What a day. It started off at WTVR channel 6 with an interview about the book, followed by a Philanthropy award luncheon, followed by a zoom call with Molly in Sacramento CA for a future speaking engagement, followed by book signing at Barnes & Noble (thank all for coming out) and ended the night with my best friend Martha, her husband and mine at “Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me,” radio show on NPR. I’m too tired to eat.
No one likes the back and forth of trying to find the right therapist, especially with a child. Finding a therapist for your child is an exhausting process. Who is available? Who takes your insurance? Does he/she have a waiting list a mile long? Will it be a good match? Do they work with a psychiatrist?
I have a few tips to help. If you have other suggestions, please put them in the comments.
It’s a different kind of grief.
Knowing that the child you love is behind bars or in them. Still struggling with that demon known as addiction. There is a lot of stress in families this time of year that they are not the ‘Norman Rockwell’ painting of togetherness.
I remember how we’d discuss this every year in Families Anonymous. If our child was still using and not in recovery, this time of year was especially hard. For parents of those incarcerated due to their addiction, it was hard. While it’s definitely hard if you’ve lost a child, I don’t have … Read more...
I did appreciate the opportunity to present on this topic, “Addiction and Mental Illness: Injustices to our youth” to share why Virginia ranks 46th for treating youth mental health.
That means 7 out of 10 most at risk for dropping out of school, struggling with relationships, ending up in prison, becoming addicted or dying by suicide, do not get the care they need.
I began with my story about my son Charles who died by suicide and talked about the injustices we faced as a middle class family and what I’ve seen are the gaps in a flawed system of … Read more...
Family weddings are wonderful. But all life events for those of us who’ve lost a child are bittersweet. It was so good to see all my family and had a great weekend in Charleston, SC with my mom, my first cousins with whom I grew up in Fayetteville, NC.
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I am so grateful to have a community partner like McShin Foundation and I’m honored to have been invited to present at the Care Talks event focused on solutions for addiction.
I am still quite hoarse from gamma knife radiation (voice slowly improving) in this video and struggling at times to get sentences out above a whisper. But I got it done! Thank you Tim Alexander and team for shooting the videos.
See other inspirational Care Talks here.
I had hoped to be standing before you today telling you about my success story, Charles.
But 2 years … Read more...
This is a video by my friend, Tim Alexander, about the opiate epidemic. It’s short and to the point. Worth watching. Dear governors, senators, congressmen, city counsel….
Tim works with the McShin Foundation to publish video and other media to raises awareness on the topic of addiction. He is also one of the tribe here and is an avid sharer.