UPP opens third parent counseling location

A third Universal Parenting Place opened in Memphis on Tuesday, marking significant growth of a pilot program aimed at helping parents overcome trauma and develop healthy relationships with their children.

The UPP facility, an initiative of the Memphis-based ACE Awareness Foundation, will share space with Perea Preschool at 1250 Vollintine Ave. in rooms 201 and 202.

A fourth location will also debut in May in Raleigh, local ACE Executive Director Ellen Rolfes said. The existing two facilities are at Baptist Memorial Hospital for Women and Knowledge Quest on College Park Drive, rounding out plans for UPP facilities that partner with communities, schools and health care providers.

“I think every neighborhood needs an UPP site,” Rolfes said. “This is universal. It’s not a targeted population at all.”

The centers offer free counseling for parents to overcome adverse childhood experiences or to seek any kind of parenting advice. A holistic approach focuses on activities that parents and their children can do together, including music, meditation and yoga. Rolfes called it a “cultural shift,” one that focuses on breaking cycles of trauma in households.

“We’re really trying to move this from a social service model into a health care model that is growing healthy families,” Rolfes said.

Molly Crenshaw, a licensed clinical social worker and the new site director and parent coach for the Perea UPP location, said the sites arm parents with tools to use at home.

“It’s giving parents a really safe place to come be with their children to learn parenting skills, to feel like they’ve got the tools that they need to be effective parents to hopefully break the cycles that have been occurring,” she said.

On staff at the Perea center will be Crenshaw and a hospitality and community liaison coordinator. Hours are from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday.

The ACE Awareness Foundation, which opened the new center with an undisclosed, anonymous donation, also has a phone line for parents to call with questions. The number is 844-877-9276 and the hours are 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Reach Jennifer Pignolet at jennifer.pignolet@commercialappeal.com or on Twitter @JenPignolet.