My dedication to the subject of health education is fueled by my passion for fostering open dialogue and therefore providing parents and children the tools and knowledge to navigate complex stages of life with confidence and clarity. I strive to break down the barriers of discomfort and misinformation by engaging students and also parents with compassion and factual education.
My personal experiences, good and bad, raising 5 children, along with teaching or working in a wide variety of settings with ages ranging from newborn to adult, has given me insight into the many challenges kids and parents face. I hope to mentor others in how to live just a little healthier in mind, body and soul but most importantly save every family I can from experiencing the trauma our family faced as my 11 year old daughter was just weeks away from being kidnapped by an online predator.
After college I began teaching elementary students and when I left public school, to be a SAHM, I was helping launch a program for autistic children. When I reentered the workforce I taught natural childbirth classes and became a full spectrum doula. This allowed me to still be a “full time” SAHM and part time entrepreneur. As a result of the focus on all-natural birth, combined with my holistic upbringing, I became educated on essential oils and then took ownership of holistic living in all aspects of life. I’m a full-fledged granola girl now!
While teaching teens to midlife adults, I discovered that there was a great void in accurate and thorough mental and sexual health education. When COVID killed my doula business I pivoted to writing online classes that are thorough, factual information. I envisioned these classes helping parents to continue the ongoing, hard conversations they need to be having and possibly reaching kids who don’t have adults that will discuss these things at all.
It wasn’t until after attending a homeschool curriculum conference that I decided to combine my knowledge of holistic health, sexual health and my passion for education, into a full curriculum. As I was writing this, the urgency of educating families about online safety became very clear and how I can use the lessons we learned to educate and hopefully save other children.
In just 2 months time… My daughter was playing a game, unbeknownst to me on a computer we had parental controls on, and discovered a chat option with messages waiting for her. She clicked on it and replied to everyone. That opened the door to predators. The scariest of them all was the guy who said he was a prince and if she was his girlfriend she would become a princess. He even showed her the tiara she’d get. He was planning to take her on a trip to Canada where she could visit one of his 100’s of homes and be treated like a princess, but I discovered her online presence before he arranged a meet up time. Tears, police, paranoia, mistrust, heartbreak, security systems, conversations and counseling followed moments later and for months afterwards. No family should have to go through the trauma of a similar experience, or worse.
My heart is to encourage open dialogue about hard topics and begin, or continue, the education about living a healthier life in every aspect.