Life doesn’t come with a manual. It comes with a mom!

Words by Kim Vincenty, the inspiration behind our FEARLESS Collection & the Founder and President of JACK Mental Health Advocacy 

I’ve seen firsthand how mothers can make miracles happen with love and determination. And as the mom of a son with OCD, I’ve spent the past 18 years learning how to best support my child. I didn’t know the most effective treatment modality, best practices for caregivers, or how to advocate for my child in the school setting. All I knew was that he wasn’t going down under my watch. In those days, I ran on sheer grit, perseverance, and unflinching love for my child.

And now, with the support of a fantastic team, I have launched JACK Mental Health Advocacy. At JACK, we hope to change how OCD and anxiety sufferers and their families navigate the challenges of mental illness, fight stigma, and obtain quality education support and treatment. We provide clinician training in Exposure Response Prevention, create community outreach and support, a website resource library, individual and family support, and OCD and Advocacy Awareness to underserved populations. All lofty ways of saying we want to help families short step what I learned from the school of hard knocks!

I had been serving in the OCD and Anxiety community for nearly ten years when I got an idea. I was looking at Natural Life on Facebook and noting the consistent encouragement of their messaging. I thought to myself, what if there was a line with messaging that spoke to those with OCD or anxiety disorders? Every newspaper these days includes an article about the mental health crisis. One only needs to google the National Institutes of Health or the International OCD Foundation to learn the staggering statistics. The prevalence is real, and the solutions challenging.

I was actively trying to educate the community and families about the realities of living with OCD and anxiety. And even though mental health was becoming a greater part of the national conversation, messaging about mental health has remained inappropriate, incorrect, and often hurtful. So, moving forward with that idea, I put together a PowerPoint presentation and invited Patti Hughes, Creator, and CEO of Natural Life, over for coffee. I knew she had the heart, wisdom, and MOMsense to see the vision, and I wasn’t disappointed. On that very morning, the first outline of The Fearless collection was born.

The generosity and talent of the team at Natural Life is extraordinary. They are launching a new Fearless collection, and a portion of the proceeds will come to JACK Mental Health to support our initiatives. Please consider buying FEARLESS as a gift for a loved one or yourself. It’s a way to support mental health, and you will also get something truly beautiful and meaningful. One of the new products reads, “Grow through what you go through” My deepest hope is that through the life lessons we have experienced, we can turn our pain into purpose and encourage others to live Fearlessly.