Groton — Mary Parker knows what it’s like to try to help a child, driving all over to visit therapists and feeling like it’s an exercise in futility.

She has two sons with special needs and used to get so confused by conflicting doctors' advice that she didn’t know what to do. No one communicated with one another even though they all were treating the same child.

“I would get one referral to go here and another referral to go there and another referral to go somewhere else,” said Parker, who has since become a therapist herself. “I’d be driving to five or six doctor appointments for each child, every week. And everybody was in different places, in different locations. Nobody was talking to each other.”

It disturbed her so much, she decided to do something about it.

In November, she and a colleague leased the 5,000-square-foot space at 428 Long Hill Road that was formerly Stonington Institute, and opened a mental health cooperative.

Life Naturally LLC, started with a simple goal in mind: Create one-stop shopping for parents of children with special needs and developmental delays, and fill the office with the mental health and other providers they’d need. Parker, a mental health counselor, opened it with Jamie Lee, a consultant of natural and integrated medicine.

Less than four months later, the cooperative houses Parker, Lee, an occupational therapist, a music therapist, a yoga instructor, a massage therapist and a behavior analyst. A speech and language pathologist is joining shortly.

The cooperative is geared toward children, but some of its therapists have adult clients as well and, given the demand, Parker believes she will need to expand. She plans to add an advanced practice registered nurse and a therapist for adults. 

Life Naturally LLC also is applying for nonprofit status to seek grants to serve families whose insurance excludes some or most mental health services.

"There is a huge need in Groton, a huge need in this area," said Parker, who has 23 clients and a nearly full practice.

Jona Jeffcoat, a music therapist, said she met Parker at an autism awareness event last fall at Connecticut College. As soon as Jeffcoat heard the idea of bringing together therapists with different specialties, "my ears perked up," she said.

“I had been looking for that for so long and what she was talking about was exactly how I had built my practice,” said Jeffcoat, who runs Southington-based Infinity Music Therapy Services. She has clients across the state, but said the cooperative had particular appeal.

“What drew me to the Groton clinic is not everyone benefits from home services and it’s not always feasible to work on social skills at home,” she said. “Kids need to be in a social environment. Then, also with the co-op, it allows us to have instant access to other clinicians.”

Like Parker, Jeffcoat also had personal experience seeking help. Her 5-year-old son has autism and she struggled to find doctors, she said. First, she had trouble finding someone who would take her health insurance, she said. Specialists put her son on wait lists. They canceled appointments.

“Even getting him diagnosed was a major effort,” she said.

But she gained from the experience, she said. Before his diagnosis, she thought she knew what parents of special needs children go through, she said. Then she realized how little she understood.

"I think that opens up your eyes and makes you a better clinician because you realize you’re not just working with an isolated person, but with the whole family," she said.

Parker’s sons, who were young when they were diagnosed, are now ages 8 and 12 and need few services, she said. But she knows the struggle well, and hopes the cooperative will make it easier for parents.

“For all of us, it was our life experiences that drove us to the fields we’re in,” Parker said.

d.straszheim@theday.com