Kayla Kantor was still new in Park City when she had her son in 2022.
She said she suffered from postpartum anxiety and didn’t want to leave her house.
Then she found the Hive Family Collective.
“I started going to the weekly coffee meetings and there I made friends and found much-needed resources,” she said. The Hive became such a lifeline for her that she’s now the executive director.
“Becoming a parent is wonderful and yet challenging. We are here to provide support and resources to new families in the area,” she said.
Founded in 2020, the Hive Family Collective is a local network for parents to connect, learn and share in the joys and difficulties of raising children. It aims to provide an inviting space to interact and learn.
Many Park City parents are transplants from other areas and don’t have local families or friends to lean on if they need help. This is the void the collective works to fill.
As part of the Hive community, new parents can attend the weekly MamaBee Coffee, where practitioners are available to answer questions and offer advice.
“You might come because you know we are featuring a lactation consultant or you want to ask a pelvic floor specialist a question,” said Kantor. “No matter what, you will meet other parents dealing with the same things you are.”
Each month, the group hosts a virtual parenting workshop covering an array of topics and discussions, a toddler focused event and a parent connection group. The Hive also features summer and fall family hikes, as well as biannual perinatal fairs.
Perhaps most helpful of all is the bevy of resources on their website. These include nuggets such as where to find qualified pediatricians and doulas, to exercise and fitness advice, to mental health and financial support services. Also there are over 50 online instructional videos offered for free.
They even assist new mothers and fathers with home-delivered meals and gift cards.
“Our meal program is for the entire community,” Kantor said. “We will deliver a meal if we know someone just had a child or if they’re just having a hard time, like, say, a spouse was laid off from work or the whole family is home in bed with the flu.”
Ultimately, the Family Hive Collective is all about “making parenthood as easy as possible,” she said.
The group recently launched a new membership program.
“This is a way for parents to care more deeply and be more involved with each other,” said Kantor. “There is an added digital component. Members can chat and ask questions specific to what they want to talk about. It’s really amazing because it’s parents’ helping parents.”
The internal chat will soon include practitioners and specialists available in real time to answer member’s questions, she said.
Membership to the Hive is $50 a year and anyone can try the program free for 30 days. You just sign up. You don’t have to give a credit card number or any payment method. Then after the trial month, the system will ask you if you want to continue and at that time provide your payment.
The Hive offers a scholarship program that covers the member fee for anyone who needs it, she said.
As the Hive community grows, Kantor and the other board members hope to increase their collaboration with other nonprofits and community churches.
They say it takes a village, but where is the village?” Kantor said. “The Hive Family Collective wants to create that village through a platform that promotes connection and support.”
