Abstract
This workshop intends to explore how practitioners can generate the courage for resistance when parental mental health is fragile. The two key learning points that emerged from delivering a bespoke NVR group to parents of young people struggling with substance misuse are

1. NVR is enhanced when it addresses parental mental health.
2. Incorporating therapeutic group process into NVR groups strengthens parental mental health.

We found that parents do not have the courage to implement the R of NVR as their mental health has been worn down due to the ongoing stress, loss, trauma, anxiety, shame and stigma that comes with being a parent of a loved one with a substance misuse problem.

The young people have multiple complex needs requiring multi-modal, multi-agency approaches. These young people experience; substance misuse, socio-economic deprivation, autism, ADHD, oppositionality, sleep difficulties, school avoidance, mental health difficulties, they are often involved in the Criminal Justice System.

Being a parent to these children takes its toll. Families are caught in intergenerational cycles of substance misuse and mental health challenges. Parents struggle to emotionally regulate themselves when they are traumatised by their own childhoods and triggered by present stressors. For courage to emerge we learned that we first need to build up disenfranchised parents’ capacity.

We learned that in order to progress any of the steps of NVR we must begin with therapeutic processing of the loss and trauma arising from the experience of having a child engaged in substance misuse.

Anne and Lynn observed that integrating their psychoanalytic and systemic psychotherapeutic skills into facilitation greatly enhanced group process. As skilled and experienced therapists we were able to hold the complexity and depth of emotion that parents came with. This group was much more than upskilling in NVR, it was a combination of process group therapy and NVR skills.

Workshop format
The workshop will begin with a brief presentation. The facilitators will convene a Reflecting Team focusing on our experience of running NVR  and how we approached the challenges we faced.

We will invite reflections from participants, taking the opportunity to prompt some questions;

• Should we assess parents’ mental health and capacity to implement NVR prior to commencing a group?
• Are there any ideas about how to foster courage for resistance when parent’s experience mental health challenges and confidence is low?
• If parents focus heavily on the NV of the NVR is there need for the R?
• Has anyone experienced similar challenges and how did they work with them?

After a fruitful discussion the presenters will close the Reflecting Team by offering final reflections on the discussion. At the end of the workshop we hope to you will have the confidence and skills to attend to the emotional needs of parents that emerge in the group.