Category: Name It
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The Wheels on the Bus
The wheels on that bus go round and round, setting my kid apart as “other” in a way we never wanted. We always felt (hoped) that the resources available in the mainstream school programs combined with the resources we access outside of school would be enough. And they were, until they weren’t.
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Thoughts on Afters and Nexts 2.0
Tomorrow is the last day of the 2021-2022 school year. The kids will say peace out to 9th and 10th grades by lunchtime, and by dinnertime the eldest will also be officially discharged from the outpatient mental heath program that has been that child’s only extracurricular activity since March. To say the least, June 16,…
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Antonyms for Linear…
Healing is not linear. Every option available to the kid and to us as parents right now is a rotten option. Nothing makes sense and nothing is clear – actually nothing make sense and the only thing that is clear is our love for this child.
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Strange Symmetry and “Stepping Down”
April 5, 2022, 6 years deep into treatment for depression and an anxiety disorder, and just one month into a partial hospitalization program to treat a crisis point in their mental health; my eldest child was officially “stepped down” from the full day program to the afternoon program.
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Thoughts on Afters and Nexts
So here’s the thing….if you ask me how I am right now, I will probably answer honestly that I am perpetually exhausted, frustrated by school and insurance systems that make it nearly impossible to get a teenager critical mental health treatment, frightened for my struggling child, worried that my other child is uncomfortable in our…
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Birthday Eves and World Mental Health Day
On this day 15 years ago there was so much I did not know. I certainly didn’t imagine that our every day would include my child living (thriving) with mental illness. And that means that somewhere out there this evening are other mothers, in other hospitals, waiting for their own baby to join the world…
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Faces Behind the Statistics – World Mental Health Day 2019
Worldwide more than 300 million people of all ages live with depression. My 13year old son is one of those people, but he’s not a statistic and he’s not defined by his diagnosis. See the faces and know the stories behind the statistics. #WorldMentalHealthDay is a reminder that there are real people behind the statistics.…
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Season of Survival – Thoughts From a Parent During Mental Health Month
Have you ever experienced something from the past through the fresh lens of the present? It could be a place, or a movie, or a book, or a song – something that holds a memory, but when you experience it with the perspective gained through more trips around the sun new meaning shines through. I…
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Beyond the Label
What I know to be true is that my son wants to be fully and genuinely seen and accepted for who he is – and ASD is a piece of what makes him whole. So for him, and for every other child and adult on the spectrum (and for the people who love them) I…
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Hard Choices and the Space Between
It’s been almost 3 years since we made the decision to use medication as a tool to help my son manage his mental health. 3 years of the trial and error that is inherent to the delicate balance between brain chemistry and drug efficacy. 3 years of weighing potential and actual side effects against positive…
We're All A Little Broken 