I'm Jess, mum of two girls – one diagnosed with FASD, one in the process of diagnosis. 

In the early days of my parenting, the experiences I was having as a caregiver were so different to my friends around me that I often felt lost and alone. I struggled with 'neurotypical' approaches and when they didn’t work, I felt like a failure.

After finally getting a diagnosis that explained the challenges we were having, I found FASD-CAN. I attended a full day workshop and spent most of the day in tears. I’ll never forget how much it impacted me to have people understand what we were going through as a family, so when the time was right I decided to get involved. 

My full-time job is in customer experience and communications, so I'm passionate about how we’re helping and engaging with our FASD-CAN members. The rest of my time is spent to find some balance between being a mum, a career woman and just me. 

Note: Jess has leave of absence until early 2022.