When more and more diagnoses were added to the already challenging list of mental disorders Gina Grundmeier’s two children had, she needed some place to turn to for help.

She called the Parent to Parent help line, a free service now provided by Austin’s Parenting Resource Center, and was connected with coordinator Norma Klaehn.

Between Grundmeier’s two children, ages 9 and 15, have Asperger’s, depression, anxiety, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and other conditions.

“Initially, it started by my calling,” Grundmeier said. “I had kind of a sense of hopelessness.”

About 1 1/2 years ago, PRC took over the help line from the Interagency Early Intervention Committee, and through training and recruitment, found a variety of volunteers to serve as mentors. When a caller dials the toll-free number, they explain their problem and are connected with a parent who has dealt with the particular disability.

“We have 22 trained parent mentors who will reach out to other parents with disabilities,” Klaehn explained.

Now a Parent to Parent mentor herself, Grundmeier wanted to use her experience to help others. Klaehn asked her to become a mentor.

“I’m a reader; I’m a researcher,” Grundmeier said. “I was extremely willing. I can say I’ve been there.”

Another mentor, Mary Barinka, also began with the Parent to Parent line when seeking information 5 1/2 years ago for her daughter, Meg, who has autism.

“I think being on the listening end is good,” Barinka said. “That’s a very comforting thing — to know you’re not alone in this.”

Klaehn points out that not only is the Parent to Parent line confidential, but it helps out parents who are often at their wit’s end. Some have just discovered their infant or young child has a disability, and don’t even know how to begin.

“The child comes first, and then the diagnosis or the label,” explained Klaehn, who has a son, 57, with Down’s Syndrome.

Since Klaehn began seeking help years ago for her son, she has seen many doors open for people with special needs.

“When he was a baby, they wanted us to place him in Faribault (State Hospital) and forget about him,” she said.

But times have changed, Klaehn believes, and there are more resources for parents.

“This is a wonderful community,” she said. “Mower County does have a wonderful program for handicapped people.”

Klaehn said the mentors really get a satisfaction from enduring their hardships and using that gained knowledge to lend a hand.

The reward, she said, is after a call when a mentor can say, “Wow, that made me feel good.”

The toll-free phone number for the WarmLine/Parent to Parent is (888) 584-2204.

It is a free service and available for residents in Mower and Freeborn counties. Parent to Parent is staffed from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. seven days a week.

The Parenting Resource Center is located at 301 North Main St. in the lower level of the US Bank building. For more information, visit www.familiesandcommunities.org.

SIDEBAR

Mentors available for Parent to Parent help line

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

Autism Spectrum Disorder

Cerebral Palsy

Cleft Lip and Palate

Death of a teenage child

Developmental Delay

Down’s Syndrome

Dyslexia

Epilepsy

Language delay

Learning disabled

Legally blind

Mental health issues

Pervasive Developmental Disorder

Seizure Disorder

Speech impairment

Stillborn

Schizophrenia

Reactive Detachment Disorder