No one prepares you for this.

If your kid has been in an ER, on a hold, or in a psychiatric hospital, you already know the parts nobody warns you about. The waiting. The acronyms. The staff who seem unbothered by the worst night of your life. Driving home without your child.

And then the part nobody sees at all, weeks later, when the house is quiet and you are still replaying their whole childhood at two in the morning.

What the four weeks are

Four weeks with the same small group of parents, led by two therapists who have lived a version of this ourselves. You do not have to talk, and you do not have to explain the whole story before someone understands it. Across the four weeks:

• Other parents who are in it. The relief of not having to explain the backstory before someone understands you.

• A map of the system. What a hold actually is, how discharge planning works, what an IEP or a 504 does, what to ask for and who to ask.

• Language for what is happening with your kid, so the diagnoses and the medications stop being a language you do not speak.

• Practical ways to steady yourself, and to help your kid steady themselves. This is the part that keeps working after the group ends.

• Room for your marriage, which is carrying this too.

Who it’s for

Parents of a child struggling with their mental health. You might be in the hospital right now, or just home, or a year down the road and still not okay. One parent or both.

Your child may be in treatment now, including an intensive outpatient program, or you may be finding your footing after a crisis.

You do not need a diagnosis, a referral, or a plan. You need to be a parent who is in it.

A few things to know

This is support for parents. Your child’s own treatment stays with their treatment team, and this group sits alongside it.

It is not a parenting class, and it is not an evaluation of how you have parented.

What is said in the group stays in the group.

This is not crisis care, and we do not provide emergency services. If you or your child are in immediate danger, call 911, or call or text 988.

The details

Format. In person in San Clemente and Aliso Viejo, or online.

Length. Four weeks, closed cohort. The same group of people each week.

Size. Six to ten parents in person. Online cohorts may run a little larger, with smaller breakout circles.

Scheduling. New cohorts form as interest comes in. Times and locations are set around each group, so the interest list is how a cohort gets built.

Who leads it

Ryan and Jennie Denney are both Registered Associate Marriage and Family Therapists. We are married, we work with families, and we have lived a version of this ourselves. That is part of why we run this group.

Adding your name does not commit you to anything. It tells us you are interested and puts you on the list for the next cohort. We will email you when one is forming.