Kristen Kaiser, Executive Program Director, started the TJS Parent Support Group meeting in 2019 to help provide some support and community to the Families of TJS. Our meetings are via Zoom, an online platform that allows parents to participate from home or office during the lunch hour, when their child is at school.
The first meeting was including introductions of parents and research on the importance of having peer-to-peer parent support. Topics for the year were discussed and group norms for the forum were established. This fall’s meeting was about the grief cycle and disability, and how those different phases of coping impact how families are communicating and interacting with intervention teams in parents’ lives. In January, we had Luke Wheeler from the Arc of Arapahoe and Douglas Counties spoke with us about transitioning to adult services.
Each meeting is about one hour and includes an interactive presentation and time for questions and conversation among parents. Sessions are recorded and archived on the TJS website for families to view if they could not make the session live.
Kristen Kaiser has a passion for supporting families and is the founder of The Living Spectrum support group. As Family Discipline Director and Faculty at JFK Partners for the past 11 years, Kristen has worked on research and programming to help create the Colorado Parent Mentoring Program, and with the WIND Center at the University of Wyoming to bring an online support group platform to families in rural communities across Wyoming. She is excited to bring parent support to TJS.
