"I AM: Proud"--Championing the Children: Their Key to Health and Success

by Jane Stahl

While this article was created from a "B Inspired" podcast conversation that Mindy and I recorded in April 2023, it serves as a "Proud Momma" article during our "I AM: Proud" project. The episode can be found on your favorite podcast platform. 

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Headlines in news media report almost daily the current and continued mental health struggles that children and adults are facing in the wake of the COVID pandemic, upswings in gun violence, climate crises, and our unsettled economic and political environment.

On July 25, 2023, President Biden spoke to the nation about “the mental health crisis” and the need for insurance to recognize the need to cover the issues surrounding mental health. Statistics show that less than half of adults and 70% of children cannot get needed mental health services.

The President also addressed the need to decrease the stigma that surrounds admitting a need for help for mental health issues, a stigma that prevents people from seeking help.

A conversation with Mindy Dunfee Kern, BASH Class of ’98, currently pursuing certification to teach, provided reinforcement and a reminder of the importance of help and support for those who struggle—no matter their age or circumstance.

Mamma Bear. That’s how I see Mindy—especially after a conversation we recorded for an episode of my “B Inspired” podcast.

Mindy is the mother of three children. She raised her older son Jakob as a single mom. And while raising him was not easy, Jakob has recently completed Basic Training with the Marine Corps.

“When Jakob was 4 years-old, his daycare instructors told me he had ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder); and unless he began taking medicine for it, he would no longer be able to able to attend,” Mindy shares. Jakob’s behavior included his walking out of the classroom at any random moment.

The unofficial diagnosis led Mindy on a path to find her son appropriate medical attention, therapy support services, and appropriate coping techniques to manage his behavioral issues. By first grade Jakob was on medication that, he says, turned off the “static” in his mind and allowed him to learn to manage his own behavior.

“I didn’t want him to become ‘that kid,’” explains Mindy, “the kid that teachers would talk about. I needed to get him the tools he needed.” Mindy worked with Berks County Intermediate Unit and Creative Health in Pottstown where she connected with therapist Darryl Williams who, in developing a relationship with him, helped him find methods that worked.

(Darryl’s episode on the “Be Inspired” podcast can be found on your favorite podcast platform or https://spotifyanchor-web.app.link/e/hxnkAxumJBb. An article on The Boyertown Area Expression appeared in January 2023)

Developing the “Mamma Bear” characteristics needed to support her son resulted from Mindy’s own challenges that she’s met and managed since high school beginning with needing to “dial back” her college career from a private women’s college she couldn’t afford to community college that allowed her time to figure out what she wanted to do with her life without piling up unreasonable debit.

Marriage and pregnancy disrupted her college career for several years, but in resuming she considered becoming a Dental Hygienist until she met an Anatomy and Physiology course. An accelerated program offered through a partnership between Montgomery County Community College and Albright University brought books to her door and ended with a degree in Business Administration and participation in a variety of entrepreneurial opportunities in recent years.

Today, however, she is in a program to grant her certification to teach elementary school, a career she had early dreams of pursuing. And she continues therapy and medication for her own ADD, a course of treatment that allows her to finish projects, concentrate, avoid distractions, and have more patience to deal with daily challenges. “I can get things done and my relationships are better,” she admits.

Today, she offers advice to other mothers and fathers whose children struggle. “Know your limitations, but be an advocate for your child. Be the one to get support for your child. Be someone they can lean on, be a light, a safe space, the person who your child knows will always be there. The efforts you’re putting in now will be worth it.”

“Not every child has support from home,” she admits. “But, in the classroom, I tell them, ‘Here, with me, you are safe. Safe to be who you are.”

Learning the personal and family challenges Mindy has met and managed, undaunted, since high school--especially those parenting challenges as a single mom of a neurodiverse son--I learned the core belief that has made her an uncommon mom and will make her a super educator.

And, happily, greater acceptance that mental health issues are not a character defect, but a medical issue—like diabetes or a broken arm--and the transparency Senator John Fetterman has provided in his struggle with depression have lessened the stigma surrounding mental health challenges. Here's to greater empathy and compassion for all! 

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