Our children are facing a mental health crisis.
If you are a parent who is struggling with your child’s mental health,
or who wants to protect your family from the mental health epidemic,
you're in the right place.
Using the power of story, you can raise resilient kids—without therapy, medication, or outside experts. Strong families are built by intentionally shaping the narrative you live by everyday. As you implement these strategies and embrace the 6 Powerful Narratives Every Kid Needs, your entire family will benefit.
Narrative building isn’t a quick fix, but it isn’t untested either. These methods have shaped strong people for generations, and modern neuroscience and psychology now affirm what history already knew: story is how we make sense of the world. It’s where science, meaning, truth, and beauty converge.
The best part? Story is available to every parent. No degree required and it's not expensive. You just need to be willing to step into the role of mom or dad with intention.
I'm excited to share my what I've learned through my years of research with you. My goal is to equip other parents with the right stories - allowing you to raise resilient kids in the midst of today’s mental health crisis.
Not sure where to start? Click below to get your free introduction to building narrative e-book.
I want to live in a world with more strong families and resilient, purpose-filled people.
Don't you?
A storyteller by my nature, I spent a decade running a photo/video studio before becoming an entrepreneur. My desire to research storytelling collided with motherhood and my gut instinct to keep my kids wild, free, unlabeled and unmedicated.
As I dug in, I realized parenting with story was a way out of the mental health crisis our culture is facing. And I set out to share what I've learned with other parents.
Narrative was born from that vision.
#gettoknow
Who I am
Hello! I'm Niki Bartelt. But these days I mostly answer to Mom...Mom... Moooommmm. It comes with the territory. I've got three energetic boys, an amazing step-daughter & a beautiful baby girl. They are my proudest achievements. My tiny mirrors (for good or bad...it's humbling).
My hubby is my best friend - the most incredible person I've ever met. Our marriage is, after Jesus, the best thing to ever happen to me.
I'm love podcasts and audiobooks. Road trips are a requirement for life. Laundry is my nemesis. God, my strength. Coffee, my ally. I'm deeply independent but love people. Things done right make my heart sing. Type A...guilty. Conversations about ideas give me energy.
• • •
As a homeschool mom, I integrate narrative principles into our everyday life with intentionality. I do this because I don't want my kids to fall prey to the mental health epidemic. (It's clear the "solutions" our culture is trying aren't working.) So I went back to foundational principles & traditions. I found story there. The cornerstone of building agency & character. Scientific research backs this up. So does my own experience.
It still surprises me how often my kids ask to discuss these ideas. Watch our family videos. Talk about the pictures on our walls. Flip through family photo books. Research our family tree. Examine our family crest. It always ends with us discussing the best parts of who we are. Together and individually. Those are some of my happiest moments as a mom.
Storytelling has been such a force for connection and strength in our family. Making that a reality for other families brings me such joy, I really don't have words for it.
I want to empower you, the parents, to give your kids the stories they need to be mentally strong. To show you that you are our best shot at fighting the wrong stories that are creating this crisis. You can change this. Just start with the right stories. That's how you build a strong family identity, rooted in shared narrative. <3
"Family-based interventions can help prevent the onset of mental health conditions and mitigate its consequences."
Family factors contribute to mental health conditions – a systematic review in Oxford Journals, The European Journal of Public Health
S Marth, N Cook, P Bain and J Lindert
"Since it is so likely that (children) will meet cruel enemies, let them at least have heard of brave knights and heroic courage. Otherwise you are making their destiny not brighter but darker.”
CS Lewis
