The Story of
Growing
Connections

In the Summer of 2021, I found myself in a new starting place and recognized the opportunity to pursue what I really love in my own unique way. I had spent the previous 4 years instructing students in reading and writing in a one-on-one setting and I knew that this is exactly what I wanted to keep doing, but I wanted to acknowledge something deeper about the reality of the challenges people face when they are struggling with something like literacy. It doesn’t just affect one little part of your life. It impacts everything. And within the context of the family, it affects the whole family. It goes along with the therapeutic concept within the mental health field that if one family member is not mentally healthy, then the whole family is ailing. And I’ve seen it many times with my students and their families. I have Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology and have studied and worked within the framework of helping people in a holistic way – that is to say, addressing the parts of a problem within the context of a whole.  So I wanted to open the door to delivering literacy instruction that keeps all of this in mind.

I am a mother of two adult sons, both of whom have ADHD, both of whom are prone to anxiety issues, and one of whom probably has autism. I, myself, have ADHD for which I wasn’t diagnosed until I was in my forties. I know personally that the struggles of an individual in a family can impact the whole family. Nothing stands alone. And no one should be expected to deal with it alone. It does, as they say, take a village, and that is how humankind has survived as a species. 

Growing Connections was developed with all of this in mind. I am Corinne Cookshaw and Growing Connections is how I’m doing what I really love in my own unique way.