Hope for Hurting Parents Support Group Facilitator Guide

The Hope for Hurting Parents Facilitator Guide is to be used to start a support group for parents with broken hearts due to the choices and behaviors of their teen to adult children. The Facilitator Guide includes everything that’s needed to get started, plus twenty-two sessions; enough for a whole year if the group meets twice a month (once in November and December). How often you meet is up to you.This guide includes decisions to make before you start your group, practical tips, group guidelines, a sample timeline, ice breaker questions, prayer strategies, and testimonies. The topics of the sessions are: grief and loss, enabling, guilt, fear, detachment, worry and anxiety, anger, resentment, letting go, expectations, guarding your marriage, guarding your family, powerlessness and control, communication, waiting, surviving the holidays, courageous love, forgiveness, thankfulness, self-care, hope, and resilience. Each is a stand-alone session and can be used in any order. It also has a list of recommended books, websites, and other resources.A Parent Notebook is also available to order for group members. It contains the same notes that are in the Facilitator Guide without the instructions. Pages for journaling are at the end of each session. Recommended books are listed at the back. Hope for Hurting Parents support groups are not high content-driven. The focus is on being safe, confidential, loving communities where parents can be real, share their feelings with others who understand, won’t think less of them or give pat answers. This is a group where they can find the comfort, encouragement, and hope they need.The emphasis is put on facilitating rather than leading. Your role is not as a teacher or instructor, but a fellow parent sharing content, asking open-ended questions, guiding discussion. You aren’t expected to know everything or have your act together. We’re all fellow strugglers on the same heartbreaking path. Authenticity and a willingness to be vulnerable with your trials, is your best asset. This material is written from a Christian worldview. Our ultimate source of help has been Jesus Christ. These groups are not Bible studies or prayer meetings, but the Scriptures are used and discussed, and a time of prayer is encouraged.Support groups are a powerful way to bring parents from surviving to thriving. They draw them out of isolation as they journey through some of the most difficult times of their lives. By giving yourself as a facilitator of a Hope for Hurting Parents group you will receive the same comfort, encouragement, and hope. Request a free sample at HopeForHurtingParents.com. Read more