Hello, PREP families and staff! I'm Colleen Risdahl-Hamilton, and I'm the President of the Board of Directors at PREP for 2009-2010. I am flattered and very excited to have been asked by Barbara Tien to write an introduction for "PREP Prose".

PREP Prose is an area on our new website that is for PREP members to write about experiences with our kids. The idea is simple...write about your feelings, experiences and life with your child or student with Down syndrome. Post it to PREP Prose to share with our membership; you can be anonymous, or you can share your identity. Either way, other PREP members can respond to the writings, and converse and share ideas, challenges and victories with others in the same boat. The whole idea is to provide a medium in which to express ourselves, relate and even get families together by networking a bit more.

The idea for PREP Prose was born last fall when, during a particularly tough school year, I became depressed enough that all I seemed to be able to focus on was Down syndrome. I spent long days reading articles about behavioural issues in Down syndrome, Alberta Learning and its' commitment to inclusive education, and how to know if you're clinically depressed! One website told me to check into the nearest emergency room...I went and picked up the kids from school instead. My work suffered, as did my relationships and my physical health. I was paralyzed.

Throughout these stressful months, I rediscovered writing. I began to purge from mind and heart my feelings, my thoughts...my fears and frustrations! (LOTS of those...) An amazing transformation began...it was as though by writing down what was happening on the inside, I could expel it onto the page and no longer be held captive! I could share if I wished, or simply put it away in a little box that remained private and safe. I could choose to look at it again and deal with it...or not. But expressing it...that was the absolute key. And so the idea began...what if I shared this with other parents? I know I'm not alone; what if we had a safe place for PREP families and staff to share their thoughts, feelings, fears, dreams?

Having (and teaching!) a child with Down syndrome is not an easy path; the issues for our kids and families are huge! The support of others that truly understand our unique challenges is important, and that is where many of us have found solace in the friends we've made and relationships we've formed here at PREP. But even the closest of those friends cannot be there when you lie awake before a school meeting, or when the love of that child makes you melt with the knowledge that every second is worth it all. The beauty of the written word is that in those moments alone, in the time it takes to compose a few sentences you can begin to feel better, and your voice can help others as well.

I encourage you to share your writings here on PREP Prose, and see what happens. I think you will be pleasantly surprised at how liberating writing it down can be, and I believe we will generate something unique and special to honour our kids and our families. Who knows? Maybe we can write a book together for our kids? Or create a model for other organizations to offer support from a distance? So find a quiet place and curl up with your favourite pen and page (or your laptop!). I look so forward to reading about the experiences of other families and staff with our kids!