King County and PEPS were both interested in exploring the viability of work-based parent support and education group. King County’s interest was sparked by an employee suggestion. As part of its Health Reform Initiative King County is constantly exploring ways to support employees in their efforts to achieve and maintain good health. PEPS’ track record shows that bringing parents of young children together to support and educate one another can help lessen the stress of the many challenges they face. It also helps parents learn about important family health issues like nutrition and sleep. PEPS was interested in the pilot because parents who return to work after leave often feel pressed for time and may opt to stop attending PEPS meetings at a time when they need the support and education most.

If you know of 8-12 colleagues who would be interested in forming a meeting and one of you is interested in being a facilitator, contact Brooke Bascom at brooke.bascom@kingcounty.gov or 206-296-3822. Brooke will help you get a meeting started.

The meetings are one hour weekly. On alternate weeks, groups will share “highs and lows,” and then focus on a topic for discussion. Highs and Lows are a time when each parent in the group can share the challenges and joys of their parenting week. Discussion topics include sleep patterns, early learning, child behavior and nutrition.

The cost to join a King County Workplace PEPS Group is $50 for a 6 week session.

King County cannot cover any of the cost.

1. Go to www.pepsgroup.org

2. Click on the “Register for PEPS” icon.

3. Click on “Registration Form” at top horizontal menu.

4. Fill in requested personal information.

5. Select “Affinity KC” as the Type of Group you’re registering for.

6. Submit

7. You’ll receive a confirmation email within a week or two.

This work place based program is only for King County employees. If your spouse or partner is not a county employee and you would like to find a neighborhood PEPS Group close to home that you can both participate in, we encourage you to contact PEPS directly.

You do not have to be a parent of young children to facilitate a meeting.

Group facilitators participate in two hours of training. You need to get supervisor approval to attend the training. The training would have benefits to your job depending on what you do.

A facilitator reserves and sets-up the meeting room, oversees weekly group that follows PEPS Group format for parent sharing and topic discussion, use parent interest and the PEPS curriculum for topic selection and use of topic in the Group, is responsible for ensuring that the Group is a safe place where all parents are heard and respected, operating from the assumption that all parents bring strengths and skills to the parenting experience and treats parents as motivated adult learners.