Past

In 1970, Jolly K., a parent under severe stress, together with her therapist, Leonard Lieber, started the first Parents Anonymous group in California.  Jolly came up with the idea that talking to other parents might help her deal with her children.  In 1972, Mike Turner, Clinical Director at Parents and Children’s Services in Boston, heard about PA and contacted Jolly K. to learn more about how it worked.  Mike, along with Joan Wheeler, a PCS board member, successfully established the first Parents Anonymous group in Massachusetts.   Parents Anonymous of Massachusetts (now Parents Helping Parents) became its own organization in 1979.  That same year Parents and Children’s Services began the Parental Stress Line, a 24-hour helpline for those parents too afraid or distrustful to reach out for support from traditional social service organizations.  Soon the Parental Stress Line received 14,000 calls a year.  The two programs merged in 2005 and are the sole programs of Parents Helping Parents. 

In 1999, PHP became the Massachusetts chapter of Circle of Parents® a national network of parent leaders and 26 non-profit organizations that are dedicated to using the mutual self-help support group model as a means of preventing child abuse and neglect and strengthening families.  Circle of Parents® provides training and technical assistance to its chapters around the country.  Learn more about Circle of Parents on their website at www.circleofparents.org.

Present

Parents Helping Parents is a small non-profit with more than one-third of its Board of Directors made up of parents from the Parent Support Groups.  We support a tradition of parent leadership by providing the most empowering and respectful manner of parent support in Massachusetts.  The Parent Support Groups are located throughout the state; usually there is one within reach of everyone.  The Parental Stress Line also serves all of Massachusetts.  It operates 24 hours a day.  A small but dedicated staff is committed to getting the word out so that more parents take advantage of these free and confidential services.

Future