Does your kid feel different or weird? Do they struggle to fit in?

I get that. I get that on a strong visceral level. Reading that sentence and I feel like I am back in grade 9 again.

Growing up with a mental health disorder I was called crazy, and told to “chill out” all the time.

Growing up, when I arrived at a new situation and I was trying to make friends, I would immediately make friends with either shy people or people who were different. Or the title of my favorite tv show the “freaks and geeks”.

But there were lots of times I did not find my people (ie people I felt comfortable with).

I remember a time at overnight camp when I accidentally broke a girls lipstick (I had never used lipstick and did not realize that you cannot twist it all the way up or the lipstick snaps off). The girls were so mean to me. They said mean things about how I was different, weird, and had wayyyy to much energy.

Then I felt left out. Alone. And then I started to call myself crazy.

I started improv4health so that when a kid joins l, they immediately feel accepted for who they are. No judgement, no questions. I also teach kids to take their space, both verbally and physically.

Be you. Always. “Normal” does not exist.