Mental Health

September Is Suicide Prevention Month :: Sharing Traeh Thyssen’s Story September is Suicide Prevention Month. It’s a time to raise awareness and discuss this tough topic that we simply don’t talk about enough. It’s a month to remember those who have died by suicide and to spread hope and information to those who are facing battles now or may in the future. Many of my photography clients become like family, but none more quickly than the Thyssens. They were one of the first families to book my services when I started my business and oh the fun we had during their first session wandering around downtown Baton Rouge together for hours! We were planning our second session for the fall....

I Don't Have Time For Picky Eaters It’s dinner time, the plates are set and the meal is hot and ready. “I don’t like that!”, “It’s yucky!!”, “Can you fix me something else?”  You spent time, money, and exhausted efforts on fixing a meal, no matter how fancy or just boxed meals, and your kids simply won’t eat it. Sound familiar? I’ve been there, and it’s not pretty. Being a working parent with kids in school, extracurriculars, obligations, and everything in between, it’s nearly impossible to be ahead of the game with food that all the family likes. Kids go through stages, and what they loved one minute, they hate the next. My seven-year-old ate breakfast burritos like they were a coveted...

The Importance Of Your Girl Friends Once You Become A Mother When I was younger, my mother used to read those “Chicken Soup for the Soul” books or grocery shop late at night for her “me time.” She had her girl friends, but she never did prioritize her friendships. Her priority was my father and me, which should be on the most important list. My mom was a stay-at-home mom mostly my whole life so my mother raised me different than how I am raising my boys. The cost of living was cheaper, food was less expensive and some homes only had one working parent. In our home, my boys have both parents working multiple jobs. According to the labor force...

Mother’s Little Helper Is On Backorder I was officially diagnosed with “adult ADHD” in 2021 at the tender age of 45. It didn’t come on the heels of the TikTok frenzy of self-diagnosis, but instead was met with my suspicion the moment my doctor said, “Oh yeah, you definitely have ADHD.” No, no - I laughed at her. That’s just a silly “catch-all.” But this was before I knew what ADHD looked like in girls and adult women. I wasn’t even into my second page of Google search results on women with ADHD before I was staring, slack-jawed at the screen and wondering how this could have been missed. I just thought I was ... really, really good at some things and...

Mom, I'm So Sad All The Time: Ending The Stigma Begins At Home In early 2021, both of my beautiful, amazing sons told their father and me that they were struggling with mental health issues. This was during a year that brought with it a cancer diagnosis for our 10 year old, more Covid chaos, the death of their grandfather (whom they loved dearly and saw almost weekly since their births) the death of their great-grandmother (whom they were also very close to), unrelenting anxiety and hopelessness for our 16-year old, plus the day-to-day struggles that life, middle school and high school brought with it.    As divorced co-parents, their father and I have made it clear that we are always open...