The NEW Partnering Not Parenting Program

Reset, Rebuild and Reimagine...
your relationships, capacity and connection
to yourself and your child during and after adversity

Pay Flexibly

All New Program Launching 29th September 2025

Partnering Not Parenting is a compassionate, trauma informed approach to reconnection and relational safety
when your child is struggling. Grounded in lived and learned experience, the Program guides and supports you to care for yourself and your child through poor mental health and build trust, reset communication, and deepen understanding.

What if you could push a reset button on your relationship with your child?

What would you change? What would you do differently? What would you like to gain?
Partnering Not Parenting is an opportunity in adversity to reset, rebuild, and reimagine your relationship with your child - and yourself.

Hello 👋 I'm Suzanne Alderson, author of the book 'Never Let Go - How to Parent Your Child Through Mental illness', founder of the community Parenting Mental Health and fierce believer in the power we parents have when we are properly supported and seen.

First and foremost, I'm a parent - one who found herself in the midst of unexpected adversity in 2015 when my 14 year old daughter attempted suicide. The world as I knew it crumbled. The truths I believed in disappeared. And the rules that had been our anchors changed completely.

We needed to find a new way forward if we were to get through this extraordinary experience.

Partnering Not Parenting became the way - a new approach to support our daughter through her experience - and a new way to approach our life. We couldn’t play by the same rules, because the old expectations and ways of communicating caused harm - so we had to find a new way, in order to keep us all connected and safe. Partnering Not Parenting helped me to support my daughter to recovery, to build connection where it had been challenged, forge a bond in the most desperate of situations, and help her to a resilient recovery. It helped us to manage the guilt, the blame, the exhaustion and the fear.

And despite the name, it's not about 'Not Parenting' - it's about bringing a different perspective, new energy, and extra space and skills to a time and experience you probably didn't see coming, don't want, but have to embrace.

This new PNP Program is designed specifically to support you as you make your way through the emotional and practical challenges when your child's mental health is poor. It's trauma informed, survival-mode sensitive and has helped thousands of parents like you and me.

The 3 Step Partnering Not Parenting Approach

The Partnering Not Parenting Approach is a compassionate addition to your existing parenting skills, with 3 steps to help build emotional safety, capacity and trust when your child's mental health is poor.

(And please, don't worry - there's no shame, blame or guilt allowed here! It's not a typical 'parenting course' - it's really safe, designed to be supportive, and completely open to all of your experiences without any judgement.)

STEP DOWN

STEP DOWN

When everything feels heavy, the first step isn’t pushing harder - it’s learning to ‘Step Down.’ That means Stepping Down from the swirl of emotions, judgements, expectations, and even the pressure to have all the answers. It can sound like giving up, but in reality it’s the fastest way back to calm and connection.

In the Program, we explore how to steady your own nervous system so you can cope when things feel impossible, how small shifts in your behaviour can create big changes at home, and how to reset the weight of expectations and assumptions that quietly build up. We’ll look at real ways to communicate better, and how to face fear, blame, and guilt without letting them run the show.

STAND BESIDE

STAND BESIDE

To Stand Beside your child means meeting them in this extraordinary experience with compassion and hope, even when the ground feels unsteady. This is the stage of rebuilding where connection and emotional and psychological safety become the foundation for a relationship that lasts a lifetime.

In the Program, we explore how to rebuild trust and patience, how to shape boundaries that support both you and your child, and how to reflect on the real losses and surprising gains along the way. We’ll also look at how to grow your own nervous system capacity so you can stay steady, hold space, and move forward together without burning out.

TRAVEL TOGETHER

TRAVEL TOGETHER

When our child’s mental health declines and the world no longer looks the way we thought it would, it can feel so heavy - like the future has been stolen or rewritten without our say. Yet within that weight lies the chance to reimagine: to build a life that truly serves them, and us, if we can steady our emotions and learn to walk this new path together.

In the Program, we’ll explore how to Travel Together with your child into the unknown with curiosity instead of fear. We’ll reflect on opening new and often unexpected pathways, on reframing the future that hasn’t yet happened, and on nurturing a sense of agency in your child - and in yourself.

The New PNP Program offers the skills you need, the support you deserve, and the connection that makes it possible to keep going, without having to do it all alone.

The cost is for a full year's access including 4 initial videos to get you started, 52 weekly video and audio resources, regular Zooms, and a 24/7 digital community.

But shouldn't I parent MORE or HARDER when my child's mental health declines?

In short, no. Because harder often leads to a lack of emotional safety, nervous system dysregulation, and disconnection. Let me explain...

When your child’s mental health declines, it changes everything - how we live, how we love, and how we see the past, present, and future. Communication breaks down, expectations shatter, and even thinking straight becomes hard when we’re consumed by trying to bring our child back to wellness.

And in our urgency to fix things - because that’s what parents do, isn’t it? - our homes can start to feel like battlegrounds. Our minds fill with what ifs, contradictory advice, and overwhelming emotions like guilt, shame, and fear. We try so hard to help that our behaviours can unintentionally create more disconnection, leaving us wondering if we’ll ever recognise our child, or our family, again.

What’s really needed is patience, time, and emotional, psychological, and social safety - for both us and our child.

That’s where Partnering Not Parenting (PNP) comes in. PNP is a compassionate, trauma-informed way of parenting through poor mental health. It reframes the challenges, helps us slow down, and gives us practical, relational tools to rebuild communication, trust, and connection in the hardest of times.

The Program supports parents in navigating the grief, shame, and distress that come with a child struggling with depression, anxiety, or another mental health condition - no diagnosis needed. At the same time, it helps children feel emotionally safe, seen, and heard - without pressure, fixing, or forcing.

This is not about perfect parenting. That doesn’t exist. PNP is about meeting reality with clarity and courage, laying down some old behaviours and beliefs, and finding new ways forward with more hope and connection.

It’s also not about stepping back and letting your child “get on with it.” Boundaries, advocacy, and agency matter. PNP strengthens your existing parenting style by meeting the unique challenges poor mental health brings, so you can stay connected even when there’s no quick fix and little certainty.

And it isn’t about changing your child. PNP isn’t therapy, and it’s not a shortcut. It’s a powerful relational approach that helps you understand more about what your whole family is going through and how adversity, as brutal as it feels, can also open the door to something different. Something that works for you, your child, and your family.

Partnering Not Parenting gives you the compassionate understanding, the practical tools, and the real support you need to begin to calm, connect, and converse with your child. And you don’t have to face this alone.

Join the Program - pay over 4 months

How the PNP Program Works

The Program has been designed with your capacity in mind.

When your child’s mental health feels overwhelming, the last thing you need is more pressure. That’s why the Partnering Not Parenting (PNP) Program is designed to unfold slowly, with the right mix of skills, support, and community.

You’ll begin on September 29th 2025 with 4 grounding videos to introduce the approach and give you immediate tools for calm and clarity.

After that, a new resource comes to you each week- 52 in total - so you can absorb, reflect, and apply on your terms without overload or pressure.

Weekly live Zoom sessions and a 24/7 digital community mean you’re never doing this work alone.

Frequently Asked Questions

The Program is built around the three stages of Partnering Not Parenting - Step Down, Stand Beside, and Travel Together - and each stage weaves in practical tools, new perspectives, nervous system regulation, and opportunities for reflection.

Step Down - the Reset
Learn to work with your nervous system, reduce conflict, and create safety for yourself and your child. We explore tools like reframing expectations, active listening, and managing guilt and judgement so you can reset the tone at home.

Stand Beside (Rebuild) 
Deepen trust, patience, and connection. You’ll learn how to hold boundaries with compassion, reflect on grief and loss, and build the capacity to stay steady beside your child through the ups and downs of mental health. 

Travel Together (Reimagine)
Discover new ways forward, even when life looks different to how you hoped. This stage focuses on advocacy without burnout, encouraging agency in your child, and creating a vision of the future you can walk together.

Ongoing Support
Throughout the year, we pause for reflection, share experiences in community, and focus on building consistency without pressure. You’ll always have both the structure of the Program, connection to Suzanne through regular group sessions, and the deep humanity and experience of others who get it.

The new program has been specifically designed to minimise the load on you and reduce any fear of not keeping up - there is no behind on PNP! <br><br>

The weekly materials take approximately an hour a week, but you can learn at your pace. There is no pressure to do everything each week - and you will be processing along the way, as well as supporting your child. <br><br>

All Program resources are accessible via Thinkific so you can listen wherever you want to. Each week builds your capacity and understanding. 

The new PNP Program has been thoughtfully redeveloped with additional new content and a format designed to encourage connection that doesn't feel overwhelming and integration at your pace. <br> <br> 

The resources are expanded and add more context and practical skills and the community connection is an integral part of the experience. <br><br> 


You have 12 months' continuous access to the Program resources, the weekly live sessions, and the digital community. 

Yes, absolutely! It's better when there is a cohesive and aligned approach. 

If you want to add your partner or a primary caregiver, please email partneringnotparenting at gmail dot com after you have signed up with their name and email and we can get them signed up on Thikific - and there's no charge for them to join.  

Access to a laptop or phone, some time to watch or listen, and an open mind! 

The Program materials are accessible on Thinkific, a learning management platform that houses each week's resources. 

The regular Q&As are held on Zoom so a phone, tablet or laptop and internet connection are necessary to join. 

Each week, you'll get an email with details of the week's event, whether it's a Q&A, open connection session or a guest speaker. 

Zoom sessions tend to be on Tuesdays or Thursdays, either at 12 Noon or 6PM UK time. 

There's no need to speak if you don't want to  or to have your camera on for any of the sessions - sometimes it's just good to be with people who get it. And don’t worry if you can’t make it. Every session is recorded and you can watch it back via Thinkific the next day. 

We don't offer refunds as a matter of course as the course materials are all accessible online so you can learn and connect on your terms and timescale. 

Partnering Not Parenting and the Program are not dependent on any diagnosis. Coming from a place of compassion and understanding that all behaviour is communication, the approach and Program is about you and how you might support your child and yourself. 

Lots of parents of neurodivergent children, of those who are traumatised, undiagnosed, and/or can't go to school or leave their rooms have taken the course. This is about you, not your child, but when and how you change, things change for them too.  

Parents of children leaving primary school all the way up to adult children in their 20s, 30s and beyond have benefitted from the course and approach. 

As the course is about YOU, it can benefit your family dynamic at any age - not to mention other relationships

Suzanne does offer paid 1-1 support and mentoring. You can book paid sessions via Calendly: https://calendly.com/suzanne-suzannealderson

Sorry - fixing isn't something we can (or should) do, even though we may want to! 

What Partnering Not Parenting can offer is a safe space to reflect, practical skills to shift the dynamic in your home, and connection to others who get it and can support you through the worry, fear and exhaustion. 

What parents say about Partnering Not Parenting

E

Parent of young adult son

I can't recommend this course enough.
It is mind blowing. It is informative, in depth,
interactive, it makes you think and reflect but the most important thing is IT WORKS.
I wanted, needed to change as I love my son and I yearned for connection. I actively participated and listened to the course content and began partnering my son. This course has helped me find and build CONNECTION again. I can't praise it enough.

A

Parent of 2 children

I love Partnering! Thank you for giving me the tools and the confidence to partner my kids. J had an unbelievably positive first couple of days of 6th form but became hugely overwhelmed and had a big wobble on Tuesday night. She was able to communicate effectively with me the extent of her anxiety and we talked it all through. After a day at home to reset yesterday and some adaptations, she’s back in today!

N

Parent to early teen daughter

I did the course last year after spending years searching for and reading about approaches that might help my daughter. Partnering not Parenting is the only approach that has worked.
I can honestly say it has been life changing and quite possibly life saving for my family.
What also sets it apart is the fact that it isn’t just about parenting a child with poor MH; it is also a journey of therapeutic self discovery and self compassion for us as parents. It is also about connection - with our child, ourselves and others who are sharing a similar ‘normal’.
It can be hard work at times, but you absolutely will not regret signing up for it.

D

Parent of teenage son

Yesterday evening he asked if I'd like to eat together. I played it calm and simply said, yes sure. He suggested we watch a show while we ate and I went along with it. Tonight he came down again to eat with me, and watch another episode! He's not been prepared to eat with me for years. All thanks to Partnering.

A

Parent of 4

Having read Suzanne’s book, 'Never Let Go: How To Parent Your Child Through Mental Illness', and embraced the Parenting Mental Health Facebook group, I joined the course thinking it would be an extension of the book. How wrong I was, it is SO much more than that!!! You think you are joining with it being about your child as the focus, but it is a course that looks at you predominantly. You can choose to dig as deep as you wish, and go at your own pace, share with others in the group or not – there’s no pressure.

A

Parent of teenage son

The Partnering not Parenting course is worth so much more than the money you pay to do it. The resources are so well thought out, extensive and just full of empowering knowledge, education, and insight. There is constant support within the group and Suzanne is always at hand too, and so approachable. I think this course would be valuable for anyone, even those without a child with a mental illness. Fantastic course and couldn’t recommend it more highly. The course has not only helped me in my parenting role but even more as a person, for which I am eternally grateful.

L

Parent to early teen son

Partnering Not Parenting has revolutionised how we speak to, deal with, view, manage, frame, perceive, support our son's life/responses/views/actions.....the 3 of us have lived pretty much in each others' pockets for 4 years straight.....our situation has improved beyond measure BECAUSE of PNP.

J

Parent of 2

Hubby and I did this course and it changed our house and especially my hubby in how he would respond or react to our teen, well worth doing and great to hear others stories and know you're not alone

G

Parent of teenage son and daughter

Suzanne Alderson's Partnering Not Parenting approach really does work. Not just with kids but husbands too!!! Since reading Never Let Go and putting Partnering into practice our life is so different. My husband is taking initiative and getting involved in supporting our child's MH recovery. #gratefulgratefulGRATEFUL

First Name

Type of person

L

Parent to early teen son

Partnering Not Parenting has revolutionised how we speak to, deal with, view, manage, frame, perceive, support our son's life/responses/views/actions.....the 3 of us have lived pretty much in each others' pockets for 4 years straight.....our situation has improved beyond measure BECAUSE of PNP.

M

Parent of 1

Just wanted to say thank you for the course Suzanne, it’s given me a new perspective on how I now parent / partner my child. The course came at the right time, we were a very broken family with lots of issues, lots of burnout and sadness.

K

Parent of 1

It changed our lives in such a positive way. It challenges our perspectives but in a positive, helpful way. It doesn’t instantly fix our problems but it helps us navigate through them to rebuild our relationships in a different way and help us to help our young people. It’s the best thing I’ve done.

But why should I listen to you, Suzanne?

Great question! Let me explain...


Back in 2015, when my daughter was in crisis (and so we were as a family) I felt so alone, so judged and so helpless. One night, sitting on my daughter's bedroom floor (on suicide watch) I made a commitment to support other parents like me. There was absolutely no support for us, only judgement and expectation, and I didn't want anyone else to feel the desperation and distress I did.

I knew that when I felt supported and safe, I showed up differently, and that underneath what school and the medical professionals saw, there was a very real, very valid human response going on - in my daughter and in me. Exploring that gave us all a freedom, space and peace. Before that though, wading through the adversity would challenge us and take enormous strength and energy to continue.

I set up Parenting Mental Health in 2016 to connect parents and I lived what would become the Partnering Not Parenting before creating the first course in 2019.

Since then I have supported thousands of parents and I absolutely believe in the power we all have to make change in our own lives and in our family's - but we need support too.

If you decide to join us, I hope the Program and the connection brings you...

  • a safe, judgement free space to explore your responses and emotions
  • skills and insights to connect with your child and yourself
  • permission, connection and opportunity to begin to build your emotional capacity
  • a sense of community and hope
  • a realisation that you are strong and powerful - but human - and you deserve to be supported through this time

Ready to join the PNP Program?

We begin on September 29th - for 12 months of learning, reflection and connection

If you want a different way of approaching the challenges in your family, are ready to commit to the work, and want to learn in a compassionate and supportive community of parents who get it, Partnering Not Parenting is a comprehensive, compassionate Program that offers you a deeper understanding of what's going on and how you might begin to understand it and change it.
Join and pay over 4 months

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