Ten Targeted Truths about Tara (and a little science)

Welcome back to Mental Health Monday, the weekly newsletter from mental health expert Tara Rolstad that curates news and practical tips you can use to learn more about mental health and make it work for you, in your life and in your workplace.

Ten Targeted Truths About Me

It's summer, and no one needs to think TOO hard right now. So I thought it might be fun to share a little bit about myself, for those that don't know me well yet, have only seen me speak at a conference, or just found my posts online:

10. I'm short. Really short. 4'11, but people are always surprised because apparently my personality is WAY taller.

9. I've been a professional speaker since about 2018, but speaking has ALWAYS been one of my favorite things to do. I love to move people, make them laugh, and help them learn.

8. I'm a mental health expert through lived experience as a family member. Not a therapist, not a psychiatrist. A mom who's BEEN THROUGH IT, parenting kids with serious mental illness.

7. I'm a giant tea snob, and I'm not ashamed of it. No Lipton for me, thanks. (I love chai and mate!)

6. Type 7 Wing 8 on the Enneagram, if that's your thing.

5. I LOVE Bananagrams, and really all word games. 

4. I love to dance. Zumba, Latin dancing, country western, awkward kitchen dance parties, it's all good. Did tap and ballet as a kid for YEARS.

3. I have a HUGE passion for making sure families and individuals struggling with mental health are supported by the rest of us.

2. I am very, very, very clumsy. I know that's too many "clumsy's" but trust me. Accurate.

1. The audiobook for What to Do Right Now When Your Child is Suicidal is coming out in time for Suicide Prevention Awareness Month THIS September! I'll share all the details as soon as it's available!

Of course, it wouldn't be a newsletter of mine without a LITTLE science.....

New Study Outlines Five Possible Types of Autism

Autism is a complex disorder that definitely doesn't look the same for everyone that experiences it.

This fascinating autism study from Princeton University lays out FIVE possible different types of autism, each that present differently with different genetic underpinnings. 

Extra fascinating for me, as we didn't realize our daughter was on the autism spectrum until she was 20, and it was a total surprise for us. (Hello, Mom Guilt, welcome to my brain.) She hadn't acted or looked like we thought a person with autism would, given our VAST (sarcasm) knowledge of the topic from popular culture, and we'd had no idea until she told us about this conclusion she and her psych nurse practitioner had come to. But we stayed curious, and learned more, and we are STILL learning what it means for supporting her while she also works through severe depression, anxiety and ADHD. (Did you know that we used to believe that ADHD and autism couldn't occur in the same person? Definitely not true.) 

Anyhow, it's an interesting study and really helps me understand my daughter better, as she likely has a type of autism in which genes don't "turn on" immediately in childhood, but later in adolescence. Check it out!

Remember, we're in this together, and we can do this.

Tara