I’ve been where you are.

When my daughter was 11, she started hurting herself.

I didn’t understand it. I didn’t see it coming. And I had no idea what to do.

What followed were the hardest years of my life. My daughter struggled with self-harm and suicidality through her early teens, and I was terrified every single day. I would lie awake at night wondering if she’d make it to adulthood. I would sit in meetings at work, performing competence, while privately unraveling. I had a demanding career in tech — I was leading engineering teams, scaling organizations, showing up like everything was fine. But nothing was fine.

I felt completely alone. My friends were sympathetic but couldn’t relate. My daughter’s therapists helped me understand the clinical picture, but I needed something different. I needed someone who had lived this. Someone who had held down a high-pressure job while managing a mental health crisis at home — and had come out the other side. Someone who could look at me and say: it gets better, and here’s what helped.

I never found that person.

Finding DBT

We were lucky. My daughter got into the DBT program at NYU Child Study Center. DBT — Dialectical Behavior Therapy — is the gold standard treatment for intense emotional dysregulation, self-harm, and suicidality. We did six months of family skills as a unit: my daughter, my ex-husband, and me, sitting in a room together learning how to communicate, how to validate, how to hold two things at once — the reality of how bad things were AND the possibility that they could get better.

It was still a long road. There were setbacks. There were nights I didn’t sleep. There were moments I wasn’t sure we’d make it.

But slowly, things shifted. My daughter started using her skills. She started showing up. She started choosing life — not because things got easy, but because she learned how to navigate when things were impossibly hard.

Where We Are Now

My daughter turned 18 and went to college. If you’d told me that was possible two years before it happened, I wouldn’t have believed you.

She wrote about her DBT journey in her college application essay. She described how she went from being the “stubborn one” who ran out of the first session to someone who volunteered to speak to graduate students about her experience. She wrote:

While my peers focused on traditional academics, I turned my focus to a different kind of education. I studied skills on topics like distress tolerance, mindfulness, emotional regulation, and interpersonal effectiveness. Although this work is not reflected in my GPA, its positive impact on my life has been immeasurable.

She gave me permission to share her story. I share it because I want you to know — with certainty — that there is another side.

Why I Started Help & Hope for Parents

After we came through it, I discovered NEABPD and their Family Connections program. I couldn’t believe these free, evidence-based resources existed and I hadn’t known about them when I needed them most. I started volunteering. I started talking to other parents. And I kept hearing the same thing: I feel alone. I don’t know where to turn. I just want to talk to someone who gets it.

So I built this.

I’m an ICF-credentialed executive coach. I know how to hold space for people in pain. I’m a former tech executive who scaled engineering teams at Peloton and Alo Yoga, so I understand what it’s like to carry an impossible personal burden while performing at the highest level professionally. I’m a meditation teacher and a certified structural integrator — I’ve spent my career studying how people heal.

But more than any credential, I’m a parent who has been exactly where you are. And I’m standing on the other side, reaching back.

What I Believe

I believe that a parent can be terrified and capable at the same time. That a teen can be struggling and growing. That you can accept how hard things are right now and still work toward change. DBT calls this dialectical thinking — holding two truths at once. I call it the thing that saved us.

I believe isolation is one of the most damaging parts of this experience, and that connection is one of the most powerful antidotes. I believe skills matter — not just empathy, but practical tools you can use tonight, tomorrow, and next month. And I believe that your family’s story is not over.

There is help. There is hope. You are not alone.

Who I Am

I have over two decades of experience in technology and leadership. I’ve led engineering teams at Peloton and Alo Yoga, scaling organizations from small teams to large, complex ones during periods of rapid growth. I hold a BA in Economics and a BS in Computer Science from Columbia University.

I currently run ALT+LEAD, a coaching and consulting practice for tech leaders navigating complexity, change, and high stakes. I’m also a certified yoga teacher, a meditation teacher, and a nationally board-certified structural integrator — I’ve spent years studying how people heal through their bodies, their minds, and their relationships.