We're so excited to welcome Laura Hébert to our Peer Support Mentor program! Based in Canada, Laura is an HIE mom and speaks both English and French. We're thrilled to continue to strengthen our ability to support families around the world who are impacted by HIE. Learn more about Laura, her family, and her journey as an HIE parent.
Laura is a mother of three, an 8-year-old son Louis, who has HIE, a 6-year-old daughter Josephine, and a 2-year-old son Noam. Living in a small remote island in Atlantic Canada, she has made a priority to care for herself, knowing self care is one of the most important parts of being a strong and present parent. She believes in the power of hope, connection, and choosing joy even in the toughest journey.
She is also a woman who will be the first to tell you she feels more like herself today than she did 7 years ago. Getting to that place wasn't accidental; rather, it was a choice she had to make over and over again.
At the Hope for HIE Family & Community Conference this past April, Laura took the stage during the Advocacy Skills Workshop and gave the caregivers in the room permission to matter.
Her talk, rooted in her own journey as an HIE parent, was an honest reckoning with what it looks like when you disappear from your own life. She described those early days after Louis's diagnosis — the shock, the fear, the desperate middle-of-the-night searching for something to fix — and how she slowly came to understand that the person who most needed saving wasn't her son. It was her.
Laura walked attendees through what it actually looks like to reclaim yourself as a caregiver: not grand gestures, but small permissions. Moving your body. Recognizing your own needs. Talking to yourself the way you'd talk to a friend. And importantly, accepting that on the hard days when none of that is possible, simply noticing what you need is enough.
"The most radical thing you can do as a caregiver," she told the room, "is decide that your story also matters. You are not just a supporting character in your kid's life."
That message is exactly the spirit Laura brings to her role as a Peer Support Mentor. She's been in the trenches. She knows the exhaustion, the guilt, and the grief and she knows the path through it, because she's walking it herself, every day.
"I want to show parents that hope exists, even when the path feels impossible. I’m living proof that even in the hardest journey, life can still be beautiful - and that taking care of yourself is not selfish, it’s just as important as caring for your child."
Laura will be facilitating some of our monthly support groups and is a 1:1 Peer Support Mentor. If you want to connect with a Peer Support Mentor, connect in at HIE.Support.
As our community grows, so does our need for mentors. We are always looking for parents and caregivers who have walked the HIE journey and are looking for meaningful ways to give back. If you’ve been there and feel inspired to support other HIE families as a Peer Support Mentor, we would love to hear from you. Together, we can ensure no HIE family feels alone.
*We currently have a strong need for an Acquired HIE and Spanish speaking Peer Support Mentor.
Apply to be a Peer Support Mentor.
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