Case Study: Karen

Karen* had been in touch with her son’s Probation Officer, worried about her children’s’ behaviour and said that she felt helpless to manage their behaviour. The Probation Officer contacted the Co-ordinator of Le Chéile to get a Parent Mentor to support Karen.

At the initial meeting, the co-ordinator encouraged Karen to set goals for her family, but also for herself and was matched with a parent mentor, Joan. Karen and Joan met every week, talking about any problems that came up during the week and working on the goals that Karen had set.

At the first review, the Probation office noted that Karen had reduced calling him with parenting issues and that Karen, with Joan’s support, was working through the issues.

Joan and Karen are still meeting and working on goals they’ve set. Karen has said at reviews that she feels more confident parenting, feeling able to stand strong on decisions she has made and dealing with bad behaviour of her children, taking time for herself.

*name has been changed.