#238: Mental Health and a Sweet Boy with Kate James

It’s every young parent's nightmare and it’s some parents' reality. My guest this week shares with us her family’s story through her son's addiction, overdose, and recovery. She describes what it looks like through the eyes of a faithful mother who did all of the right things but still found herself in the middle of a war. We talk about her struggles with bipolar disorder and her husband's experience with Coronavirus. She has sweet encouragement for all of us moms - we are not alone in these struggles!

Katherine James attended Columbia University, where she also taught undergraduate fiction. Her debut novel, Can You See Anything Now?, won Christianity Today's 2018 Fiction Book award and was a semifinalist for the Doris Bakwin Award. Her new book A Prayer for Orion is out now and is very beautifully written. She lives in West Chester, PA with her writer-philosopher-preacher husband, they have three adult children who are more awesome than everyone else in the world and she prays for them every night.

WHAT WE CHAT ABOUT:

• coping with the pandemic with your family geologically spread out

• Kate’s husband’s battle with COVID-19, recovery, and what God taught them through it

• Kate’s bipolar diagnosis and journey

• the “shoulds” while going through with depression

• altering the definition of joy from feeling to faith

• how medication has helped Kate

• the misconceptions and guilt of having a child who’s an addict

• predispositions for addiction

• how Kate’s son’s addiction both strained and grew her faith

• the use, shame, repeat cycle

• resources for parents helping a child with drug addiction

LINKS MENTIONED:

HopeForHurtingParents.com Clean by David Sheff You Are Not Alone by Dena Yohe

CONNECT WITH KATE:

website | instagram | facebook

CONNECT WITH EMILY:

website | instagram | facebook | patreon

EPISODE SPONSORS:

Purple Mattress: visit purple.com/msw and use promo code MSW to get $150 off any mattress order over $1500 (terms apply) Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls: a fairytale podcast for kids about extraordinary women from all over the world Hope Writers: take the 30-second quiz for writers today at hopewriters.com/msw

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