156: Casie Fariello, Co-founder of Other Parents Like Me

Casie Fariello is the co-founder of Other Parents Like Me (OPLM.com), a subscription-based online platform designed to support parents of young people struggling with mental health and substance abuse challenges.  Casie shares how she met the other two co-founders of OPLM during one of the most challenging times in their lives when their children were in treatment. She shares how the organization was developed, how it provides daily support groups, weekly speakers, and peer-to-peer help, and why she decided to start OPLM. Casie reveals how having her son attend a wilderness therapy program changed the course of her family's life and helped plant the seeds for the start of OPLM, and what she recommends for parents whose teens are in a wilderness therapy program. Information from the OPLM Website:  About the co-founders (Casie Fariello, Liz Reitman, Antonia Lavender): Our families were impacted. Our lives became unmanageable. And we struggled to find support — until we met each other at a therapeutic boarding school where we had each enrolled our sons. As we met other parents like us, we felt an immediate connection and the relief that comes from knowing you aren't alone. As we shared our stories and learned from parents further along the path of healing, we realized we had something precious—each other. And Other Parents Like Me was born.   OPLM is an online platform and virtual community, designed to create a safe space with the access and support parents need as they move from crisis to healing.