“Jocelyn, you’ve got FND.” What’s that? I wondered.

Why: I speak up for that girl in the mirror, struggling in silence with undiagnosed physical symptoms and/or FND, raising awareness and sparking hope online, in my community, Internationally and online at FNDingHope.com

Challenging individuals, employers and communities to:

1. Prioritize relationships with loved ones, friends and colleagues, and most importantly with yourself.

2. Listen & observe: Look below the surface of masked emotion, ask and listen. It’s not your job to fix me, and don’t say: “I understand.”

3. Allow your full range of emotions: We can manage hard things, build grit and foster resilience when we choose to take off our varied masks.

4. Spark and participate in mental health conversations with curiosity and compassion that ignite hope and create agency.

5. Normalize conversations about grief and loss by creating communities of care that nurture vulnerability and trust.
   

There’s no cure for FND, though there are many paths to change. With gratitude in 2024, I speak into the void and spark transparent conversations about mental health and Functional Neurologic Disorder. I hadn’t known if I’d live till the end of the year in 2020, or 2021. Did I have a brain tumor, MS, Parkinson’s Disease , or an auto-immune disease? Finally, February 18th, 2021, I learned of a little known diagnosis, that's being diagnosed with increasing frequency world-wide.

FiNDing Hope: The Mind-Body Connection & Importance of Being Seen and Heard, is my story. Published by: Stone Tiger Books, New York October, 2023, and now available on Amazon as well as the Comox Valley at Laughing Oyster Book Shop

Diagnosed with Functional Neurologic Disorder, or FND, in February 2021, it was time to face losses I'd experienced and to prioritize surrounding myself with a team of medical practitioners, who I deserved, required and believed in me. It's okay to ask for help! Hope is possible when you assert yourself, and prioritize your needs for physical, mental, spiritual and relational wellbeing.