It often starts with a story.

Your child walks through the door with a certain look on their face. Maybe they’re quiet. Maybe they’re mad. Maybe they blurt it out while grabbing a snack or kicking off their shoes:

“The security guard followed me around the whole store.”
“This white kid touched m

...

If you’re a parent navigating the mental health system, chances are you’ve been introduced to a QMHA — a Qualified Mental Health Associate.

And chances are, no one really explained what that means.
So let me help you out.

First: What is a QMHA?

A QMHA is not a licensed therapist.
They are parapro...

Let’s just name it:
There are not enough therapists in this country to meet the mental health needs of our children.

Not enough for kids with trauma.
Not enough for neurodivergent kids.
Not enough for the kids who are spiraling silently or acting out loudly.
Not enough for your kid.
Not enough for ...

The mental health system is broken. If you’ve ever tried to get support for your child, you already know.

Waitlists stretch for months. Providers are maxed out (I wrote another blog post about the mental health system needing 5x as many child psychiatrists as we currently have). Agencies are scramb...

What if privilege isn’t what we think it is?

What if it’s not just about wealth or power or even access—but about what we haven’t had to see?

I’ve been sitting with this idea lately:
Maybe privilege is just a blind spot.

Not something to feel ashamed of. Not something to feel superior about. But ...

You love your children deeply. You're doing your best to raise them with care, intention and heart. And yes - adopting or raising children of color has changed you in profound ways. But love alone doesn't erase the deeper patterns we've inherited. And when we parent with unexamined bias, our childre...

Raising children of color as a white parent is a beautiful, soul-stretching journey. And depending on what generation you're part of, your starting point might be very different — from “colorblind” ideals to TikTok-level racial analysis. Let’s have some fun unpacking how Boomers, Gen Xers, Millennia...

Melvin Hawkins Is Our Rock

There are some people who change your life just by showing up. Melvin is one of those people—for my son, and by extension, for me.

My son needed something I could never give him. Not because I didn’t love him. Not because I didn’t try. But because some things can’t be ta...

We often hear about adoption as a story of rescue. A hopeful solution for families who can’t have children of their own. A win-win. A happy ending.

But that version of the story is missing entire chapters — and the most important voice of all: the adoptee.

Organizations like Adoption Mosaic have b...

What I Learned from Blindly Trusting a Black-Owned Counseling Practice

I believe deeply in supporting Black-owned businesses.

As a white mother raising Black children, I know representation matters — not just in books and movies, but in the people who surround and serve my kids. Especially in the ...

Adoption, Fear, and Loving Through the Unknown

When the phone rang, I said yes.

The adoption agency told me the birth mother had used “some drugs, not much.”
I had just turned down another situation where the expectant mother had used substances daily. So when they said “not much,” I believed them...

Why So Many Kids Are Misdiagnosed and Misunderstood

You’ve taken your child to the doctor. To therapists. To neuropsych evaluations.
You’ve walked out with acronyms: ADHD. ODD. Mood Disorder. Autism Spectrum.
Maybe none of them feel quite right.
Maybe your gut says something deeper is going on.

If...