Let Grow: When Adults Step Back, Kids Step Up

CLICK HERE FOR THE 2024 CASE STUDY PDF

New Canaan Public Schools, a New Canaan Behavioral Health Alliance member | Survey Response Grant, $5,000

WHAT THE SURVEY FOUND

Parenting Stress and Youth Mental Health Concerns was one of five key themes the 2024 Community Health & Well-Being Survey produced, and New Canaan Public Schools built its grant application on it. Parents ranked emotional well-being, stress and anxiety, and mental health as their top three concerns about their children. Sixteen percent believed their child had experienced persistent anxiety in the past year. One in three, 33 percent, did not know or were unsure where to turn if their child was struggling.

HOW THE ALLIANCE RESPONDED

The New Canaan Community Foundation built its Survey Response grant round around findings like these. New Canaan Public Schools received $5,000 to bring Lenore Skenazy to town for “Building Confidence and Independence in Our Children,” a presentation for parents and educators. As the district describes it, Let Grow gives kids small opportunities to do things on their own, like running an errand, making a snack or solving a problem, so they build confidence and resilience.

It did not stop with one evening. Let Grow launched as a pilot program with its 2nd graders at West School in January and has since expanded to become part of how the school teaches. Lessons covered Independence, Service and Responsibility, and teachers reinforced those ideas in the classroom throughout the year, while parents were encouraged to reinforce them at home. Each lesson followed the same cycle: a morning meeting lesson, communication home to families, an activity the child completes on their own at home, and a reflection with the class. 

One second grader made a grilled cheese and reported back that it is not easy and it takes practice. Others made eggs and learned to be careful at the stove, rode a dirt bike and learned how to not fall down, wrapped a present, crossed the monkey bars, turned on the toaster. Students made their own sandwiches and packed their own lunches, some for the first time. One parent realized their child had never spread mayonnaise on bread themselves. Another let their child walk into a shop alone and pay with their own money.

The Skenazy presentation also generated its own follow-on programming. Interested parents met afterward to talk about how the community could create more opportunities for children to build independence, and in April 2026 the district held an elementary PTC event called “Why Less Means More When Raising Confident Kids,” in partnership with New Canaan CARES.

“We completed focus groups with kids at the end of the year, and they expressed excitement and pride about their Let Grow projects.”

Susan Bliss, Ph.D., L.C.S.W., Student Support Coordinator, New Canaan Public Schools

WHERE IT STANDS

  • Piloted with 2nd graders at West School, where the district reports it was successful
  • Expanding to 3rd grade at West this year
  • Expanding to 2nd grade at South School and East School, each starting in January on the West model
  • Teacher training underway this fall, with parent training to follow
  • Principles reinforced in classroom instruction and at home, not delivered as a one-time event
  • Long-term measures set by the district in its grant application: reduced parenting stress and reduced parent-reported child anxiety, to be read in the next survey

ALSO FUNDED AGAINST THIS FINDING

New Canaan CARES received $2,775 for a Positive Discipline Parent Workshop Series for elementary school parents. Led by certified facilitator and former teacher Diane Hobbs, the series focused on turning challenging behavior into opportunities to build character and essential life skills. CARES offered it in response to the parental stress it was seeing in the community. In each session, limited to 12 participants, parents role-played conversations they might have at home and learned tools to calm conflicts, connect before correcting, and help their children learn from mistakes.

BY THE NUMBERS

  • $5,000 grant, one speaker, now running in three elementary schools

Parents Reported Being Stretched Thin

Community Mindfulness Project and Family Centers, both New Canaan Behavioral Health Alliance members | Survey Response Grants, $17,500

WHAT THE SURVEY FOUND

The survey found one demographic group carrying more than the rest. Residents aged 30 to 59 reported lower well-being than older residents, and those aged 40 to 59 reported the lowest life satisfaction of any age group. Forty-nine percent of 30 to 39 year olds hit at least one barrier to care, against 34 percent of all respondents.

The pattern sharpened among people caring for more than one generation. Fifty-three percent of respondents were the primary caregiver for a child, and 12 percent of those were also caring for a parent. That group reported unmet mental health needs at 16 percent, more than double the 7 percent rate across all respondents.

HOW THE ALLIANCE RESPONDED

Two grants, totaling $17,500, went out to address this stark finding.

Community Mindfulness Project, an Alliance member, received a grant to launch Parent Circles of Support, using mindfulness practice to reduce stress and build resilience in New Canaan parents. The series ran six sessions between February 26 and May 5, 2026: opening and closing mini retreats at the New Canaan Nature Center, with four sessions at New Canaan Library, another Alliance member, in between.

“It was a meaningful experience, not without its real-world challenges, and one that taught us a great deal about what it takes to serve this particular community well. The parents who showed up were genuinely moved.”

Ella Saunders Crivello, Executive Director, Community Mindfulness Project

Family Centers, an Alliance member, received a grant to launch Sandwich Generation support groups for residents raising children while caring for aging parents, led by Licensed Clinical Social Workers and free to participants. The program will launch in fall 2026.

WHERE IT STANDS

  • Parent Circle Series completed its full six-session run
  • Written recap delivered to NCCF in June 2026, with participant feedback shaping a second series
  • Family Centers Sandwich Generation groups scheduled to launch in fall 2026, clinician-led and free of charge
  • $17,500 committed against one finding about one group of New Canaan adults

BY THE NUMBERS

  • $17,500 across two grants, against one finding about one group of New Canaan adults
  • Six Parent Circle sessions, February 26 to May 5, 2026

The State of Our Town’s Behavioral Health

New Canaan Behavioral Health Alliance | Awareness, coverage and visibility

WHAT THE SURVEY FOUND

The survey’s first published theme was the simplest and the hardest. New Canaan has the services. Residents do not know they exist. Thirty-eight percent did not know where to get help for substance misuse, 35 percent for mental health, 34 percent for domestic violence. Awareness was lower still for practical supports: 59 percent were unaware of financial assistance, 61 percent of housing assistance, 64 percent of child care assistance.

Then the survey found something sharper. The residents most likely to need a service were the least likely to know it existed. Residents reporting poor mental health were less aware of adult mental health supports than those reporting good mental health, 41 percent unaware against 32 percent. Among residents concerned about their own substance use, 41 percent again. The same figure held for residents who felt unsafe around someone in their own home.

Three different groups of residents asked about three different kinds of help, and the same answer each time: 41 percent were unaware of it. Awareness does not fail evenly across a town. It fails hardest at the point of need.

WHY

“New Canaan is wonderful, and people are so supportive and want to help each other, but it’s also a well off and high achieving culture. And so it’s sometimes even more isolating to feel that if I’m struggling, I must be in the minority here because it seems like everyone’s doing so well.”

Lauren Patterson, President, New Canaan Community Foundation, New Canaan Sentinel, May 21, 2026

HOW THE ALLIANCE RESPONDED

The Alliance treated visibility as the work itself. On January 27, 2025, a large crowd, approximately 100 people, turned out at the New Canaan Library to hear the findings presented in public, and both of New Canaan’s news outlets covered it that week. What followed was more than a year of sustained local coverage that moved from what the survey found, to what got funded, to what residents can actually use.

Alongside the coverage, the Alliance formed a standing Outreach and Awareness work group, which Patterson described as a direct result of the survey finding that parents did not know where to turn. Green ribbons and resource cards went up downtown during Mental Health Awareness Month with a QR code routing residents to the Alliance website, and NCCF committed publicly to marketing the programs it funds rather than only funding them.

The May 2026 two-part series in the New Canaan Sentinel named more than twenty local organizations, most of them Alliance members, and profiled residents whose lives were changed by help they found here, including the Assessment Program at Silver Hill Hospital, an Alliance member and one of its three founding conveners, which offers New Canaan residents a face-to-face psychiatric evaluation within 48 hours, free of charge.

THE COVERAGE

  • New Canaanite, January 27, 2025: BHA Shares Community Health and Well-Being Survey Results
  • New Canaan Sentinel, January 31, 2025: Survey Highlights Behavioral Health Opportunities
  • News 12 Connecticut, May 29, 2025: New Canaan goes green for Mental Health Awareness Month
  • Patch, August 13, 2025 and New Canaan Sentinel, August 21, 2025: the grant opportunity
  • New Canaan Sentinel, December 11, 2025: Behavioral Health Grants Awarded
  • New Canaan Sentinel, May 21 and May 28, 2026: Let’s Talk About It, New Canaan, a two-part series on mental health, stigma and the courage to seek help

BY THE NUMBERS

  • 1,490 survey responses, 10.5 percent of New Canaan adults
  • Six placements across five outlets, print and broadcast, over sixteen months
  • More than twenty local organizations named across the May 2026 two-part series
  • One free, 48-hour access point for residents in urgent need, named in print
  • Approximately 100 people at the January 27, 2025 public forum, per the New Canaanite

134 Residents Said They Felt Unsafe at Home.

New Canaan Abuse Prevention Partnership with the New Canaan Community Foundation, both New Canaan Behavioral Health Alliance members | DV Survivor Support Fund, launched July 31, 2026

WHAT THE SURVEY FOUND

Most of what the 2024 Community Health & Well-Being Survey measured was access, awareness and stress. One question asked about safety at home. One hundred thirty-four residents reported concern for their safety from someone living in their household.

Among people who reported feeling unsafe at home, 41 percent were unaware of local domestic violence services, against 34 percent of residents who did not report feeling unsafe. Across the town as a whole, 34 percent did not know where to seek help for domestic violence at all.

HOW THE ALLIANCE RESPONDED

On July 31, 2026, the New Canaan Abuse Prevention Partnership, in collaboration with the New Canaan Community Foundation and local service partners, announced the DV Survivor Support Fund, citing a recent increase in domestic violence incidents in town.

It pays for the practical things that decide whether someone can leave: safe housing, basic needs, emergency financial assistance, childcare and supportive services. It is modeled on the Foundation’s Touch A Life Fund, tailored to families experiencing violence.

When local leaders made the case publicly at Town Hall, they put the survey data alongside the police data. Speakers described domestic violence as the town’s leading violent crime. Police recorded 32 Family Disputes calls in the first six months of 2026 against 41 in all of 2025, 21 domestic violence arrests against 26, and 17 children living in those homes against 20. The survey’s 134 residents sat next to those numbers as the part no police report captures.

“Domestic violence is often hidden, but its impact is real and far-reaching. This fund gives our community a direct and practical way to help survivors regain safety, stability, and dignity.”

Dede Bartlett, Co-Chair, New Canaan Abuse Prevention Partnership

“No one should have to be between abuse and homelessness.”

Jackie D’Louhy, Co-Chair, New Canaan Abuse Prevention Partnership, New Canaanite, August 2, 2026

HOW A SURVIVOR REACHES IT

The Foundation administers the fund with trusted referral sources, including New Canaan Human Services and the Domestic Violence Crisis Center, both Alliance members. Schools, faith communities and other nonprofits can surface a need through those channels. Every request is handled confidentially.

All four organizations behind the fund are members of the New Canaan Behavioral Health Alliance.

WHERE IT STANDS

  • Open for contributions at bit.ly/DVsupportfund
  • Referral pathway live through New Canaan Human Services and the DVCC
  • Covered by the New Canaanite, August 2, 2026; leaders committed to reporting back
  • Not an emergency service. DVCC 24-hour hotline 203-588-9097; Safe Connect 888-774-2900; 911 in immediate danger

WHY IT MATTERS FOR THIS YEAR

The survey did not create this fund. The rise in local incidents did. The survey put a number on the part of the problem no police report captures, and showed that the residents already unsafe at home were the least likely to know help existed.

BY THE NUMBERS

  • 134 residents reported feeling unsafe at home, and 41 percent did not know help existed
  • One new fund, four Alliance members

 

KidSafeHQ: A Standing Resource

The Rowan Center, a New Canaan Behavioral Health Alliance member | KidSafeHQ | Survey Response Grant, $5,000

WHAT THE SURVEY FOUND

Parents told the survey what worried them about their children, and technology ranked high. Asked to rate eleven concerns on a four-point scale, smart phone use scored 2.42 and social media use 2.27, placing both above bullying, social isolation and physical health.

What the survey could not tell those parents was where to go with the worry. One in three, 33 percent, did not know or were unsure where to turn if their child was struggling, and 39 percent were unaware of the parent supports already available in town.

HOW THE ALLIANCE RESPONDED

NCCF awarded The Rowan Center $5,000 to bring KidSafeHQ to New Canaan. KidSafeHQ is a standing education program built to equip parents and caregivers with the knowledge, tools and resources to protect children in today’s digital and real-world environments.

It is organized by age band, elementary through high school, and covers body safety and boundaries, healthy relationships and consent, digital safety and online risks, peer influence and decision-making, and social and emotional development. Families get age-specific guidance, an activity hub with thirty-one hands-on learning activities, conversation starters, an FAQ built from questions students actually ask, and a guide for families supporting a survivor.

On Monday, May 11, 2026, at New Canaan Library, that became “Raising Kids in a Digital World,” an evening focused on digital safety, ethical technology, and the growing impact of AI on children and families.

The Rowan Center convened the evening in partnership with the New Canaan Community Foundation, New Canaan CARES, the New Canaan Police Department, and New Canaan Public Schools. All five are members of the New Canaan Behavioral Health Alliance.

WHERE IT STANDS

  • $5,000 Survey Response Grant awarded to The Rowan Center for KidSafeHQ training
  • “Raising Kids in a Digital World” held May 11, 2026 at New Canaan Library
  • Presented in partnership with NCCF, New Canaan CARES, the New Canaan Police Department, and New Canaan Public Schools, all Alliance members
  • Open to the public and free to attend, with RSVP
  • KidSafeHQ remains a free, standing resource for New Canaan families at therowancenter.org/kidsafehq, not a one-night program

BY THE NUMBERS

  • $5,000 grant, one evening, five Alliance members in partnership
  • Free and open to the public at New Canaan Library

 

The Survey Cast a Wide Net. The Commission Went Deeper.

New Canaan Human Services Commission | No grant funding

WHAT THE SURVEY FOUND

The 2024 survey was built to represent the whole town: 1,490 residents aged 18 and older, roughly 10.5 percent of New Canaan’s adult population, with a confidence interval of plus or minus 2.4 percent. Forty percent of respondents were 60 or older. But none of the five key takeaways spoke specifically to what older residents were experiencing.

HOW THE ALLIANCE RESPONDED

Rather than commission a new study, members of the New Canaan Human Services Commission, several of whom were serving with the Alliance at the time, went back into the data that already existed. Working with Nina Chanana, the researcher who designed the townwide survey, they disaggregated the results by age and isolated what the town’s senior population had said.

That analysis raised questions the survey had not been built to answer. The Commission’s seniors subcommittee ran focus groups in the summer of 2025 and presented key findings at its September 4, 2025 meeting. In April 2026 it returned with formal recommendations for the Commission to adopt. Both presentations are part of the public record through the Commission’s minutes.

“We found the responses around senior housing especially poignant. All three age cohorts expressed concern about where they will live as they age, wanting to downsize and remain in New Canaan but seeing limited options.”

Barb Achenbaum, Chair, New Canaan Human Services Commission

WHERE IT STANDS

  • Survey data disaggregated by age with the original survey researcher
  • Senior focus groups conducted, summer 2025
  • Key findings presented September 4, 2025
  • Recommendations presented for Commission adoption April 7, 2026
  • Continuing focus on reaching seniors who do not know what services exist

BY THE NUMBERS

  • No grant funding. The work ran on access to data the town already had
  • Focus groups summer 2025, findings September 2025, recommendations April 2026