Judy
Well, we had been married 13 years and had gone through the foster care licensing process, did not have children. A few years passed and they called one afternoon and asked if we would open our home to a 10 year old. And I thought, oh, I think this is it. I think we’re ready. Things just seemed right. And I asked them to tell us a little bit about him. They said his name is Robbie and he’s very active. And it didn’t take long to know that what they meant by active and what I thought that meant were too entirely different things. Early on with the mental illness I went through a time when I wanted to tell everybody. And everybody didn’t understand. But as he transitioned to adulthood we began to hear that recovery is possible. That there actually is some healing in the brain and that
definitely brought hope. In the years since
then, recovery isn’t just possible, but it’s the
expectation. And we realized that a lot of that
recovery is dependant on his persistence, his
journey and the choices he makes, and the
hope we have for him.

Randy
If someone were to ask me for advice about helping their child with mental illness I would say just be patient with them and love them and do things with them and just love them. I mean that’s the main thing, just to love them.

Judy
Saying it out loud means to be involved in our community and watchful for those opportunities when we can come alongside other parents who have been in some of the same situations that we’ve been in and offer just a little bit of practical advice. And then in a bigger picture to maybe appeal to all people to inform them and to open the door for them to talk about their experiences and to Say it out loud.