What do an architect, a dance instructor, an insurance broker, a teacher, a doctor, a homemaker and a businessman have in common?
At first glance, not much but this disparate (or desperate?) group did have one significant thing in common: they all had acting-out sons or daughters and had become part of a grassroots movement of parents seeking help to deal with the behaviour of their teens.
Their children were acting out on a grand scale and, like so many other parents, they had received little or no help from the traditional sources to which they had been referred. Where they were successful in finding help was in the company of other parents who had begun meeting in schools, churches and other facilities, and who were engaged in an energetic exchange of ideas and information which was practical and effective.
In 1980, the first parent support group started in Ontario. Four years later, The Association of Parent Support Groups in Ontario Inc. (APSGO), a registered charitable volunteer organization, was born.