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.

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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

Hold Your Breath

Cancer treatments take up a lot of time. The years of my daughter Lauren’s treatments included CAT scans, MRIs, and radiation treatments along with chemothera...

6 Tips to Help You Cope with Holidays and Special Days

Practice simple traditions that are easy to execute and feel meaningful. There is no one way or right way to celebrate. Set perfection aside and decide what is ...

10 Things to Consider About a Clinical Trial

A clinical trial is a controlled experiment designed to address questions about a condition or disease. The trial seeks to determine whether a medical strategy,...

7 Things Your Patient Families Would Like You to Know

This list is based on a Courageous Parents Network parent blog post We see and feel the stress on you. We suspect that you also feel the fatigue that we do...

6 Things Primary Care Clinicians Can Do To Support Children with Complex Medical Needs

The pediatrician’s engagement has a significant impact on the family’s lived experience. If the pediatrician is disengaged, the family perceives abandonment...

Featured / New

Page

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.
Watch this Video

Guide

Espiritualidad y el Cuido enla Enfermedad Pediátrica

Prácticamente cualquier crisis, incluyendo y quizás especialmente la de tener un hijo/a con una enfermedad grave, suscita muchos tipos de preguntas....

Espiritualidad y el Cuido enla Enfermedad Pediátrica

Guide

Top Lists

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Top Lists

Guide

Spirituality and Caregiving in Pediatric Illness

Virtually any crisis, including and perhaps especially that of having a child with a serious illness, stirs up many kinds of questions. Some parents coping with...

Spirituality and Caregiving in Pediatric Illness

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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Your feedback matters!

We’re conducting a survey this month with parents and caregivers, and we’d love to hear from you. How have you used CPN? What do you find valuable? How can we improve?

As our way of saying thanks, all who finish the survey will receive a $10 Starbucks e-gift card.

If you haven’t already taken the survey, please do so by clicking the link below:

https://app.keysurvey.com/f/41646400/6a39/