Family Support Resources
Mended Little Hearts and St. Jude Medical partnered to create this digital resource guide for parents and caregivers of children with congenital heart disease or defects (CHD).
Medical professionals and parents worked together on this guide to provide accurate and honest information that addresses the tough feelings, questions and concerns parents and caregivers may have.
Go to The Mended Hearts, Inc. HeartGuides page and scroll down to see the Mended Little HeartGuide in English and Spanish.
Mental Health America of Illinois
Mental Health America of Illinois is a statewide organization that works to promote mental health, prevent mental disease and improve the care and treatment of those suffering from mental and emotional disorders. For more information go to www.mhai.org/.
Mental Health for Children With Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities
Navigate Life Texas, a project to inform and empower parents of children with disabilities or special healthcare needs, has a Mental Health for Children With Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities page. This page provides ideas on how to talk to your healthcare provider and the people working with your child if you think your child might be having mental health symptoms.
Mental Health Guidebook for Families of People With Developmental Disabilities
Reach Across L.A., a California-based collaborative program that serves individuals who have a dual diagnosis of both developmental disabilities and mental health issues, provides a “Mental Health Guidebook for Families of People With Developmental Disabilities.”
The guidebook can help families understand mental health conditions, how to get mental health care, how to assess mental health conditions and available treatment options. It also has a checklist to help you talk with primary care and mental health professionals and advocate for your family member’s needs.
Mental Health Resources for Kids, Teens and Young Adults
The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) has resources geared toward kids, teens and young adults.NAMI also provides a coloring and activity book and step-by-step guidance to help parents explore and talk to children about emotional topics or mental health challenges.Metropolitan Family Services provides a variety of services throughout Chicago, DuPage County, Evanston, Skokie and the southwest suburbs to help families learn, earn, heal and thrive. Metropolitan Family Services programs include:
- Early learning
- Afterschool
- Job readiness
- Counseling and mental health
- Legal assistance
Mini O’Beirne Crisis Nursery Parent Support Group
Attend monthly parent support groups in Springfield, IL. Call for more information or individual support (217) 525-6800.
Miracle Flights provides free commercial airline tickets to pediatric patients ages 17 and under in need of life-changing medical care far from home. Families must meet certain requirements and apply online using the online application for requesting each flight.
The organization also provides flights for service dog retrieval and/or training. Miracle Flights’ service dog program is open to all individuals who need help retrieving/training their service dog.
The website includes information about the condition Maple Syrup Urine Disease.
My Heart Visit is a program from Mended Hearts that allows heart patients and their families to connect with trained volunteers who are patients themselves, a parent of a child with a heart condition or a caregiver of a loved one with heart disease.
You can connect with someone by phone, text, email or video. It includes the Heartline Hotline at (844) 432-7887 (1-844-HEART87).
