There are wonderful initiatives that focus on people from all walks of life sharing their stories. The #ifyoucoulseeme project is one of them. Today we speak with its founder, Erin Mahone, and her hope to have someone on the Autism spectrum join the movement. This project has taken off, been reported on in the news, and is becoming known around the globe for its groundbreaking ability to help people be seen and heard.

Erin's "day job" is as a caseworker in the state of Virginia working with families to find services for their children with special needs - many with Autism. Her great passion is providing space for difficult conversations about mental health in all areas of life. She offers audiences tips for recognizing their inner critic and shares proven strategies to develop self-compassion and quiet the voice of resistance with humor, passion, and humility. Her work is intended to change the way we talk about mental health and related issues with the understanding that to make that change we must first tackle our own shame and fear. Erin educates and empowers people of all backgrounds and experiences to use the stories of their lives to create a more just, equitable, and compassionate world understanding that everyone's story has value and innate power.

Erin is the author of the book If You Could See Me: Life, Motherhood, and the Pursuit of Sanity (Author's Place Press, 2018). She is the creator of #IfYouCouldSeeMe a multi-media storytelling project designed to change the way we talk about, think about, and address mental health and related issues. Erin leads ReStory, a personal narrative coaching initiative, and she is creator of two one-woman shows, It Runs in the Family a collection of songs and stories about laughter, family, mental illness, and unconditional love; and her new show Shark Woman Meditates, an honest look into her own mental health journey. Erin is pursuing her master's degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling at Longwood University. She is particularly interested in exploring Narrative Therapy and its effectiveness in the treatment of complex trauma. Erin is a recent TEDx presenter and speaks frequently on the intersection of creativity, compassion, and change. She was recently named a Michele Dowdy Emerging Leader by the Virginia Counselors Association and she is an "A World of Difference" facilitator with the Anti-Defamation League (ADL). Erin lives in the suburbs with her husband, three children, and a furbaby named Kismet.

www.ifyoucouldseeme.com