The Still Waters Circle
The Still Waters Circle is a psychoeducational support group specifically designed for parents and caregivers of children with special needs who are experiencing chronic caregiver stress, burnout, and emotional overwhelm.
It is a 6-week program tailored to help you develop the coping skills and tools to rewire your stress response, restructure your thinking as well as protect your mental, emotional and physical health.
Over six weeks, you will learn how your nervous system works, why you are stressed, and practical tools that actually work in real life.
You will connect with other parents who resonate with your lived experience and you will build a foundation for sustainable healing so you can keep showing up wholesomely for your child.
This group combines evidence-based practices with real-life special needs caregiving experiences.
What You Will Gain
By the end of 6 weeks, participants will have built a personalized, sustainable stress management system grounded in science and experiences of real life special needs caregiving.
1
Understand Stress Response
Gain real psychoeducation about stress responses and learn how chronic caregiver stress affects your nervous system and why your reactions are normal not pathological.
2
Build Coping Skills
Master evidence-based techniques you can use immediately: nervous system regulation, cognitive restructuring, behavioral activation, and crisis management.
3
Restructure Your Thinking
Learn how stress distorts your thoughts and how to think in ways that actually help you manage challenging situations.
4
Design a Self-Care Plan
Stop treating self-care as a luxury. Build systems and boundaries that actually work given the realities of your caregiving life. Create realistic, guilt-free self-care practices tailored to your actual life.
5
Reclaim Your Identity
Remember that you are not just a parent to a special needs child, you are an individual with value, gifts, and a right to exist beyond caregiving.
6
Relapse Prevention Plan
Identify your personal warning signs and create an ongoing support system so your healing extends far beyond six weeks. Leave with a personalized, written plan for maintaining your progress and getting back on track when life inevitably gets hard again.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who can participate in this group?
The Still Waters Group is specifically for parents, guardians, and primary caregivers of children with special needs who are experiencing chronic stress, burnout, or emotional exhaustion from caregiving. You do not need to be in crisis to join, you just need to recognize that you are struggling and want support. Whether your child is 3 or 30, whether you are a single parent, part of a couple, or a grandparent raising your grandchild, there is room for you here.
How is this different from a regular support group?
Support groups are valuable but they primarily offer connection and validation. The Still Waters Circle is a structured, curriculum-based program. Every session teaches specific, evidence-based skills and sends you home with practical tools. The connection and peer support happen, but they happen within a psychoeducational framework designed to create measurable, lasting change in how you manage stress.
Is this group the same as therapy?
No. This is a psychoeducational support group, not individual or group therapy. The facilitator will teach skills and hold space for peer support, but will not diagnose, treat, or take on the role of your therapist. If you need individual mental health treatment for depression, anxiety, trauma, etc., we encourage you to pursue that with a therapist. This group can work alongside therapy but does not replace it.
Do I have to share personal details about my child?
You are never required to share anything beyond your comfort level. While examples from your caregiving life often enrich the group, you can participate fully by engaging with the didactic content and exercises without disclosing personal details.
How is my privacy protected in a group format?
Confidentiality is sacred in this group. All participants sign a group confidentiality agreement in session one. What is shared in the group stays in the group. Sessions are not recorded. The facilitator is bound by professional ethical standards of confidentiality, with mandatory reporting exceptions clearly explained at intake.
What happens after the 6 weeks end?
All graduates are invited into The Still Waters alumni community a peer-moderated space for ongoing connection and support.
An optional 3-month follow-up session is also available. Many participants choose to join a second cohort to go deeper with a new group.
How much does it cost?
This founding cohort is offered at no cost to members of our existing community, in exchange for your honest feedback to shape the program for families.
What is the process for signing up?
Complete the registration and consent form. You will then receive a short questionnaire and schedule a free 15-minute call with our facilitator to confirm the group is the right for you. Confirm your spot. Join your cohort. Show up. Six weeks. One session at a time.
