CPN | Courageous Parents Network
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WELCOME.

Courageous Parents Network is a non-profit organization and educational platform that orients, empowers and accompanies families and providers caring for children with serious illness.

 

Here—in videos, podcasts, printable guides, Guided Pathways, and blog—you will find wisdom from families and pediatric care providers to help you get through each moment. And be the best parent you can be.

Intro Video

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The Beginning

The Beginning

With a diagnosis you enter a strange new land. There is information to absorb; there are questions to ask and decisions to make. Your hopes, dreams and expectations for your child and family suddenly shift in unanticipated ways. You may feel sadness, anger, frustration and grief. But you may also experience new joys as you redefine hope. You are not alone. We have been there too.
Advocating for Your Child

Advocating for Your Child

You are your child’s most important advocate. You are the expert on your child. Your child’s care team (medical team, home care team, supportive therapists and school community) will look to you for guidance. Knowing the questions to ask, feeling comfortable expressing what matters most for your child and family, and developing an open channel of communication with your providers will help you get your child get the care you envision.
Understanding Interventions

Understanding Interventions

So much to learn and consider. Over the course of your child’s illness journey, you may be faced with choices about a range of medical interventions (such as surgeries, treatments or therapies). There is often no one or right answer—only what works for your child and family. The perspectives of providers and other families that have considered these interventions can help in making you feel more comfortable and confident in your decisions.
Coping, Family, and Relationships

Coping, Family, and Relationships

When a child is sick, the entire family is affected. You may worry about your other children, your spouse or parenting partner, extended family members, and even yourself. You wonder, “How can I keep myself and my relationships strong?”. Finding ways to tend to these relationships, and to care for yourself, will help you better care for your child.
End of Life and Bereavement

End of Life and Bereavement

The possibility of your child's end of life may feel like an impossible thing to think about. Hearing from other parents who have walked this path can help you consider the questions that you may have but perhaps fear saying aloud. Learning from providers and getting practical information can help you feel more empowered to make what may feel like impossible decisions. The voices of bereaved parents can be a source of strength and community as you find your way. We know. We have been there too.

Pathways

CPN content organized into learning experiences, by topic.

Guided exploration may help you better understand a particular topic and how you want to address it in your own family’s life. Each Pathway is a short learning experience that mixes in videos, text, blogs and podcasts.

Learn More

The Courageous Parents Network Blog

She awaits my return all the time.

This May 9 marks the 20th anniversary of my daughter Cameron’s death. It is also Mother’s Day. The overlap of Cameron’s anniversary and Mother’s Day hap...

A Balancing Act of Joy and Grief

Losing a child isn’t just losing a child. It is also losing your dreams, your current existence, and your future. It is adding a million additional worries to...

The Grieving Tree. The Tree that Grounds Me.

I've been gazing out my window at this tree -  a lot, like for the past ten months. The same ten months since my son Lucas left us. It's not a special tree. It...

Caring for the Caregiver

“This disease is either going to kill him, or it’s going to kill me.” I uttered these exasperated words to my counselor approximately eight weeks before c...

Super-powered Grief

I think all of fiction stems from asking the question,  “What if things were different?” The sub-genre, science fiction adds a layer  by asking, “What i...

Featured / New

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Resources to Support Courageous Coping During COVID

During this surreal and deeply unsettling time brought on by the COVID-19 virus and what essentially amounts to the shutting down of the entire world, I want to...

Resources to Support Courageous Coping During COVID

Video

CPN talks with counselor Mary-Frances Garber on staying calm and strong in the shadow of COVID.

CPN’s Blyth Lord talks with counselor Mary-Frances Garber, MS, CGC, on staying calm and strong in the shadow of COVID. “Anxiety is, really, fear o

CPN talks with counselor Mary-Frances Garber on staying calm and strong in the shadow of COVID.
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Provider

Kathie Kobler, PhD, APRN, PCNS-BC, CHPPN, FPCN, FAAN

Advanced practice nurse with clinical and teaching experience in perinatal, neonatal, pediatric palliative and bereavement care....

Kathie Kobler, PhD, APRN, PCNS-BC, CHPPN, FPCN, FAAN
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Video Topic

Pregnancy After Child Loss

Pregnancy After Child Loss
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Family

Lynette

Mother of Anderson “Andy” and Zach (and Jamie). Lynette is pregnant with Jamie at the time of this interview. Andy was born with Marfan Syndrome and died a

Lynette
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We are a non-profit and are grateful for your financial support so families can share their experience and expertise to impact the course of care, both given and received.

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