Soulful Trailblazers
Kids making good choices!
Soulful Trailblazers
KIDS MAKING GOOD CHOICES
Welcome to the Soulful Forest!
There are moments in a child’s life that change everything: the loss of someone they love, or the pain of growing up in a home where addiction is ever-present. As a grandmother, I’ve seen firsthand the silent struggles children carry in their small hearts. I believe every child deserves someone they can trust to help them find hope and healing in the face of life’s hardest challenges.
That belief inspired me to create Soulful Sydney, Inc., a nonprofit organization with two heartfelt programs—Healing Chickadee for children experiencing grief, and Soulful Forest for the 19 million children in the U.S. living in homes affected by substance use disorder. These online programs are entirely free—because the children who need help the most are often the least likely to receive mental health services.
It's not on any map or chart, it ultimately resides inside your HEART.
Dedicated to the child inside of all of us.
Stories
Thank you for Dee Dee the chickadee! Such a wonderful thing to do for my child during a difficult time in her life, and mine. It brought tears to my eyes and so perfect because my sister’s name was Lucy Dee!
Thank you!
-Zoe-Southbury, CT
My mom died when I was 12
I have grieved the loss of my mom for my whole life. I am an adult now, but the pain of that essential loss has never left me. I wish I would have had something cute like the chickadee program. It would have helped me and my dad talk about it more. Keep sending out these little Tweethearts!
-Lisa-Danbury
Testimonials
Nevaeh
“My name is Nevaeh but everyone calls me "Nevvy." I live with a lot of people in my house. I have an older sister, who is not really my sister because my mom is living with her dad. She is a drug addict and she ruins everything. The fighting and trying to keep her from doing drugs is wearing me down. I told my mom to move but we don't. I wish my mom had never met her dad. I have a real sister and she and I don't do bad stuff like this. I don't know why we have to live with a drug addict.”
Tara
“My name is Tara. Nobody in my family has been to a rehab or a meeting or anything that some of the other kids talkabout. Everyone has a job and all that. But I notice that when there is a party at my house, the adults get crazy and evenwhen they are still there, it’s like they go away. It’s like alcohol and pot make them different people and they don’t seeme anymore. Sometimes it’s funny and sometimes it’s scary.”
Impact Section
Almost 19 million U.S. children—1 in 4—lived with at least one parent or primary caregiver who had a substance use disorder in 2023.
The findings highlight the need for treatment for parents and interventions for families affected by substance use disorders.
The Soulful Forest Programs will reach the children that need it most and the ones that are least likely to receive it.
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