Parent peer support is built on a simple but powerful idea: Families facing challenges can benefit from someone who has traveled a similar path. In a recent Families as Allies conversation, Director of Family-Driven Practice Henry Moore and Nikki Flippins spoke with Certified Parent Peer Supporter Tara Manning about how her own experiences as a parent shape the way she supports other families.
Manning’s path to parent peer support grew from her experience advocating for her own son. She explained that when he was younger, teachers and other school staff noticed behavioral and academic concerns. Rather than ignoring those concerns, Manning had him tested and began working to help him navigate his challenges and manage his mental health diagnosis. That experience taught her firsthand what families may encounter as they work with schools, health care providers and other systems. Today, she can draw on those experiences when helping other parents find knowledge, tools, strategies and interventions that can help them advocate for their own children.
Moore asked Manning to reflect on what she has gained from doing that work: “What are some of the joys and learning moments you’ve had while supporting other families?” Manning said one of the greatest rewards is helping parents understand that they are not alone. Parent peer supporters can help families navigate systems ranging from education and juvenile justice to the Mississippi Department of Human Services and other agencies and organizations. Manning has also experienced how difficult that advocacy can be, including challenges obtaining needed medication for her son. Her experience taught her to keep looking for solutions and to know whom to contact when a family encounters barriers.
Supporting others while caring for your own family can also take a toll, and Manning emphasized the importance of having support herself. She described relying on her mother and three brothers, talking through day-to-day challenges and finding ways to give herself a break through activities such as shopping, listening to music and playing games on her phone. That support and self-care help sustain her in both her roles as a parent and a peer supporter.
For parents considering peer support services, and for people considering becoming peer supporters themselves, Manning offered encouragement based on what the work has meant to her: “I would strongly advise them to, because you never know who you’ll meet on this journey, and it’s all about one parent helping another parent.”
Near the end of the conversation, Moore asked Manning to describe herself as a parent peer supporter in just three words. She chose “compassionate, empathetic and supportive” as qualities that capture the personal connection at the heart of peer support.
Families can face complicated systems, difficult decisions and stressful days, but a parent peer supporter brings something distinctive to that experience: the perspective of someone who understands many of those challenges firsthand. By sharing that lived experience, parent peer supporters can walk alongside families, help them navigate systems and remind them that they do not have to make the journey alone.
