Relevant miscellaneous background regarding my "Long and Winding Road"

I have spent the majority of my life working with small children and animals, which has allowed me to think and solve problems creatively, and learn how to communicate without words through other cues (such as body language and behavioral observation.) Those experiences also endowed me with the added bonus of developing a higher than average frustration tolerance.

One thing I heard repeated frequently in graduate school was that while people loved working with children, they “didn’t want to deal with the parents.” Which stood out to me as inherently flawed in many ways, particularly the premise that whatever work any clinician might do one on one in the course of a session, in all likelihood, at most an hour a week, regardless of the skill or abilities of said clinician, there is absolutely no lasting positive change that can be reached if the family is not involved and fully on board. The remaining 167 hours in the child’s week make all the difference in the outcome. Having done some of what was essentially pilot work for this foundation (before I realized that was what that experience would ultimately be), I also realized that most children, particularly those who are being treated for behavioral issues, do not typically do well in what is most commonly practiced as a form of  psychotherapy developed for adults modified in some ways, but to my way of thinking, not nearly enough in many situations. Having said that, I have nothing against those clinicians, and depending on the child and the particular issue, certainly, if it is something that you want to try out, I will be happy to give you some trusted referrals. However, for me as a person providing services of that nature in that form and setting, it would have been a poor fit, for multiple reasons.

During this time of personal growth and awareness, I also experienced/noticed a few other integral factors that proved to be highly influential in the formation of this foundation. One of which was noticing the sudden dramatic trend in everyone, and their brother and their brother’s neighbor’s uncle’s chinchilla, suddenly pronouncing, posting on social media, blogging, whatever else, of how they had suddenly out of the clear blue sky apparently, “recently discovered” which I interpret as “self-diagnosed from random quite likely inaccurate information or very misleading information derived from the internet” that they were on the autism spectrum. This was something that had a profound effect on me both personally and professionally. Personally, it spurred me towards relentless pursuit as to why this specific disorder of all things has become the latest social trend. My older sister has Asperger’s syndrome. She might possibly, theoretically, depending upon the diagnostician, potentially be classified as being high functioning; requiring no outside supports, mildly autistic. However, had she been assessed as a child, prior to learning coping skills as well as social ones, when her symptoms would have been most obvious, I am uncertain as to whether she would have met the full diagnostic criteria for ASD per the DSM 5. If she were to be assessed now in her mid-forties, she would most definitely not. 

I have from my earliest memories never been one to take any form injustice lightly. While I have been fortunate enough to realize that idealism is a wonderful thing,  unless it is coupled with an accurate enough sense of self-awareness of what that one individual (i.e. oneself) is in fact capable of and doing with that overarching attitude and simultaneously equally capable of having the ability to narrow it into something that is within the potential scope of said individual’s grasp based upon a wide varieties of factors, many involving things such as “qualification” and “experience” and to some degree “influence”.  Having a sense of idealism does not automatically guarantee that whatever’s one’ passion and purpose might be, without having the other requisite skills to turn a vision into something with a fair potential to be feasible, and thus capable of standing a chance for being utilized in a practical means to evoke change will be the outcome. Without having those key other critical elements along with a vision, It essentially remains nothing more than a lovely theory. However, that is one of those lessons that takes a while to learn, (if one is lucky enough to learn it at all) prior to becoming entirely disillusioned and thus developing a sense of hopelessness which tends to prevent said idealist from being in a place to take any form of meaningful action.