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Wings of Resilience, Cheyenne, WY (2026)

06/01/2026

If Mental Health Awareness Month has reminded me of anything, it's that mental health is messy.

Sometimes people get better. Sometimes they don't. Sometimes treatment works quickly, and sometimes families spend years searching for answers. Sometimes healing looks like thriving, and sometimes it looks like simply surviving the day.

Over the last month, we've talked about diagnoses, treatment, trauma, hospitalization, self-harm, su***de, family impact, and recovery. But behind every diagnosis is a person. Behind every statistic is a family. And behind every family is a story most people never see.

This month was especially personal for me. I lost my dad after a lifetime of battles with addiction and mental health struggles. At the same time, I've watched my daughter continue fighting for her future. I've watched families celebrate victories they once thought were impossible. And I've watched parents survive days they weren't sure they could survive.

Maybe that's what Mental Health Awareness Month is really about.

Breaking the stigma. Having the hard conversations. Helping people realize they are not alone. Creating communities where it's safe to say, "I'm not okay." Advocating for better resources, earlier intervention, and support for families before they reach a crisis.

The truth is awareness is more than knowing the statistics. It's compassion. It's understanding. It's showing up.

Every struggling child is someone's whole world. Every exhausted parent is doing the best they can. Every person battling mental illness deserves dignity, support, and hope.

Mental Health Awareness Month may be ending, but the families living this journey continue every single day.

Let's keep the conversation going. 🤍

05/30/2026

When a child is struggling with their mental health, most parents want the same thing. A solution. A roadmap. Something that makes the pain stop. And while every child is different, one thing I've learned is that healing usually isn't found in one big thing.

It's often found in a lot of small things done consistently over time.

🤍 Safe adults they can trust
🤍 Feeling heard instead of immediately being "fixed"
🤍 Structure and predictable routines
🤍 Healthy boundaries
🤍 Sleep
🤍 Connection
🤍 Therapy and appropriate treatment
🤍 Movement and physical activity
🤍 Learning coping skills
🤍 Having at least one person who keeps showing up
🤍 Knowing they are loved even on their hardest days

But when I think back on our own journey, I don't think there was one thing that helped. It was people. It was therapists. It was nurses.It was doctors.It was teachers. It was treatment teams. It was friends.It was family. It was safe adults who kept showing up when things felt impossible.

Sometimes healing requires a village. Sometimes it requires an entire system of support surrounding a child and their family while they learn how to heal.

For us, there were seasons where support looked like outpatient therapy. There were seasons where it looked like PHP, IOP, residential treatment, or hospitalization. There were seasons where we had to lean on professionals because we simply couldn't carry it alone.

And that's okay.

Needing help doesn't mean you've failed as a parent. Accepting support doesn't mean you're giving up on your child. Sometimes the strongest thing a family can do is allow others to walk alongside them. As parents, we often put enormous pressure on ourselves to say the perfect thing or make the perfect decision. But children don't need perfect parents. They need safe, consistent, supportive ones.

Sometimes what helps the most isn't having all the answers. Sometimes it's sitting beside them and saying "I may not fully understand what you're feeling, but I'm not going anywhere."

The reality is that healing often happens through thousands of small moments. The rides to therapy. The late-night conversations. The boundaries. The check-ins. The hugs. The apologies. The decision to keep showing up, even when you're exhausted. Connection is powerful.

Sometimes the most healing thing we can give our children is knowing they don't have to walk through hard things alone.🤍

05/28/2026

One thing I don’t think people fully understand until they live this journey… is that mental health impacts the entire family.

When a child is struggling deeply, life changes for everyone in the home. The routines change.The emotional weight changes. The energy in the house changes. While one child may need extra support, appointments, treatment, supervision, or crisis care… there are still other children, relationships, responsibilities, and emotions needing care too.

That part can feel incredibly heavy as a parent, because no matter where you are, your heart often feels split in multiple directions at once.

You’re sitting in a hospital worrying about the kids at home. You’re home worrying about the child struggling. You’re trying to stay emotionally present for everyone while quietly running on exhaustion yourself.

Siblings carry this journey too. Sometimes through anxiety. Sometimes through becoming extra independent. Sometimes through trying not to add stress because they see how hard things already feel.

Mental illness can impact routines, relationships, finances, marriages, emotional health, and the overall rhythm of a family.
But one of the hardest lessons I had to learn was this:

Supporting someone through mental health struggles does not mean losing yourself completely in the process.

I had to learn it was okay to
• be present with my other children
• protect family connection where I could
• rest
• laugh sometimes
• step out of survival mode when possible
• continue living alongside the hard moments
• support the struggling child

At first, that came with a lot of guilt, but over time I realized something important…Caring for the entire family (including myself) did not mean I loved any one child any less. In many ways, learning balance actually helped us navigate things in a healthier way together.

Mental illness is never a child’s fault. No one in the family is meant to carry these hard moments alone. I think most families walking this road are simply doing the best they can while loving each other through really difficult seasons.

So if your family has been impacted by mental illness, addiction, hospitalization, trauma, or su***de struggles…

You are not alone. And every person in the family deserves support too. 🤍

05/27/2026

What Healing Actually Looks Like 🤍

I think one of the hardest parts of this journey is realizing healing is rarely linear. We want to believe that once a child starts therapy, gets on medication, completes treatment, goes inpatient, starts PHP/IOP, or enters residential care… things will suddenly get better. But real healing is often much messier than that.

Sometimes healing looks like:
• progress and setbacks
• good days and hard days
• medication adjustments
• rebuilding trust
• learning coping skills
• emotional exhaustion
• relapses
• trying again
• starting over
• surviving the day safely

Sometimes healing looks like:
• getting out of bed
• showering
• going back to school
• eating a meal
• attending therapy
• communicating instead of shutting down
• using coping skills during a meltdown
• asking for help instead of self-harming
• making it through the night safely

And sometimes families are doing everything “right” and still struggling.That does not mean treatment failed.That does not mean the child is failing.And it does not mean there is no hope.

Mental health recovery is not a straight line.
Especially when trauma, neurodivergence, severe anxiety, depression, mood disorders, self-harm, suicidality, or emotional dysregulation are involved.

Healing takes time.

Some of the biggest victories are the ones no one else sees. So if your family still feels like you’re in the middle of the hard part, please remember….Progress does not have to be perfect to matter!!! We like to day, progress NOT perfection!

And healing is still healing!! Even when it happens slowly. 🤍

05/24/2026

I've been a little quiet the last few days, and I wanted to share why.

Recently, my father passed away.

Mental Health Awareness Month is deeply personal to me. What many of you may not know is that my Dad spent most of his life battling addiction, alcoholism, and his own mental health struggles. He had been in and out of hospitals, treatment programs, and periods of recovery throughout his life and still struggled every day.

We're still waiting for answers regarding his exact cause of death. Su***de is one of the possibilities being explored, and that's a difficult reality to sit with.

The truth is, grief is complicated. Especially when love and pain exist in the same story.
I've found myself moving through sadness, anger, compassion, regret, guilt, relief, confusion, and heartbreak. Sometimees all in the same day.

As someone who spends so much time advocating for mental health awareness, I keep thinking about how many families are carrying similar stories. Stories of people they love who fought battles they couldn't see. Stories of addiction. Stories of depression. Stories of treatment. Stories of hope. Stories of loss.

Mental illness does not always have a simple ending. Sometimes people receive treatment and recover. Sometimes they continue to fight for years. And sometimes, despite everyone's best efforts, including their own, we lose them.

If there's one thing this month has reminded me of, it's that mental health struggles don't just impact the person living with them. They ripple through families, generations, relationships, and entire communities.

So if you've been carrying guilt, grief, fear, regret, or unanswered questions about someone you've lost, you're not alone. And if you're currently fighting your own battle, please keep reaching out. Keep talking. Keep asking for help. Keep holding on.

Mental health matters.

And so do you. 🤍

~Alyssa

05/20/2026

Understanding Mood Disorders, Emotional Dysregulation & Psychosis in Youth 🤍

Some mental health symptoms can feel incredibly frightening for both kids and parents; especially when emotions, thoughts, behaviors, or reality suddenly begin changing in ways that don’t feel typical.

And few areas of youth mental health carry more stigma and misunderstanding than severe mood disorders, emotional dysregulation, and psychosis. But these children are not “crazy,” “bad,” or beyond help.

They are struggling with very real mental health symptoms that deserve compassionate, informed support. Not fear or shame.

🧠 Mood Disorders

Mood disorders are more than normal mood swings or typical teenage emotions.

Mood-related conditions in youth can include:
• Major Depressive Disorder (MDD)
• Bipolar Disorder
• Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder (DMDD)
• Persistent Depressive Disorder
• PMDD (Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder)
• Severe anxiety-related mood dysregulation
• Mood disorders connected to trauma or other mental health conditions

These conditions can affect;

Emotions, sleep, energy levels, impulse control, concentration, relationships, behavior, and daily functioning.

Some signs can include:
• severe emotional highs and lows
• rage or irritability
• impulsive or risky behavior
• emotional outbursts
• rapid speech or racing thoughts
• hopelessness or emotional numbness
• decreased need for sleep
• agitation or panic
• withdrawing from others
• sudden personality changes
• self-harm or suicidal thoughts

🧠 Emotional Dysregulation & Borderline Traits

Some teens struggle with extremely intense emotions, fear of abandonment, unstable relationships, impulsive behaviors, or chronic emotional overwhelm.

Sometimes providers may describe these as:
• emotional dysregulation
• attachment-related struggles
• trauma responses
• borderline personality traits
• or emerging personality patterns

And this area of mental health is often deeply misunderstood. Many of these teens are not manipulative or attention seeking.

Often, they are experiencing overwhelming emotional pain, unstable self-image, intense fear of rejection, difficulty regulating emotions, or nervous systems stuck in survival mode.

Some common symptoms can include:
• intense emotional reactions
• fear of people leaving
• unstable friendships or relationships
• impulsive behaviors
• self-harm
• suicidal thoughts or threats
• black-and-white thinking
• emotional outbursts
• rapid shifts in relationships or emotions
• chronic emptiness or emotional numbness

🧠 Psychosis

Psychosis happens when someone begins losing connection with reality.

This can include:
• hallucinations (seeing or hearing things others do not)
• paranoia
• delusions or false beliefs
• confusion
• disorganized thinking
• severe fear or suspiciousness
• difficulty distinguishing what is real

And for many children experiencing psychosis, the symptoms themselves are terrifying. Psychosis can happen alongside several mental health conditions, severe trauma, sleep deprivation, substance use, medical conditions, or mood disorders.

⚠️ Important realities:
• These conditions are complex and require professional evaluation
• Early intervention and treatment improve outcomes significantly
• Children experiencing psychosis are far more likely to be scared and vulnerable than dangerous
• Severe mood disorders and psychosis can increase risk for self-harm, impulsive behaviors, su***de, hospitalization, and higher levels of care when untreated

📊 Su***de risk increases significantly when severe depression, psychosis, hopelessness, impulsivity, emotional dysregulation, or untreated mood disorders are present.

Treatment can include:
• therapy
• medication
• psychiatric support
• DBT/CBT
• family therapy
• emotional regulation skills
• trauma-informed care
• safety planning
• school accommodations
• inpatient or residential care when needed

Most importantly:
A diagnosis should never remove the humanity of the child sitting in front of us.

These children deserve compassion, support, boundaries, safety, and people willing to keep showing up for them. Even in the hardest moments. 🤍

05/19/2026

Understanding OCD & Eating Disorders in Youth 🤍

Some mental health struggles are incredibly easy to miss because kids learn how to hide them. And two of the most misunderstood?
OCD and eating disorders.

Because OCD is not just being “organized.”
And eating disorders are not always about food.

🧠 OCD (Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder)

OCD involves intrusive, unwanted thoughts (obsessions) that create intense anxiety—followed by behaviors or rituals (compulsions) done to try to reduce that anxiety. Kids with OCD often know their thoughts don’t fully make sense… but their brain feels trapped in the fear anyway.

OCD can look like:
• repetitive checking
• needing constant reassurance
• excessive fear of germs or contamination
• counting rituals
• intrusive scary thoughts
• panic when routines change
• repeating behaviors “until it feels right”
• fear of harming themselves or others
• perfectionism
• excessive guilt
• avoiding certain objects, places, or situations

And many kids become very skilled at hiding it.

🧠 Eating Disorders

Eating disorders are serious mental health conditions. They are not attention seeking, phases, or simply wanting to “look skinny.”

They are often deeply connected to:
• anxiety
• perfectionism
• control
• self-esteem
• trauma
• emotional pain
• obsessive thinking
• fear
• and coping mechanisms

Eating disorders can include:
• restriction of food
• binge eating
• purging
• obsessive calorie tracking
• overexercising
• body checking
• intense fear around weight gain
• hiding food behaviors
• avoiding meals socially
• emotional distress around eating

And not every child with an eating disorder looks underweight.

⚠️ Important realities:
• OCD and eating disorders both have high levels of shame and secrecy
• Both can significantly impact daily functioning, relationships, school, and physical health
• Eating disorders have one of the highest mortality rates of any mental health condition
• Both OCD and eating disorders can increase risk for anxiety, depression, self-harm, and su***de when left untreated

📊 Many children and teens struggling with these disorders appear “high functioning” outwardly while silently battling overwhelming anxiety internally.

Treatment can include:
• therapy
• exposure/response therapy (ERP)
• nutritional support
• family therapy
• medical monitoring
• coping skills
• medication in some cases
• higher levels of care when safety becomes a concern

Most importantly👇
These children are not seeking attention.
They are trying to manage overwhelming fear, anxiety, distress, or emotional pain the best way their brain currently knows how.

And healing is possible with support, understanding, and treatment. 🤍

05/16/2026

Understanding Trauma & PTSD in Youth 🤍

One of the hardest things about trauma in children is that it does not always look like sadness.

Sometimes trauma looks like:
• Anger
• Aggression
• Emotional shutdown
• Anxiety
• Panic
• School refusal
• Control issues
• Hypervigilance
• Difficulty trusting others
• Avoidance
• Sleep struggles or nightmares
• Mood swings
• Self-harm
• Constant fight-or-flight responses
• “Defiant” behavior
• Emotional numbness

Sometimes kids don’t even fully understand that what they experienced was traumatic.

🧠 Trauma:
Trauma happens when a child experiences something overwhelming, frightening, unsafe, or emotionally harmful that their brain and body struggle to process.

Trauma can come from many things, including:
• Abuse
• Neglect
• Domestic violence
• Loss or grief
• Bullying
• Medical trauma
• Accidents
• Community violence
• Substance abuse in the home
• Mental health crises
• Family instability
• Witnessing frightening events
• Repeated emotional stress

Not every child who experiences trauma develops PTSD.

But trauma can absolutely impact:
• emotional regulation
• nervous system responses
• relationships
• coping skills
• learning
• self-esteem
• sleep
• physical health
• and feelings of safety

🧠 PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder):
PTSD develops when the brain remains stuck in survival mode long after the traumatic event has passed.

Children with PTSD may:
• Relive traumatic memories
• Avoid reminders of the event
• Become easily startled
• Struggle with emotional outbursts
• Experience severe anxiety or panic
• Have nightmares or flashbacks
• Feel unsafe even in safe environments
• Constantly scan for danger
• Dissociate or emotionally shut down

And sometimes trauma responses are misunderstood as:
“Attention seeking.”
“Manipulation.”
“Behavior problems.”
“Defiance.”

When really, the child’s nervous system may still feel unsafe.

📊 Important realities:
• Childhood trauma is incredibly common
• Studies show adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) significantly increase risk for anxiety, depression, substance use, self-harm, and su***de later in life
• Trauma can also increase risk for school struggles, relationship difficulties, emotional dysregulation, and chronic health problems

⚠️ Self-harm & su***de risk:
Children struggling with unresolved trauma or PTSD can have increased risk for self-harm, suicidal thoughts, emotional numbness, and hopelessness—especially when they do not feel safe, supported, believed, or understood.

But healing is possible.

Trauma-informed support matters.

Treatment can include:
• Therapy
• Trauma-focused therapy
• EMDR
• Brain spotting
• Family support
• Safe environments
• Emotional regulation skills
• Nervous system support
• School accommodations
• Medication in some cases

Most importantly:
Trauma changes how a child experiences safety. And healing often begins when children finally feel safe enough to stop surviving and start processing. 🤍

05/16/2026

Understanding ADHD & Autism in Youth 🤍

ADHD and Autism are two diagnoses that are often misunderstood, especially because symptoms can look very different from child to child.

Sometimes… they overlap with anxiety, depression, trauma, emotional dysregulation, sensory struggles, or learning difficulties.

🧠 ADHD (Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder)

ADHD is more than being “hyper” or distracted.

It affects executive functioning, emotional regulation, attention, impulse control, organization, motivation, and the brain’s ability to regulate focus and behavior.

Some common signs can include:
• Difficulty focusing
• Forgetfulness
• Impulsivity
• Emotional outbursts
• Restlessness or hyperactivity
• Trouble completing tasks
• Losing things often
• Difficulty with time management
• Avoiding overwhelming tasks
• Struggles in school despite intelligence
• Rejection sensitivity or emotional dysregulation

ADHD is often diagnosed in childhood, but many kids, especially girls, can be overlooked for years because symptoms may present differently.

🧠 Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)

Autism is a neurodevelopmental condition that affects communication, social interaction, sensory processing, routines, emotional regulation, and behavior.

Autism is a spectrum which means every child presents differently.

Some signs can include:
• Sensory sensitivities
• Difficulty with social communication
• Strong need for routine or predictability
• Intense interests or hyperfocus
• Emotional overwhelm or shutdowns
• Difficulty reading social cues
• Repetitive behaviors or stimming
• Anxiety around change or transitions
• Feeling socially “different”
• Masking behaviors to fit in socially

Some autistic children need significant support. Others may appear to function well outwardly while struggling internally.

📊 Important realities:
• ADHD affects millions of children nationwide and is one of the most common childhood neurodevelopmental diagnoses
• Autism diagnoses have increased significantly over the last decade due to increased awareness and screening
• Both ADHD and Autism can increase risk for anxiety, depression, self-esteem struggles, emotional dysregulation, bullying, and social isolation

⚠️ Mental health & su***de risk:
Children with ADHD and Autism are not automatically suicidal.

But research does show increased mental health risks can occur especially when children feel chronically misunderstood, unsupported, isolated, rejected, overwhelmed, or are struggling socially.

This is especially important because many neurodivergent children spend years feeling like they are “too much,” “different,” or constantly in trouble for behaviors connected to how their brain functions.

Support can include:
• Therapy
• Occupational therapy
• School accommodations (504/IEP)
• Emotional regulation support
• Sensory accommodations
• Parent education
• Medication in some cases
• Social support & coping skills

Most importantly:
These children are not broken.

Their brains simply process the world differently.

And when kids are understood instead of constantly punished, shamed, or compared, everything can begin to change. 🤍

05/14/2026

Understanding Depression & Anxiety in Youth 🤍

Depression and anxiety are two of the most common mental health conditions seen in children and teens. And sometimes… they don’t look the way people expect. A lot of people picture sadness, crying, or obvious panic attacks.

But in kids, these struggles can also look like:
• Irritability or anger
• Isolation
• School refusal
• Perfectionism
• Constant exhaustion
• Difficulty concentrating
• Headaches or stomach aches
• Sleeping too much or not enough
• Changes in eating habits
• Loss of motivation
• Emotional shutdown
• Avoiding friends or activities
• Constant worry or overthinking
• Becoming overwhelmed very easily

🧠 Depression:
Depression is more than “feeling sad. Clinically, depression affects mood, energy, motivation, sleep, concentration, and a child’s ability to function day-to-day. Some kids appear deeply sad. Others become numb, irritable, angry, or withdrawn. Depression can occur in children, but it becomes more commonly diagnosed in adolescence and teen years.

🧠 Anxiety:
Anxiety is more than normal stress or nervousness. Anxiety disorders involve excessive fear, worry, panic, physical symptoms, or constant overthinking that begins interfering with daily functioning.

Kids with anxiety may:
• Avoid school or social situations
• Need constant reassurance
• Become physically sick from stress
• Struggle with sleep
• Appear controlling or perfectionistic
• Panic when routines change
• Overthink everything

And sometimes anxiety and depression happen together.

📊 Some important realities:
• About 1 in 5 youth experience a mental health disorder each year
• Anxiety disorders are among the most common mental health conditions in adolescents
• Depression in teens has significantly increased over the last decade
• Youth struggling with depression can have increased risk of self-harm and suicidal thoughts—especially when symptoms go untreated or unsupported

⚠️ Self-harm & su***de risk:
Not every child with anxiety or depression will experience suicidal thoughts or self-harm. But both conditions can increase risk, especially when kids begin feeling hopeless, emotionally overwhelmed, isolated, or unable to cope.

That’s why early support matters.

Treatment can include:
• Therapy
• Coping skills
• Family support
• School accommodations
• Lifestyle changes
• Medication in some cases
• Higher levels of care if safety becomes a concern

Most importantly, anxiety and depression are not character flaws. They are NOT attention seeking. And they do not mean a child is weak. Kids struggling with anxiety or depression deserve support, emotional safety, understanding, and people willing to keep showing up for them. 🤍

Wings of Resilience

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