Make your comeback bigger than your setback.
Read My Story
And discover how you can bounce back from adversity and mental health dis-ease.
Want to learn more about my story as a suicide survivor turned impassioned author, speaker, life coach, nutrition coach, fitness instructor and creative change-maker? Want to discover a holistic three-part solution to bouncing back from adversity and mental health dis-ease with a healthcare team that I teach you to create for yourself?
Back From the Brink:
With Faith, determination, integrative care and a supportive community, You Can Bounce Back From Anything!
We human beings don’t bounce back with one magic pill, one miraculous vitamin, or one hailed superfood as much as we may want to. For many, including me, medication is sometimes necessary, alongside an integrative approach that focuses on the body, mind and soul.
Topics Covered in Maria’s Upcoming Book Back From the Brink:
- How I went from a suicide attempt and 34 days in a psychiatric hospital unit to not only stable, but a thriving, happy and healthy contributor to society in less than a year!
- How I bounced back from PTSD and severe, debilitating OCD within 6 months
- Nutritional psychiatry, genetic testing, psychotropic medications, vitamins, micronutrient supplementation, EMF exposure and the bridge between eastern and western medicine
- Coaching support to teach you how you can bounce back from adversity and mental health dis-ease with a shift in consciousness one step, one day at a time in a judgment-free zone
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Coaching support to teach you how you can support a loved one who is struggling with mental health dis-ease without draining yourself in the process
- Faith, God and what it means to you and your comeback!
- Coaching support to empower you to build your own healthcare team to help you implement Maria’s 3-part solution so you too can bounce back from adversity and mental health dis-ease
- Nutrition coaching along with simple, delicious recipes to feed your brain the nutrients it needs to function optimally that anyone can implement, even if you don’t know how to cook
- The intersection between the women’s movement and the processed food movement and what it means for the mental health of modern families everywhere
- Coaching support to get men, women and children back into the kitchen with ease and excitement
- Creative play therapy, art therapy, music therapy, rebounding fitness, prayer, meditation and other tools to calm the anxious brain and emotional trauma
- Inspirational stories of how others bounced back from adversity and mental health dis-ease to uplift and motivate you or someone you love to positive change
And so much more!
I am writing this book as a suicide survivor, wife, mother, mental health advocate, journalist, writer, nutrition coach, life coach and fitness professional.
Preorder BACK FROM THE BRINK and gain the following benefits:
1). Get a 3-month membership in the You Can Bounce Back Think Tank! You will receive an invitation to join my private Facebook group where you can connect with me and ask me questions, surround yourself with an online community committed to reversing the stigma of mental health shame and collaborate with me as I write my book Back From the Brink: With Faith, Determination & Grit You Can Bounce Back From Anything. Enjoy a weekly mental health calibration where I share my nuggets of wisdom, and participate in positive group discussion. Want me to interview a particular expert or connect with a specific person or group that supports mental health with a mind, body, spirit approach to healing? Want me to potentially interview you? Let me know in the Think Tank. We can help end the stigma of mental health shame together!
Not only will I be sharing my nuggets of wisdom and experience from my journey, I will every now and then be bringing in other experts to share their wisdom too.
2). Members of the You Can Bounce Back Think Tank will also receive exclusive access to the full video interview with me and my husband Shaun on how you can support a loved one who is experiencing mental health challenges. My husband Shaun was my caregiver during my nervous system breakdown and suicide attempt. How did he take care of me, himself and our 4 year old son while working a full-time job? Gain exclusive access to a raw, vulnerable conversation about marriage, surviving a mental health crisis and how Shaun influenced my comeback from a suicide attempt and 34 days in a psychiatric hospital unit to not only stable, but a thriving, happy and healthy contributor to society in less than a year! Video to be released in November 2025.
3). You will receive chapter sneak peaks and updates as I interview experts, write and edit Back From the Brink.
4). When my book is finished, you will receive an early-access autographed print copy with personalized thank you message.
5). If you become an early believer and join my think tank today, you will get a 10% discount on everything I create in the next two years, from classes to programs, etc.
All book advance funds raised during pre-sale will be used to help me write, interview experts, edit and self-publish the book to be released in 2026.
Who is this book for?
Everyone is either struggling with mental health or has a loved one, friend, classmate or colleague who is. It’s in every family, in every school, in every business, in every company around the world. Mental health doesn’t discriminate. It’s not a matter of if, it’s a matter of how much, and to what level.
My intention is to bring the focus of mental health to the next level. We’ve made some great headway over the years, but there’s a long way to go.
This book is for anyone who cares about mental health, and who is interested in a new holistic approach to mental heath recovery that focuses on the body, mind and soul.
Proven writing experience:
Worried that I won’t finish the book? If you don’t personally know me or my background, it’s understandable! To put your mind at ease, I wrote and self-published my first book Campus Calm University, which won a gold medal in the 13th Annual International Independent Publisher Book Awards in the self-help category out of 135 entrees. My husband Shaun designed the book and helped me publish it. I sold my book to parents, students and educators when I led keynote presentations and workshops on college and university campuses across the United States.
My professional experience as a writer and journalist spans over more than twenty years:
• In my twenties, I was an advertising copywriter for The Buffalo News where I had the opportunity to interview health experts across Western New York, and wrote front-page feature articles for The Buffalo News’ Health special section.
• I also founded a freelance writing business where I conceptualized, authored and edited “Special to the News” feature articles that were published on the front page of the Sunday Viewpoints section of The Buffalo News.
• I also interviewed holistic health experts across the United States, and wrote advertorial feature articles in the Albany Legislative Gazette for the New York Association of Naturopathic Physicians as they fought to have New York State recognize the licensure of its members.
• I wrote, edited, and submitted editorial features that were published in The Buffalo News, Buffalo Healthy Living Magazine, Student Health 101, Next Step Magazine, The Dove Campaign for Real Beauty, and the Chicken Soup for the Soul book series.
Mental Health Statistics
Globally, according to the World Health Organization (WHO):
- More than 1 billion people worldwide live with a mental disorder.
- 12 billion productive work days are lost every year to depression and anxiety, at a cost of US $1 trillion.
- Globally, suicide accounts for more than one in every 100 deaths and for each death there are 20 suicide attempts.
- “On average, countries dedicate just 2% of their health budgets to mental health.
In the United States, the CDC found that in 2024,
- 48,824 people died by suicide
- 14.3 million seriously thought about suicide
- 4.6 million made a plan for suicide
- 2.2 million attempted suicide
https://www.cdc.gov/suicide/facts/data.html
How mental health affects young people living in the United States:
- According to the American College Health Association’s Spring 2025 National College Health Assessment, besides procrastination, the top impediments to academic performance among American college students are stress, anxiety, sleep difficulties and depression.
- More than 1 in 7 U.S. youth ages 6-17 experience a mental health disorder each year
- 50% of all lifetime mental illness begins by age 14, and 75% by age 24
- Suicide is the 2nd leading cause of death among people ages 10-24
https://www.nami.org/about-mental-illness/mental-health-by-the-numbers/