Mental disability takes many forms. It is the most misunderstood, societally shunned ailment. 50% of children with a mental health condition go untreated. I have been here, lived that.

I grew up in poverty. My childhood was filled with loss and uncertainty. At 11 years old I decided that, as far as it depended on me, that would change. Everything I had, I gave. But despite my best effort,…

Details of the story she told the night before materialize, and I lose my breath. With shaky hands I gather them together like puzzle pieces, desperate for answers. Renée Longshore Tweet With confusion and sorrow, I wonder. Will these become…

If anyone has ever experienced dropping their child off at a Residential Facility, I need not write more. They’d get it. The desperate feeling of having no other choice, the complete relief accompanied with guilt, the hesitance to even let…

It is not a loud visitor, the unruly guest. Addiction is quiet and deceptive. It breaks us, bit by bit until we haven’t the strength or will to fight. Renée Longshore Tweet I am crushed. My heart hurts deeper than…

Racism is real. It is not imagined or fabricated. We have to deal with the effects of it every day. And the repercussions devastate our society.

We made a conscious decision to be there for Lydia and, after 20-25 years of teaching, officially became students again ourselves. Talking to whoever could speak from experience, reading every book ever published on the subject, we pursued wisdom and…

She ran from us, ran from school, ran from friends and anything else that seemed to compound the problem. Her grades dropped. She was unable to care. This was difficult for me to watch especially when I didn’t know what…

It was at SHIELD that I got to know my daughter and all that she had been struggling through for the past four years. Lydia had attachment issues and a constant fear of abandonment. Dealing with bullies at school, and…

When Paul got home from his Black-Friday shopping we put our heads together. The County Crisis Team was at our door in under 15 minutes. Talking to us and Lydia separately, they determined it was in her best interest to…