By PEPS (Estimated reading time: 6 minutes)
Through the PEPS Network Partners program, we’re able to share the impact of PEPS with organizations and communities across the country. We sat down with PEPS Partnership Manager Polly Jirkovsky to highlight this innovative program and how it is supporting parents from Hawaii to North Carolina and many places in between.
Polly Jirkovsky led her first PEPS Group as a volunteer in 2013. She quickly discovered she loved facilitating groups and has since led over 40 groups. She worked as a contract Group Leader starting in 2014 and eventually joined the PEPS staff full-time as a Community Connector for the Southern Puget Sound region in 2017. In 2021, Polly became the Partnership Manager, where she builds new partnerships, supports existing partners and develops the systems and structures for other groups working with PEPS.
What is the PEPS Network?
Polly: The PEPS Network is a collaborative model where organizations and small businesses outside of the Seattle area can pay a licensing fee to use the PEPS model and curriculum to offer peer support to families in their community.
What type of organizations join the Network Partners program?
Polly: Generally speaking, there have been two types of Network Partners. One type is an established nonprofit that is already serving families in other ways, for example, a WIC clinic, a food bank, or an after-school program. They want to add parent support to the services they are already providing. The other type is a person who wants to start a new nonprofit based on the model of PEPS, where parent peer-support groups are the main offering. Both types of organizations are passionate about helping reduce loneliness and stress by building connections.
A theme we see across the board is that our Network Partners are really dedicated to supporting parents. They are creative in trying new approaches, interested in learning and sharing what they’ve learned, and often wear many hats in their communities and organizations.
How do you see the Network Partners program fitting into the mission of PEPS?
Polly: The mission of PEPS is to connect parents to strengthen families and build community. And for over 40 years we have been doing that in the Seattle metro area. But over the years we’ve often heard from people in other parts of the country who were familiar with our model but didn’t see something like it in their area. And we have chosen intentionally to focus on building stronger, deeper connections in our area – to learn more about the families that we weren’t serving or weren’t serving well and talk about how we can change and collaborate or support other organizations to be able to better serve more families here. Because of that focus, we haven’t had the capacity to expand geographically ourselves, so the Network is a great way to offer organizations the ability to use a curriculum and model that’s been successful and have the autonomy to implement it in ways that work for their area.
How do you support Network Partners in your role?
Polly: It starts with conversations. From the first interest, I have a conversation about who they are and what they are looking for, to see if our goals and values are in alignment. Once it’s clear that we all want to move forward, I’m involved with the paperwork, training the staff, and having frequent check-ins as they plan their first groups. We have a monthly call for all the Network Partners (we currently have a Network Partner in every US time zone!) where people can share their celebrations, ask questions, and find new ideas and resources. Sometimes I will connect a Network member to another PEPS staffer with expertise in a certain area or connect two Network members to each other if they’re working on similar projects. And I’m always available to answer questions big and small as things come up.
Network Partners all follow some consistent aspects of the PEPS model, including using the same curriculum elements and facilitator training. How do Network Partners adjust the PEPS model and curriculum to suit their needs?
Polly: There are lots of ways! Sometimes the groups are held on site, especially if there’s another program to connect with like a diaper bank or a health clinic, or it’s a rural area where people are more spread out. Partners have adjusted the length of the group to be shorter; eight weeks or ten weeks instead of twelve. Depending on the demographics of the community, the age range is sometimes adjusted, to be from 0-1 year old, or adding a toddler group which PEPS doesn’t currently have. Several of our partners offer groups in Spanish as well as English. And of course, our partners offer connections and referrals to local resources within their own community.
Know of an organization or small business that may be interested in becoming a PEPS Network Partner? Have them fill out our Network Partners interest form to learn more!
What’s one example that comes to mind of a Network Partner who has adapted the PEPS model to meet the unique needs of their community?
Polly: Triangle Area Parenting Support (TAPS), our longstanding partner in North Carolina, noticed in their work with Spanish-speaking families that many of them communicated using WhatsApp, a mobile messaging app. When they were trying to create a group that would be accessible in terms of transportation and time commitments, they worked with staff from another Network Partner, Partners in Parenting (PIP) in Austin, to create a text-based group using the curriculum but broken into smaller daily prompts. We shared more about this collaboration in our blog post about TAPS.
What are your goals for the Network Partners program in the next few years?
Polly: My goals are to connect with new organizations and small businesses who are interested in joining the Network, to offer the current Network members chances to collaborate and support each other, and to learn from all of the great work that our partners are doing.
What has changed in PEPS partnerships work since you began as Partnership Manager?
Polly: The past few years have been really challenging for families in a lot of ways. There has been a lot of fear and uncertainty about the pandemic, the political and economic climate of the US, extreme weather and more that can make it even more challenging to find support. I’ve seen our partners get creative to find ways to support parents and each other in doing this work. I think we as a society have also started having more conversations about mental health, and that’s an important part of the conversation.
How can the community support the PEPS Network Partners program?
Polly: Referrals! If you have friends or family members who live in the area of one of our Network Partners, encourage them to explore their parent support options, or support them with donations of time or funds. And if you know of a great organization that might want to join the Network, send them my way, or have them fill out the Network Interest Form.
