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Stanford Parenting Center

Parents’ Playbook for Responding to Kids’ Mental Health Needs

When a child has a mental health issue, the first solution a family pursues is often therapy for that child. But waitlists for in-person services are often frustratingly long. Studies show that parenting interventions can be as effective—if not more effective—in treating children’s mental health than those that focus directly on the child.

Partnering with Parents to Change a Mental Health Paradigm

Allan* says that the Stanford Parenting Center (SPC) was a lifeline for his family during extraordinarily difficult times: Two children diagnosed with ADHD, his wife’s cancer diagnosis, and a teen struggling with substance abuse left him overwhelmed trying to keep his family afloat.

Parents like Allan are essential in preventing—and overcoming—mental health issues. By equipping moms and dads with science-backed parenting interventions, SPC can decrease the skyrocketing rates of youth mental health issues. We need your help in this effort.

Thanks to philanthropic support, SPC provides fee based and free workshops and online tools. And, because we know that parents can’t care for their children if they themselves are in crisis, we take a holistic approach that emphasizes parent wellness.

Research shows that this new model of including parents in the treatment of their children’s mental health works. We want to increase access and visibility to our essential services through innovative, high-tech methods, and be there for our parenting community.

*Name changed to protect privacy.

“Raising kids is harder than ever. Have you ever heard the expression, ‘I just wish my baby came with an instruction manual’? Well, after my experience, I believe that the Stanford Parenting Center is the closest you can get to an instruction manual.”

Allan, father of three
Cartoon silhouette of a human profile picture. This is acting as a placeholder image until we can get a real photo of this Ambassador Board Member.

Clinical Associate Professor. Dr. Reichert understands how a child’s mental health challenges can impact an entire family. She believes with early intervention and the right support, so much can be done to mitigate the long-term impacts of a child’s health and well-being.

Clinical Associate Professor. An early life-changing event for Dr. Kurahashi provided firsthand experience with mental health challenges and inspired her to pursue a career in helping children and families foster resiliency.

Opportunities for Impact

The Stanford Parenting Center provides vital support to families facing rising rates of mental health challenges. You can make all the difference as we broaden our reach to more families in need. We want to:

Expand online tools.

Our online programs increase access to mental health support and provide remarkable flexibility. Help us build this innovative approach to cover topics like anxiety, ADHD, and challenging behaviors, among other common pediatric mental health concerns.

Provide scholarship support for families.

Some of the Parenting Center’s classes are fee-based, and your gifts can reduce or waive the costs for families in need. Ensure every parent can access our expertise, no matter their financial circumstances.

Support research and assessment.

By sustaining and expanding our training program, we can broaden our research initiatives to continue to evaluate the impact of our digital health programming and ensure everything we offer is evidence-based.

Spread the word.

Marketing and social media efforts will let families know we are here for them and are a key component to disseminating crucial information. Additionally, we hope to build partnerships with medical centers across the country to help as many families as we can.

Improve the Well-Being of Children and Teens

With your help, the Stanford Parenting Center will become an international leader, getting evidence-based tools into the hands of more parents.