The Mindstorm

Category: friends

  • Perfectly Broken Yet Stronger Together

    Perfectly Broken Yet Stronger Together

    It’s taken me a few weeks to write a post about attending this year’s HealtheVoices. This is the fourth time Janssen has hosted this event and I am blessed to have been invited to attend all four times. Usually I come home full of enthusiasm and joy at spending such an amazing weekend with so…

  • A Parent’s Perspective – Elizabeth Loan

    A Parent’s Perspective – Elizabeth Loan

    Years ago I worked for a school who only served kids with moderate to severe disabilities, primarily Autism. Part of our training was a series of lectures from other health professionals, support service agencies and other assorted individuals who worked in the field. One of the trainings was titled, “A Parent’s Perspective.” It consisted of…

  • It’s Monday Again – NABPM / NaBloPoMo Day 14

    So…another week begins. We spent time Thursday and Friday last week talking as a family about what’s going on with The Girl* and talking to her about what an evaluation is.  We’d had a cocktail party scheduled for Saturday night for weeks and, while debating if we should cancel, we all decided not to.  She…

  • Advocate or Hardass? NABPM / NaBloPoMo Day 9

    There has to be a fine line between being an advocate and fighting stigma, and being a killjoy.  I still don’t think I’ve found it.  Here’s an example: a friend recently posted a link to a t-shirt on her she thought was funny, but is clearly poking fun at a mental health disorder – in…

  • Really Nice Weekend

    Tim was struggling with his voices last week.  Last Monday he got agitated over something seemingly small, and put his hands around a therapist’s neck as if to strangle them.  He was about to grip when they said he crumpled to the floor, sobbing, hands on his head, complaining that they won’t go away.  His…

  • Hope is Real

    I had the immense pleasure this weekend of having dinner with several folks of BringChange2Mind. They’ve all changed my life – our family’s lives – in some way. The CABF team helped pull us out of the fear and confusion we felt when Tim was first diagnosed. Susan Resko, Executive Director of CABF – without…