Opening Up

Book about Parenting Journey's story and future hopes

This book tells the story of how the core program, Parenting Journey I, developed, and it shares the stories of brave and challenged families from low-income neighborhoods who have encountered toxic intergenerational stressors, family histories, systemic inequalities, and internal pain, and who have struggled to get beyond them.

Foreword and themes

Including a foreword by Henry Louis Gates Jr., Opening Up is a chronicle of the struggles and triumphs of families suffering internalized stresses from poverty, domestic abuse, racism, neighborhood violence, among other challenges. Through Parenting Journey, these families resolve harmful habits and identify their strengths to raise their children in a healthier environment.

Organization and perspectives

Anne Peretz tells the story of this bold organization and flagship therapeutic group program that takes a different approach to helping families in need. Told through the perspectives of the families who have participated over the decades, Opening Up challenges readers to think differently about family.

Messages and hope

These stories view symptoms of stress, fear, and hopelessness that extend throughout generations as remediable and show how even the severely traumatized can regain stability. This book is a testament that with mutual respect, compassion, and openness, we can address personal and systemic injustices and rebuild communities.