AdventHealth Shawnee Mission Launches ParentCare

November 16, 2021 — AdventHealth Shawnee Mission is pleased to announce ParentCare – a new, free one-stop resource developed in partnership with the Raised with Love and Limits Foundation. Now, all parents have to do is call Call913-632-4206 to connect one-on-one with ParentCare experts and receive trusted, personal advice and practical guidance to concerns about their children of all ages or themselves. This is the first program of its kind in the Kansas City metropolitan area.

ParentCare provides adults with coaching, advice, resources and education. It is free to the community, thanks to financial support from the AdventHealth Foundation Shawnee Mission. The goal is to provide support for families to help build nurturing adult-child relationships that have been demonstrated to prevent toxic stress and help lower the risk of bullying, obesity, depression, drug addiction, anxiety, heart disease, cancer and suicide throughout life, as documented by the CDC-Kaiser Permanente Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Study.

One of the tools available is Behavior Checker®, which offers immediate advice, answers and encouragement for responding to over 150 common child behaviors. Additional services include referrals, free classes, virtual coach-led “coffee talks” and more. ParentCare is a community benefit designed to improve health equity and create better outcomes for children and families.

“We developed this program with input from parents in the community. The initial response and excitement for ParentCare has been very positive and showed a clear need for this service,” said Tricia Rausch, RN, Program Coordinator of Postpartum Emotional Support for AdventHealth Shawnee Mission. “Parents are excited to have a place to call to ask questions, gather resources, compare experiences and discuss the challenges of parenting today.”

ParentCare was developed with guidance from Barbara Unell, parent educator and author, and founder of the Raised with Love and Limits Foundation. Parents can go online 24/7 and use the Behavior Checker digital parenting tool and get advice on how to respond to more than 150 common, everyday behaviors of toddlers to teens—from tantrums to eye-rolling—and help foster resiliency and buffer adversity. The program also offers coach-led coffee talk sessions, workshops and a variety of parenting-related classes.

“Having spent my career working with parents and families, I’ve seen firsthand how valuable practical, proven and personal answers are to the mental and physical wellbeing of families,” said Unell. “I’m grateful to partner with AdventHealth to develop this resource for the community.”

ParentCare includes:

• Parenting advice, coaching and Behavior Checker featuring advice for responding to more than 150 common children’s behaviors
• Postpartum and parental emotional support, including information about AdventHealth Shawnee Mission’s postpartum support group
• Breastfeeding support and a breastfeeding warm line, where you can speak with a Board-certified lactation consultant seven days a week by calling Call913-632-4330
• Parent groups, events and classes held at AdventHealth facilities in the Kansas City metropolitan area
• Information from the Britain Development program that involves family in the process of therapeutic treatment and education for children with special needs from birth through six years of age
• Behavioral Health services offering individualized treatment options for parents, grandparents and caregivers.

“It is exciting because there is truly not another program out there like this one,” said Rausch. “Parenting is the toughest job, but also the most rewarding. We are honored to provide families with this whole-person care approach on their parenting journey.”

To learn more about AdventHealth ParentCare, visit AdventHealthKC.com/ParentCare or call Call913-632-4206.