09/18/2026
Tonight I had the privilege of attending Sweetser’s An Evening of Hope, and I left with so much on my heart.
It was a beautiful evening, but what will stay with me wasn’t the dinner, the music or the auction. It was the stories. It was being reminded that behind the words mental health are real children, real parents and real families who are sometimes desperately searching for help.
Tonight was about helping Sweetser build Maine’s first youth Psychiatric Residential Treatment Facility—a place where children with serious mental-health needs can receive the treatment and support they need right here in Maine, rather than having to leave our state and be separated from the families and communities who love them.
As someone who has spent so much of my life working with children and families, that touched me deeply.
Every child deserves to feel safe. Every family deserves to know that help is available. And no parent should have to watch their child struggle while wondering where they can possibly turn.
Tonight truly was an Evening of Hope—hope that we can do better for Maine’s children, hope that families will not have to face these struggles alone, and hope that someday getting mental-health care for a child will be met with the same urgency, compassion and understanding as any other kind of healthcare.
I am so grateful I had the opportunity to be there tonight, to listen, to learn and to witness what can happen when a community comes together and says, our children matter, their mental health matters, and we are going to show up for them.
What a powerful evening. What an important mission. And what incredible hope for Maine’s children and families. ❤️
