Author and Mental Health Advocate Tammy Powder Recently Featured on Close Up Radio

JAFFRAY, BRITISH COLUMBIA, CANADA, October 1, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- There are people who enter our lives carrying a light that seems to shine even more brightly because of everything they have endured. They understand struggle, heartbreak and fear, yet somehow their hearts remain open. They become healers—not because life has been easy, but because they have learned that compassion, connection and love can help us find our way through it.

Through motherhood, mental health advocacy, meditation, and writing, Tammy Powder is helping others discover that even in their darkest moments, there can be connection, compassion, and light.

A mother of four, author, children’s book author, public speaker, meditation teacher, Spiritual writer and mental health advocate, Tammy has built her life's work around a deeply personal message: we need to care for ourselves as deeply as we care for the people we love.

Her work is rooted in lived experience. It is also rooted in love.

Tammy grew up in a successful family business where expectations were high and achievement was important. As a working mother raising four children, however, she eventually found herself overwhelmed by the demands of motherhood, work and everyday life.

Then, in 2008, her life changed dramatically.

Tammy began experiencing frightening symptoms, including profound exhaustion, severe head and neck pain and and other odd neurological problems. She was eventually diagnosed with a rare neurological disorder called Chiari Malformation and learned that there was no simple cure. Surgery could help manage the condition, but it could not eliminate it.

She underwent surgery, only to have her symptoms return six months later.

The physical challenges soon took an emotional toll. Tammy became depressed and began feeling like a burden. Her ability to work was affected, and her marriage was struggling. Through that difficult period, Tammy began recognizing something that would profoundly change the direction of her life: stress was one of her greatest triggers and learning self-care was needed.

She realized that if she wanted to care for her family, she first had to learn how to care for herself.

That was a lesson Tammy had never been taught, like most mothers never are.

“I was never quite knew how to ground myself,” she explains. “We are not taught self-care. We don't learn that it's okay for me to say no or ask for what we need.”

Meditation initially wasn't something Tammy enjoyed when she was first taught it. But eventually, she discovered that sitting in the quiet, grounding herself and regulating her emotions, essentially caring for herself was not selfish; it was necessary.

That realization would become one of the most important messages of her life. She did not know at the time how much she would need to build on what she had learned from this time of self care.

As a young teenager, her second child, Ruby experienced horrific bullying. Tammy watched her daughter struggle and did everything she could to support her, while also navigating her own health challenges and brain surgery.

Years later, Ruby was facing serious mental health struggles that her family did not initially fully understand.

Tammy ultimately stepped away from the family business because she knew her daughter needed a safe space and the support necessary to learn tools for coping with overwhelming anxiety.

Mother and daughter shared countless conversations about mental health, boundaries, life and compassion. Ruby was deeply caring toward people and animals and possessed a remarkable ability to express profound ideas through beautiful analogies and painting she created.

Ruby also bravely became a mental health advocate herself. Yet despite her incredible courage and the infinite love surrounding her, Ruby died by suicide.

For Tammy, the loss is something she will never simply “get over.”

Tammy prefers the word cope rather than heal.

She knows she will always carry the pain of losing her daughter. Believing in the afterlife and knowing through her Spiritual connection that Ruby is safe and wrapped in love does not erase the very human pain and grief of wanting to hold your child in your arms.

“We need to also work with our pain, not just focus on the afterlife, we have to find a balance between our pain and our faith; holding them together” Tammy shares. “Nothing will replace wanting to hold your child in your arms.”

And yet, Tammy believes Ruby's light continues.

That belief has become part of her life's work.

Tammy's message to mothers is simple, but profoundly important:
Mamas need compassion for themselves, too.

Mothers are often expected to wear a cape—to care for everyone, solve everyone's problems and put themselves last. Tammy wants mothers to understand that self-care is not abandoning their families. It is part of being healthy enough to be there for them.

Through her workshops, writing and speaking, Tammy encourages mothers to recognize their own needs.

As an example, one mother she interviewed described feeling guilty about taking a walk alone. Tammy understands that feeling completely. But that mama seen what happens to the family as a whole when she makes and takes that time for herself, how everyone feels when mama is healthier and more regulated. She seen how much this affected her whole family; in a positive way.

A Mama needs to advocate for herself.

Because when a mother begins caring for herself, the impact can ripple outward through the entire family.

“I want to help moms,” Tammy says. “It's a ripple effect.”

Her philosophy is that mothers love deeply—and talking about what they are experiencing, both positive and negative can help them cope better.

That philosophy is at the heart of her upcoming book, Mamas Need Love and Compassion Too, Tammy not only shares her story but she also interviewed mothers with very different stories, including one raising children while struggling with her own depression, another caring for two sick children, and another who grew up in an abusive household and consciously chose to stop that trauma from being passed to her own children. There are just a few of the beautiful stories for the reader to connect with and not feel so isolated and alone.

Ruby also has her own chapter in the book, as she was always going to have. Tammy didn’t get a chance to interview her but she wrote her chapter with love and compassion and what Ruby wanted, to advocate for mental health awareness.

Her words about the important role parents play in supporting their children provide a powerful conclusion to Tammy's message: mothers must take care of themselves.

The book also includes resources for mothers seeking additional support.

Tammy's commitment to mental health extends to children as well.

Her Bella book series was inspired in part by her desire to give children language and tools for understanding their emotions.

In Bella and the Bossy Driver, Bella is a little girl who begins listening to what her worry is telling her, like believing that nobody likes her. She becomes quiet and struggles to communicate what is happening inside her.

Bella is brave and talks to her mom finally and in the book, with her mother’s guidance, Bella learns to identify her anxiety and understand that she can take control of the direction of her life by learning to speak to her worry, like it were a creature or a gnome. She learned to acknowledge her feelings so they weren’t so bossy.

Tammy uses the metaphor of a vehicle: anxiety can be in the back seat, but it doesn't have to be the driver.

Children can learn to recognize their “bossy drivers,” speak to their worries and develop tools for moving forward.

The response from parents, children and clinicians has reinforced Tammy's belief in the importance of giving children this vocabulary. Parents have told her they never realized their children were having some of the thoughts and worries represented in the story.

The next book in the series, Bella and the Powerful Five 5, is scheduled for release at the end of September. The story teaches children to use their five senses as a grounding tool when they become overwhelmed or emotionally dysregulated.

Tammy explains that when children are completely unregulated, we cannot expect them to problem solve. Helping them become calm first allows them to regain the ability to think, respond and choose. And we as the parent must first learn to regulate our emotions as well.

The books include worksheets designed to reinforce the tools, and Tammy brings these concepts directly into schools, working with children and teachers.

Her dream is to continue expanding the Bella series and provide children with practical emotional tools they can carry throughout their lives.

Spirituality is another important part of Tammy’s journey.

Because Tammy believes our loved ones do not simply disappear.

“They never leave us,” is the message she hopes to share—that our loved ones may change form, but the connection remains.

Tammy has experienced that connection personally, including through her sister, who is an incredible medium and has helped Tammy stay connected with Ruby.

Tammy's forthcoming book, Conversations with My Daughter, scheduled for Fall 2027, will explore her continuing relationship with Ruby and the extraordinary personal stories of faith, light and connection that have emerged since her daughter's passing.

It is not a book intended to erase grief. Rather, it reflects Tammy's belief that we can carry our pain while still experiencing love, connection and moments of profound knowing.

Her writing has become one of the ways she expresses that journey. And Ruby's presence remains woven through it.

“Ruby was a true light in the world,” Tammy says. “She cared deeply about people and animals. She was incredibly empathic and gentle.”

At the heart of Tammy's work is a desire to continue giving that light to others.

Today, Tammy incorporates meditation, mindfulness, self-care education, speaking, writing and mental health advocacy into her work.

Her own experience has taught her that caring for the mind, body and spirit cannot be an afterthought.

She understands what it means to be exhausted, overwhelmed, frightened and grieving. She understands what it means to feel like a burden. And she understands the extraordinary strength it takes for a mother to keep moving forward while carrying an unimaginable loss.

Most importantly, she understands that compassion must begin with ourselves.

Tammy Powder's mission is to spread love and compassion among mothers and families and to remind them that they are worthy of care, support and understanding.

Her message is one of light—but it is not a message that denies darkness. It is a message that says we can acknowledge the pain, learn to cope with it, reach for connection, and still choose to bring light into the world.

For Tammy, helping others is part of her healing journey.

And every mother she reaches, every child who learns to understand their anxiety, every family that discovers the importance of connection, becomes another ripple of the light she is determined to carry forward.

To Ruby, Tammy writes:
“Rest in paradise, my beautiful girl. You make me so incredibly proud. I would do this life with you again and again. You did not give up easily. I hope you are proud of Mama for writing my chapter. I love you through all eternity. Wait for me; I have some work to do. But I cannot wait to see you again.”

Tammy is doing that work.

And she is doing it with love.

To follow Tammy's journey and receive her “From My Heart to Yours” newsletter, readers are invited to connect with her to discover more about her books, mindfulness, healing and continuing journey of resilience, compassion and eternal radiant light

Close Up Radio recently featured Tammy Powder in a two-part interview with Jim Masters on Tuesday September 29th at 12pm Eastern, and with Doug Llewelyn on Monday October 5th at 1pm Eastern

Listen to the Podcast
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/part-1-close-up-radio-spotlights-author-and-mental/id1785721253?i=1000792315547
https://www.iheart.com/podcast/269-close-up-radio-242020413/episode/part-1-close-up-radio-spotlights-author-and-mental-health-advocate-tammy-powder-346536871
https://open.spotify.com/episode/36zYMGWOX28XrgtENxXXQe

You may also contact our guest at www.tammypowder.com

Lou Ceparano
Close Up Television & Radio
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