Hi, I’m Katie, a queer mom, a Buddhist, a trauma survivor, and the very human tornado behind Manic Mindfulness.
As the name probably gives away, I live with Bipolar Disorder, along with a few bonus behavioral health diagnoses because apparently my brain enjoys collecting expansion packs. I’ve spent much of my life navigating the beautifully chaotic intersection of mental health, trauma, healing, family, and identity. Somewhere along the way, I realized how badly we need spaces where people can talk about all of it honestly, without judgment, toxic positivity, or pretending healing is prettier than it actually is.
I’m currently studying psychology with a focus on community mental health. My long-term goal is to work directly with the public to challenge the stigma surrounding behavioral health diagnoses, treatment, and what healing is supposed to look like.
Spoiler: it’s not linear. It’s not tidy. And it definitely doesn’t require perfection.
Healing can be complicated, frustrating, funny, painful, empowering, and sometimes all of those things before lunch. I believe people deserve support and compassion through every part of that process, not just the parts that look good in an inspirational quote.
My Buddhist practice, particularly within the Fo Guang Shan tradition, deeply influences the way I approach all of this. I lean on mindfulness, compassion, and presence not as aesthetic buzzwords or ways to pretend everything is peaceful, but as practical tools for meeting life exactly where it is. Buddhism hasn’t made my life magically calm. It has helped me learn how to sit with the chaos without always letting the chaos drive the car.
That’s what I want Manic Mindfulness to be: a place for honest conversations, useful tools, lived experience, Buddhist wisdom, behavioral health education, and the occasional inappropriate joke when life gets absurd.
If you’re navigating the chaos inside your own brain, raising neurodivergent kids, healing from trauma, learning to understand a diagnosis, exploring Buddhism or mindfulness, or simply trying to stay afloat in a world that doesn’t always make room for complicated humans, you belong here.
You don’t have to have everything figured out. You don’t have to heal on anyone else’s timeline. And you definitely don’t have to pretend you’re okay when you aren’t.
Your story matters. Your struggles deserve compassion. And your healing gets to be your own.
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