My Story
When I had my son and began this journey, I had to navigate this world by myself. I had to go through a broken medical system, not designed to support parents, during a very traumatic time in my life. I understand how difficult it is to go from appointment to appointment, having information thrown at you, while you’re experiencing a grief you never imagined you’d be feeling after welcoming your baby into the world.
During those first years the support and focus on my child was amazing, however, it often felt like people would forget that I was also living through this. Sometimes I just really wanted someone to walk in and ask “What can I do for you? How can I help you?” I wished that I could have had someone by my side who had gone through this before. Someone who understood what I was feeling and could help me every step of the way. Someone who wasn’t medical, that could attend appointments with me and take notes so that I could fully engage in the conversation without having to worry about remembering every detail.
I began by attending appointments with my friends, taking notes about what we talked about and what actions were discussed. This was really helpful for my friends because not only could they be present during these appointments, they could also go back and make sure that the actions that were promised were actually being upheld.
I think having that lived experience is so beneficial because I understand the whole picture. I understand how fearlessly you love and care for your child and how you wouldn’t change anything about them. But I also understand how incredibly traumatic, stressful and hard it is. I understand how triggering it can be when you’re constantly reliving distressing moments and how exhausting it is having to make millions of decisions day after day.
I created BrightSteps because I want to help people who maybe don’t know where to begin. There is so much information to know and understand but no easy way to find it. I want to provide education around funding and navigating the system so that people can receive the support they need.
Overall, my job is to wrap support around the parent so they know that there is someone on their side, who can remember everything going on, so that they can focus on what they need to in that moment.
