Welcome. This is the story of a mom, daughter, and family on a mental health journey.
Welcome to the La Vie Est Belle blog. Written by our founder, Kristin Rohman Rehkamp, and guest contributors on similar journeys,
it seeks to serve as a testimony to life braving pediatric or youth mental health and illness.
Inspired by Kristin’s Blogs…
Finding Us: A Mother’s Memoir of Braving Mental Illness with Her Daughter is now available in our shop and launching with major national and international retailers (Amazon, Target, Barnes & Noble, Walmart…etc.) on October 15, 2022!
Kristin gives a memoir that is personal and passionate; it is contemporaneous, insightful and wise. “Finding Us" is unerringly truthful to the experience for those who have never had mental illness in the family, and those who HAVE will recognize their own stories within it. -Dan Parnell, NAMI Affiliate Leader
Back Cover Preview
Kristin was terrified she was going to lose her daughter. Her daughter could not breathe, her chest hurt, and she was experiencing loss of sensation in limbs, dizziness, and disorientation…all rolling up to a state of terror she had never before witnessed. It was September 16, 2020 and her life changed, suddenly and without warning, with her daughter’s onset of a panic disorder.
Living with a mental illness is a journey that is messy, complicated and often misunderstood. Despite our best efforts, an experience we cannot control, but instead bravely learn to live with, learn from, and feasibly teach others.
In Finding Us, Kristin Rohman Rehkamp shares her story to educate and bring visibility to what living with a child braving a mental illness looks like and feels like. Her hope is that her memoir normalizes the mental health conversation, while providing others comfort and support in knowing their unique challenges and journey are understood.
Welcome to our collection of blogs. Raw testimony, unique insight, shared perspectives. We hope they provide hope, inspiration, and comfort. Please know, you are not alone. We hear you, we see you, we are standing next to you.
Change that Start with Us
I have not written for months…I needed to find my voice again…a different voice. I have quietly been observing and learning from others. Overtime I have found a more confident voice and wider perspective. Hospitals and insurance providers are starting to reach out - interested in our story and perspective. So, I bravely share it…
What have I learned through our own experience and listening to others? Our children are in trouble - statistics tell us this, but in our hearts we also know it to be true. Specifically, our girls. Sadly, the reasons are obvious…and so is the solution. It starts with us - each and every one of us. This is not about them…it is about us.
Together, We Will Be…
It is a rainy Saturday evening. I am curled up on the couch quietly reading the first print proof of our book. I am quite literally holding the weight of the last two years in my hands. Our story between two covers, yet so much still unwritten. I reflect a bit on where we have been, where we are now, and where we are headed. Truth be told, the only question I can answer is where we have been.