Finding Common Ground: Parents Speak Out About Family-Centered Practices

This article offers providers and family-centered systems of care helpful strategies for inviting effective working relationships with parents of young children with mental health concerns based on recommendations provided by parents. These recommendations resulted from a participatory action research project grounded in a narrative therapy approach to exploring three aspects of family-centered practices: (1) effective help-giving, (2) meaningful parent involvement, and (3) parent-to-parent support. Co-researchers—whether parent or professional—shared personal stories and reflections from the perspective of service seekers, and examined their experiences of power relations. This qualitative study demonstrates how cross-pollinating narrative therapy and participatory action research can contribute to knowledge about more equitable participative relationships between seekers of human services and providers and planners of these services.