A New Writing Season
I am beginning a new season as a writer and I am excited for you to join me! I have words burning in my spirit that need a longer format to convey. I love the micro-blogging format of social media and you will still find me on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. However, this blog will give me the opportunity to share more of the work I am doing, the issues I am tackling, and the things I am learning.
I know your time is valuable and I do not take it for granted that you are taking the time to read these words. I hope when you read my posts, that you are reminded that while life is exquisitely complex and the struggles can feel overwhelming making us feel like life as we know it has been “shattered”, there are still great opportunities among these challenges. I am a mental health expert committed to making people feel seen and supported so they can live life on their terms and achieve their optimal functioning. I look forward to sharing more about this with you soon.
For now, here is more about who I am. If we are already well acquainted, this will be an update. If this is our first connection, let this post serve as an initial introduction. Regardless, I hope this will be another way for us to connect.
I live in the middle of North Carolina and have a 10-acre farm in the country. I work for two of the best Universities in North Carolina – Duke University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Yes, I may be biased, but I also feel like I have some data to back this up! I love spending my days working with my colleagues in Durham and Chapel Hill and then enjoying my off-time at home. I also love traveling to places I have never been, and I always savor returning home.
Professionally, I am an experienced researcher, professor, author, mental health expert.
I received my PhD in Nursing from Duke University and completed my Bachelors and Masters in Nursing from UNC-Chapel Hill. For over 20 years, I have been providing mental health care. For 13+ years that has been as a nurse practitioner with dual certification in psychiatry and primary care.
Personally, I am a mother of two amazing children, Adia and Aiden. I hope loving them well will be considered my greatest work.
And let’s be real, there are other areas of personal “expertise” that never make it on the resume or CV. Oftentimes, these are the “pain points'' of our lives. They are the “roles” we never applied for and most likely would not have volunteered to navigate. However, these experiences deeply change who we are and how we see the world.
For me, my personal “expertise” includes being:
A teen mom
A single mom
A divorcee
A disability expert that began to learn about disability in a new way as a daughter, when my father faced disability
A person who has known the death of loved ones and dreams
This blog will give me the opportunity to integrate my “expertise” in new ways that my professional writing and the peer-reviewed-process do not facilitate.
As a researcher and health policy expert, I conduct research studies to develop interventions and health policy solutions focused on improving the health and well-being of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) and their families. I continue to fight to address unmet needs, improve services, and address injustices. This work will always fuel me and keep me awake at night. I will still be sharing that work here as well but…
I am doing new research and writing on self-compassion and it is time to share that work too. In the spirit of Barbara Brown Taylor “what is saving my life now”? — the short answer is self-compassion. Self-compassion is a practice that I have come to recognize is vital as oxygen. I would dare to say self-compassion is oxygen.
I look forward to sharing what I am learning and engaging with you as we journey towards becoming more self-compassionate people that can enjoy any inconvenience or “detour” that life throws our way.
So tell me, what is the first word that comes to mind when you think of self-compassion? I can’t wait to hear what you think!
Duke Chapel, Duke University
