MILL CREEK — A program offering resources and support for new parents is branching out to Mill Creek-area families, offering comfort to parents feeling isolated or overwhelmed.

The Mill Creek Family YMCA and the Program for Early Parent Support (PEPS) are teaming to offer parenting classes for families with children 5 months to 18 months old.

PEPS classes help parents connect with each other and find comfort in identifying with each other’s experiences. It also provides a chance to help parents bond with their children through such activities as singing.

For Kristin Walsh, a former PEPS participant, the program showed her she wasn’t alone.

“When you’re struggling, there’s nothing more powerful than hearing from someone else facing the same challenges,” Walsh said.

Next month, PEPS will offer facilitated classes at YMCA branches in Mill Creek, Everett and Mukilteo for parents and their babies. The cost is $10 per session and parents are required to register at www.peps.org.

PEPS serves more than 1,400 parents per year, according to its website, including low-income, homeless, teenage and immigrant parents.

“These differences tend to go away as people begin to bond because they’re parents,” said Laura Kussick, PEPS executive director.

The YMCA is a good partner as both groups strive to help families connect, Kussick added. A former PEPS participant, Kussick said the YMCA offers programs for families with children and is accessible to get to by car or public transportation.

“It felt like a natural place to go,” she said.

During a typical class, parents volunteer to discuss highs and lows they’ve experienced with parenting. Issues like sleep or relationships are often a focus of parent-directed group discussions. There’s also a chance to socialize.

About 90 percent of groups who participate in PEPS stay in touch, Kussick said.

“For new parents it tends to be an extremely supportive environment when they realize (other) people have gone through the same experience,” she said.

The program began 26 years ago with a group of community volunteers concerned about providing support and resources for new parents in the King County area. Kussick said PEPS is unique because it combines parenting education classes with therapeutic resources, all while bringing people together.