Mothers on the Frontline is the first Children’s Mental Health Justice organization. We are founded and run by mothers of children with mental health conditions.  We are a 100% volunteer run organization.  Our work aims to address and transform the long standing social, structural, and institutional injustices that harm children, their caregivers, families and communities.  

A Sisterhood of Survival, Our Origin Story

At our most fundamental level we are three close friends who share the lived experience of parenting children with mental health conditions, neurodevelopmental disorders and other complex medical needs.  It was from our many conversations that we discovered the commonality of the damaging and traumatic experiences our families endured as we did everything in our power to get accurate diagnoses, inclusive education, and access scarce services and treatment for our children.

We supported each other through agonizing and days-long waits in the ER, years-long waiting lists for psychiatric services, the torture of sending a child out of state because there was no available treatment in our home state, the anger and frustration of being ignored and dismissed by doctors, and the constant fear for our children’s lives, health and well-being because our systems of care are deliberately and woefully inadequate at meeting their most basic needs.  

Our friendship protected us against the isolation and hopelessness that overwhelms many parents, caregivers and families in our situation.  We helped each other recognize and name the things that were happening to us.  We understood each other’s fear, pain, anger, love, hope and joy in ways that only those with the same lived experience can truly know .  We helped each other feel seen, heard and respected.  Often for the first time.  We helped each other heal.  

We would not have survived without the love, support and unique wisdom of the others.

Eventually, our conversations took on a different direction and we moved from how do we support each other to how do we best share what we’ve learned with others?  From this sisterhood of survival Mothers on the Frontline was born. 

Our Team

Dionne Bensonsmith (she/her)

Co-Creator and Co-Director of Mothers on the Frontline

Co-creator of the Children’s Mental Health Justice (CMHJ) Framework, Caregiver Justice (CJ) Framework, and Wisdom Collective Methodology

Dionne earned her M.A. and Ph.D. in political science from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University. A former basketball player, she earned her B.A. from the University of Notre Dame where she played for the legendary Muffet McGraw. Dionne has four children, one girl and three boys, one of whom has autism and a mood disorder. Her experiences navigating the mental health system and advocating on behalf of her son has led her to become involved with children’s mental health advocacy. Her research specialties include public policy, race and gender politics, health and social policy, and reproductive health. A recipient of fellowships from the Andrew Mellon Foundation, the Pew Foundation, Cornell University, and Syracuse University, Dionne’s work in the areas of diversity and public policy has been recognized by the University of Michigan and the Ford Foundation. She is currently living in Southern California where she teaches classes on politics, gender, race, transnational feminism, and public policy at the Claremont Colleges. She is one of the principle investigators of the Women of Color Reproductive Health Study. When she is not working, blogging or involved in the myriad activities associated with parenting four active children, she enjoys reading, taking long walks, and is a novice practitioner of meditation and yoga.

Tammy Nyden (she, her / they, them)

Co-Creator and Co-Director of Mothers on the Frontline

Co-creator of the Children’s Mental Health Justice (CMHJ) Framework, Caregiver Justice (CJ) Framework, and Wisdom Collective Methodology

Tammy is an associate professor of philosophy at Grinnell College. As a transdisciplinary scholar, their courses also contribute to the Gender, Women, and Sexualities Program and a variety of interdisciplinary concentrations including Neuroscience; Education Studies; and Science, Medicine, and Society. She occasionally teaches courses that intersect with her advocacy, including courses on the school-to-prison nexus and children’s mental health justice. She has published two books and several articles on Spinoza, Dutch Cartesianism, and the history and philosophy of early modern science and has been awarded fellowships through Fulbright, The American Council of Learned Societies, The Obermann Center for Advanced Studies, The Grinnell Humanities Center and the Scaliger Institute. She is currently working on a book that examines how mother blame ideology and mental health stigma perpetuate both the care crisis and children’s mental health crisis through the gaslighting and exploitation of unpaid family caregivers and an underpaid direct care workforce. She is also working on a feminist methods handbook on trauma-informed community-centered research methods with Dionne Bensonsmith. Her lived experience as a mother of a child with disabilities led her to become a children’s mental health advocate. She has worked on policy issues on boards and committees at the city, county, and state levels and won several awards including the Isabel Turner Award from the Iowa City Human Rights Commission and Iowans with Disabilities in Action Advocate of the Year.

Angela Riccio (she, her)

Co-Creator and Co-Director of Mothers on the Frontline

Co-creator of the Children’s Mental Health Justice (CMHJ) Framework, Caregiver Justice (CJ) Framework, and Wisdom Collective Methodology

A longtime advocate for parents and children, her work is informed by her motherhood journey through poverty, privilege, disability, single and married parenting of black and white children, and navigating the complex educational, medical and mental health needs for herself and her family.

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