4 minute read
A Letter to our Community
FROM SUZANNE BENDICK, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF ROOTS FAMILY COLLABORATIVE
A few months ago, as I was walking to the Roots Family Collaborative office to facilitate a Blossom Mom group, I listened to a podcast a friend shared with me about the latest Surgeon General’s Advisory, titled Parents Under Pressure
If you’re like me and are already wondering how parenting could be the focus of a “a public statement that calls the American people’s attention to an urgent public health issue,” you’re not alone.
For a moment I felt overwhelmed and heavy — an advisory on parenting? How could something as sacred and tender as raising a family now be a potential health risk? I think if you stick with me, you will come to realize (and maybe celebrate) how dedicated this community is to supporting new and expecting families.
Later that evening, while reading the lengthy warning online, I learned, “advisories are reserved for significant public health challenges that require the nation’s immediate awareness and action,” and I had a light bulb moment.
I thought to myself, yes, exactly – all parents need immediate (and in my opinion preventative) awareness and action. All parents need to be the focus of their communities because, like our Surgeon General so eloquently stated, “Raising children is sacred work. It should matter to all of us.”
Like we always say at Roots, all parents need care and attention during this stage in life because support is not a luxury, rather a necessary part of growing your family.
On page one of the advisory, I was hit with the statistic, “In 2023, 33% of parents reported high levels of stress in the past month compared to 20% of other adults,” and sadly, if I’m being honest, I wasn’t all that surprised.
As I dug a little deeper, I became oddly energized and hopeful because of the dedication of providers in this community who care so deeply about new and expecting families, and the commitment of Roots Family Collaborative to connect families to the support they need from preconception to parenthood.
Since the very beginning, our programs at Roots have been guided by the recently released focus areas of this advisory including, “reducing stress and protecting the mental health and well-being of parents.” We know healthy communities begin with healthy families who are connected to the right resources at the right time.
For eight years, Roots has existed to connect parents to each other, parents to resources and resources to one another through a variety of programs, events and our well-respected and widely shared Perinatal Resource Guide, which is tucked into this issue of Montana Parent magazine.
The compilation of this annual Resource Guide is a big lift and one of the most important aspects of our work at Roots through our new Provider Collaborative, a professional network for providers in Gallatin and Park Counties. Both parents and providers look forward to its release each January because it is a starting point for families to find the support they need, as well as an important referral tool for providers working in this stage of life. It breaks down the stigma for new and expecting families and normalizes reaching out for help.
My hope is that by continuing to raise awareness, making space to talk about the hard things, connecting folks to the resources they need, while combating the stigma of reaching out for support, we can alleviate some of the intense pressure we are all feeling and create a culture that is supportive of new and expecting families. In all honesty, I could not be more proud to be part of a community dedicated to the important cultural shifts needed in order to make parenting sustainable and to enable parents and caregivers to thrive.
I encourage you to give the Perinatal Resource Guide a look, not because you are struggling but because you are human.
If you have any questions or cannot find what you are looking for, please reach out to our team at Roots by emailing hello@rootsfamilycollaborative.com or by calling 406-224-5530.
