A Mental Health Recovery Story
In 2016, while thriving in my career at Royal Bank Canada and celebrating three years of marriage, my world shifted dramatically. I became extremely ill with what I would later learn was Complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder—the result of childhood trauma that my body had carried silently for years. When I discovered I was pregnant, my greatest fear surfaced: would I become the same parent I had growing up?
“It is OK to feel and accept your emotions.”
The journey that followed was tumultuous. I experienced panic attacks, depression, and at times felt I had lost control of my own body. I spent six years on long-term disability, learning about mental health, trauma, and the life-changing power of therapy and medication. Through it all, my husband and my work family at RBC stood by me, showing me what true support looks like.
During my recovery, my son would ask me why I was sad on the days I couldn’t hide it. So each night, I told him a story about a dragon that was blue from sadness. This dragon became our nightly ritual, a way to help him understand emotions—and to help me process my own healing.
That story became Purple The Dragon, published in September 2023. It’s about Purple, a dragon as purple as purple can be, who one day wakes up blue. Throughout the book, he figures out what he needs to become himself again. The story helps young children understand that it’s okay to feel however we feel.
Today, I’m a mother of two and can finally say something that took tremendous work to believe: I am a good mom. I am stronger in the broken places. I deserve love. While I still work daily to manage automatic trauma responses, I’ve learned that healing isn’t about returning to who you were—it’s about growing into someone stronger.
