Support group serves parents of kids with 'invisible disabilities'

Easy to Love but Hard to Raise is a support group for parents of kids with OCD, ADHD and other disabilities.

Posted 1:45 a.m. Feb 22, 2012 — Updated 1:45 a.m. Feb 22, 2012

Sarah Lindenfeld Hall

I received an email from a mom the other week looking for a support group for parents of children with obsessive-compulsive disorder.

I didn't find exactly what she was looking for, but thanks to the folks at St. Paul's Center for Hope and Healing, I did find a support group called Easy to Love, Hard to Raise. It meets in Pittsboro and Sanford, but Adrienne Bashista, a Pittsboro mom who started it, would like to expand into southwestern Wake County as some of the group's participants have traveled from there.

The group, which has had just a handful of meetings so far, serves parents of children with "invisible disabilities," such as OCD, ADHD and Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder, which is what Bashista's youngest son, who was adopted, has.

Bashista also is co-editor of the book "Easy to Love but Hard to Raise," a compilation of essays by parents of children with these kinds of invisible disabilities. Four of the writers, including Bashista, are from the Triangle.

For more on the group, go to its Meetup page. For more about the book, check out its website and Facebook page.

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