Who We Are

Since 1972, when the organization was founded as Parents Anonymous Organization of Massachusetts, Parents Helping Parents (PHP) has offered hope and support to thousands parents.

PHP's mission is to promote and support healthy parent/child relationships and break the cycle of child abuse through peer-led, professionally facilitated mutual help groups which provide a nurturing, non-judgmental environment in which to improve family relationships.

Over the years, PHP has offered comfort, reassurance, and the promise of change to parents who care deeply about their relationships with their children.

How We Work
Parents Helping Parents - The Roundtable of Support consists of a network of mutual support groups that meet weekly in communities across the state.

Parents join PHP groups for a variety of reasons, but all parents who join care deeply about their children, and want to improve their parenting skills and family relationships. Group members work together to ensure that each parent member has the tools and support necessary to make these changes.

Groups are jointly facilitated by a parent leader and a trained facilitator, who often has a professional background in counseling, group dynamics, and/or child development. All groups are "parent run." This means that members take the lead in helping each other talk about their frustrations, identify problem areas and explore different ways of dealing with difficulties in their everyday lives.

What Is Asked of Each Participant?
Each parent who joins a PHP group is asked to listen and share of himself or herself openly and honestly. Each member is also asked to protect the anonymity of fellow participants and to keep the contents of the meetings confidential.

On a practical level, there are no membership fees required of group participants. Meetings are free and are held weekly for approximately two hours. A parent can join for a few weeks or for several years. PHP meetings do not take the place of individual counseling or therapy; in fact, many parents who join a group receive the social and emotional support that empowers them to take part in other services.

Our Philosophy
The vision for Parents Helping Parents - The Roundtable of Support was based on the belief that, given the right circumstances - a safe, nonjudgmental environment, an opportunity to learn and practice skills, and the support to make the commitment to change - individuals will be able to live healthier and more loving lives as members of their families and their communities. This safe environment cannot be created by one individual; it takes a combination of leadership, collective wisdom, mutual support, and trust. All of these are found - and flourish - in a Parents Helping Parents group.

Our History
Parents Helping Parents - the Roundtable of Support was founded in 1972 as the Parents Anonymous Organization of Massachusetts, Inc. Parents Anonymous itself was founded in 1970 by Jolly K., a courageous parent, and Leonard Lieber, an innovative licensed clinical social worker. Jolly K., herself abused as a child, had been placed in more than thirty foster homes and institutions by her eighteenth birthday. Jolly became the mother of three children, one of whom bore the brunt of the anger she had been carrying since childhood. Jolly tried to find help for herself and her daughter, and eventually confronted the staff at a local social service office. Jolly's message was heard, and she was introduced to Leonard Lieber, who began a series of traditional counseling sessions. As Jolly and Leonard struggled unsuccessfully to gain control of Jolly's abusive parenting, Jolly came up with the idea of meeting with other mothers who were in a similar situation. Together, in Jolly's kitchen, Jolly and Leonard formed and led the first mutual support group for parents under severe stress.

Gradually, over the next three decades, a network of mutual support groups for parents grew and flourished in Massachusetts. The Massachusetts' state resource office and hotline were housed in Boston, and six regional offices were formed to support local groups across the state. In 1999, the Board of Directors of Parents Anonymous of Massachusetts voted to become an independent organization with a new name: Parents Helping Parents - The Roundtable of Support.

Parent Support Groups - 1-800-882-1250

Parental Stress Line - 1-800-632-8188