Valerie Cantella

About Valerie Cantella

Valerie Cantella is an award-winning multipassionate communications and public affairs professional. She is the author of Off-Script: a mom’s journey through adoption, a husband’s alcoholism, and special needs parenting. She shares her journey as a mother of teens with mental health issues, the struggles of special needs parenting, the effect of alcoholism on a marriage, and how she learned to embrace the unimaginable to create an extraordinary life.

Valerie loved writing from an early age when her stubby little fingers learned to form letters, and those letters made words that crafted sentences. From those sentences, she wrote short stories, articles, poems, and even a book--Mr. Marshmallow Goes Down the Drain—for her 5th-grade school author showcase.

She wrote and edited the high school newspaper and continued with journalism in college. Her love of informational writing led to a communications career for government agencies and elected officials.

Valerie was chosen as the Communicator of the Year by the California Association of Public Information Officials and named a Distinguished Alum by Westmont College. She currently serves as the Vice-Chair of the County’s Behavioral Wellness Commission and is passionate about using her experience to help others.

Valerie's topics include:
*her journey as a mother of teens with mental health issues
*special needs parenting
*the effect of alcoholism on a marriage / co-dependency (her first husband was an active alcoholic, her current husband is in recovery and the lessons learned from those two experiences)
*her personal transformation from white-picket-fence expectations to recovering perfectionist through the season of challenges
*how her faith changed through her experiences

More information at valeriecantella.com.
Recent podcast example: https://www.kaitlinelliott.com/episodes/valerie-cantella-adoption-alcoholism-special-needs-parenting