usually individuals who have experience in raising children and providing support to an individual with a disability or special healthcare need. They are knowledgeable about services and resources and are willing to share their experiences with others in a positive, supportive way.
P2P staff will provide training for support parents in a variety of formats including in-person, 1 or 2 shot trainings (either in person or on zoom), and online modules combined with beginning and ending sessions via zoom. Support parents are not expected to be experts and will be trained to know when to refer families to professional services, if necessary. Once trained, the support parent will be entered into an electronic database to be matched with a referred parent.
Becoming a Referred Parent:
A referred parent is a person who would like to connect with another family for support. Some reasons for wanting to connect to a family could be: to learn more about their experience with a diagnosis, assessments and treatments; to talk through barriers; to learn more about how to navigate service systems; if you/your child is new to a diagnosis; if your brother is transitioning from school to adult life community, etc. To be connected to a support person, call the P2P phone line or email P2P to be entered into our database. The matched support parent will then call or email you to connect.
Our Beliefs
We believe:
- that every family’s journey has value.
- in the strength and resiliency of families.
- in the power of families supporting one another.
- supports should be available to families throughout the lifespan.
Our Vision
Our vision is for all Ohio families who have a family member living with a disability and/or special health care need to have access to quality, effective one-to-one, short-term parent support.
Our Mission
Our mission is to connect parents, siblings, self-advocates, foster parents, grandparents, etc. who have a family member living with a disability and/or special health care need with experienced parent mentors for a wide range of conversations that will be helpful for their best parenting/caregiving.
Questions or interest in getting connected as a support or referred parent? Fill out this form and/or Contact Marion, marion.cosgroverauch@cchmc.org or 513-803-5557
