Nov 26 2024 67 mins
You don’t want to miss the last episode of this fall with Lora DeMello, mom, writer, educator and President of We Are Brave Together (https://www.wearebravetogether.org/). I knew immediately when I read Lora’s story in the book Becoming Brave Together (https://www.amazon.com/Becoming-Brave-Together-Extraordinary-Caregiving-ebook/dp/B0D123VCRS) I wanted to share her story on The Just A Mom podcast. Lora shares so much in this episode and has so many nuggets for parents. Her daughter, Zaria, battles generalized anxiety disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and cyclothymia. While many people told Lora her daughter’s issues were because of her parenting, Lora never stopped advocating for her daughter as she faced difficulties in obtaining an Individualized Education Program (https://www.ed.gov/sites/ed/files/parents/needs/speced/iepguide/iepguide.pdf). Lora talks about the challenges of being a single mom without a lot of support and the importance of being flexible and pivoting when parenting a child with an “invisible” illness. Lora encourages parents to find community and ask for help and stresses “bite-sized self-care” (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1_oy2od5u7P9qyPEvrcR72yqF8J66RGFK/view).