The Parent To Parent Model
The Parent to Parent Model of providing support to parents who have a family member with a disability is a systematic approach of matching experienced or "veteran" parents of a family member with a disability with new or "referred" parents who are just beginning to meet the challenges of a disability within the family. Through this one-to-one match, the veteran parent is often able to provide the referred parents with meaningful emotional and informational support. Because veteran parents have "been there" and experienced the many intense emotional responses that accompany a diagnosis of a disability and have adjusted to and come to understand the disability, they are in a unique position to establish a meaningful bond with referred parents and to offer something other support systems cannot--shared common experiences.

The one-to-one match between a veteran parent and a referred parent is usually based on similarities in disability, age of child, location, and similar family experiences. Once the initial meeting has occurred, usually by phone, the on-going relationship develops according to the needs and preferences of the referred parent. Some matches are short-term, consisting of only 2 or 3 contacts. Others evolve into lifelong friendships.

Many thanks to Parent to Parent of Arc King County, Washington and videographer Jennifer Pariseau for creating this short You Tube video on the 1-1 Model of Support for families.

Published on Sep 17, 2014
The One to One Model is discussed in this 8 minute video. It is employed in Parent to Parent programs across the USA as a way to support parents of children with special needs. The video contains interviews with professionals and parents and gives an overall view of the model and the process included within it.