Program designed to give support

SIKESTON - It's a different world for people with disabilities and their families. People can be cruel, everyday tasks can be difficult and keeping a positive outlook is often easier said than done.

But there are others facing the same trials and tribulations and a new statewide program being piloted in the Sikeston and Kansas City regions is designed to find each individual and family the emotional support needed.

Sharing Our Strengths, being made possible through a grant, is made up of Missouri parents, family members and individuals interested in networking with others.

SOS offers an individual an opportunity to make a difference in the life of a person with a disability by becoming a mentor who will share experiences, practical information such as toilet training or developmental milestones, resources such as information about early childhood and other support systems.

Families will also have someone to talk to at the time of birth, diagnosis or critical time and will receive support during the natural transitions of life and share common experiences that lets them know they're not alone.

"An example I've given is if there's a mom and dad who've had a baby who has Down Syndrome," said Lee Trankler, director of Region 9 Council On Developmental Disabilities.

"When the baby's 6-months-old they say we really would like to know what we have to look forward to," said "What's he going to be like when he is 10, what's he going to be like when he's 15, what's he going to be like when he's 21? We'd like to talk to a family whose gone through these experiences. So then they'd send in an SOS application and ask to be matched to an experienced family in that situation and then they would start their communication. They could say OK, Johnny's 6-months-old, but when might he learn to walk? When did your son learn to walk? When did your son say his first words?"

Networking will also prevent isolation that can occur when parenting a young child and will show parents their children can participate in the same activities as other children.

"They can also take a mentoring training and be mentors themselves and have people matched to them," noted Trankler. "They're going to try to make the matches as close as they can so that it's not a long distance phone call."

Mentors will be trained to help in positive ways and will be matched to people who are looking for information and support, based on their needs, interests and challenges. Mentors will receive a packet of information and referral resources to share with families.

When a potential match is located, the coordinator will contact the mentor to see if he or she is available. However, the mentor can decline if too busy or it's not a good time. Currently, Trankler estimates her count in the database to be about 15 and she hopes for many more.

"Sometimes I'm sure being a person with a disability or the family feels very lonely," Trankler said. "There are families, especially in rural areas, who don't have communication with anybody but maybe other family members. I'm sure there are some real lonely times and some frightening and frustrating times.

"This is going to be a really good program," she added. "We're still building up the data base right now. We haven't done any training yet, I'm hoping to have that going by June. This is just a way to express their feelings and what they're going through and hopefully letting somebody else get a little snapshot of what their life is like."

Missouri residents interested in becoming a mentor or to request a match are invited to fill out the on-line application by logging onto website SOShomepage.htm. or contact Trankler in Sikeston at 1-800-497-4647 or Cindy Brotherton in Cape Girardeau at 1-800-646-2132.