RMH Provides Online Resource for Ohio’s Families with RedTreehouse.org

RMH Provides Online Resource for Ohio’s Families with RedTreehouse.org

Support Organizations, Events, Tools and Webinars are just a click away!

One of the ways the Ronald McDonald House of Cleveland supports families is through our online family resource link, www.RedTreehouse.org. Red Treehouse is free to use and offers a comprehensive directory of organizations, an events calendar, tools and helpful guides on a wide range of topics affecting families. All of these resources are searchable by Condition/Issue, Service Category, Location, Age Group and Key Word. An interactive map allows users to easily view what’s in their local community, and people can also submit events, organizations, suggested updates and stories. All submissions are reviewed for accuracy and relevance before posting, and site content is continually updated by our team and community partners to ensure timeliness.

We needed to learn about things like early intervention, physical and occupational therapy, government benefits, special education, long term care… All of these things families can find on Red Treehouse.

Helen Rapp, Esq., Special Needs Parent, RTh Contributor

Kwame Christian, Esq., M.A. is an attorney, mediator, and author of the new book, Nobody will Play with Me shown here

Red Treehouse was originally part of the Tools for Today and Tomorrow program, which was a collaborative effort of 22 hospitals, universities and social service organizations that had come together in 2003 to help families access needed information, resources and support.  By 2006 the consortium had held numerous family focus groups and two successful conferences covering medical and educational advocacy, family relationships, financial tools and legal issues presented by experts in the fields of medicine, education, law, finance, psychology and social work. That same year, the program expanded and became a full-time program of the Ronald McDonald House of Cleveland. In 2007 the first Tools for Today website was launched. In 2011, through a partnership with Ohio Family and Children First, the site branched out from Northeast Ohio, becoming a broader statewide resource known as Red Treehouse. Since then, the site has continued to grow and new features, original content and informational webinars have been added.

Live webinars, currently made possible by a grant from the Ohio State Bar Foundation, are free to join and available for playback on demand. Topics are based on user suggestions and are presented by experts in their fields. The latest webinar, How to Find Confidence in Conflict, with Kwame Christian, Esq., M.A., Director of the American Negotiation Institute, garnered such interest that a follow-up podcast was recorded to discuss attendee inquiries. Red Treehouse and Mr. Christian will team up again live on Tuesday, January 29, 2019 from 12 – 1:30 pm EST to discuss Using Compassionate Curiosity to Find Confidence in Conflict, a powerful framework for handling difficult conversations in any setting. More information, registration and previous webinars are all available at www.redtreehouse.org/webinars.

Thanks so much for making this presentation available. I will be using these principles on a regular basis both in my volunteer work and my personal life.

Webinar Attendee

The events calendar on Red Treehouse is a great place to find local support groups, workshops, conferences and recreational activities tailored to a host of different conditions and needs. The vast majority of events listed are free to attend. In addition to webinars and events, there are over 3000 organizations in the Red Treehouse directory, and close to 1000 tools and guides. Guides provide information on topics as diverse as special education, opioid addiction and summer camps and can be browsed at www.redtreehouse.org/guides/ or easily searched for by topic or keyword. New guides are published monthly or more frequently.

The guide on 504 Plans pointed me to all the information I needed to request appropriate school accommodations for my son.

Red Treehouse User

Red Treehouse listings are unpaid; sales pitches, fundraisers, unproven medical claims and advertorials are not accepted. This helps ensure that information found on the site is accurate and unbiased. A user account is not required, but those who sign up are able to save their search criteria and subscribe to our free monthly newsletter. We encourage organizations to submit profiles and events for inclusion in our directory and welcome user feedback. We also post updates and information on our Facebook and Twitter pages at @RedTreehouseRMH.