Helping families navigate their children's mental health needsWith accessible, easy-to-digest parenting tools
We guide families through today's underserved mental health system with support that is clear, culturally aware, and grounded in both clinical expertise and lived experience.
The People Behind Your Cultural Guide
A multidisciplinary team of clinicians, advocates, educators, and creators β many of whom bring lived experience to the work alongside their professional expertise.
Founder
Caren Diane
BA, MA, MSN* β Founder of Your Cultural Guide LLC
Caren is a medical anthropologist, public health and child/adolescent psychiatric nurse, educator, and mother. Her passion for this work is deeply personal: her oldest child was diagnosed with a severe mental illness at age 12, after years of misdiagnosis. Navigating a system with few real resources for parents, she and her son learned together through trial, error, and perseverance.
That experience, combined with her clinical work, sparked her lifelong mission β to give parents accurate, practical, and compassionate guidance for raising children with ADHD, bipolar disorder, anxiety, and autism spectrum disorders.
Featured in Many Pathways by Stephanie Greer, PhD, and in Authority MagazineServing YCG in an educational role only.
Scott David
Medical Consultant Β· Child, Adolescent & Forensic Psychiatry*After a distinguished 34-year career, Scott retired as the most senior psychiatrist in the U.S. Army.
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He provided care for children, adolescents, and adults across both inpatient and outpatient settings, and served as Program Director of a Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Fellowship Training Program.
Recognized for his expertise, he has testified as an expert witness in both military and civilian courtrooms.
Serving YCG in an educational role only.
Iz
Patient Advocate ConsultantA lifelong learner living with Bipolar 1, ADHD, C-PTSD, anxiety, and DID β whose lived experience offers rare insight into childhood through young-adult challenges.
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Alongside extensive personal research β particularly on bipolar disorder β he shares perspectives on prodromal symptoms and techniques for reducing episodes in addition to traditional treatment. He is working toward a degree in neuropsychology.
Elliot “Axiom” Miley
MAT SpEd, QMHP, QDDP Β· Content Editor & Special Education Consultant*Elliot brings deep hands-on experience across classrooms, inpatient psychiatric facilities, correctional settings, and leadership roles in mental health and special education.
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He holds a Master's in the Art of Teaching Special Education and a BA in Psychology, and has served as a Qualified Mental Health Professional and Qualified Developmental Disabilities Professional β counseling in alternative high schools, supervising youth in group homes and day schools, and directing student services.
He co-founded a youth male mentoring program that gained statewide recognition, and is trained in P.L.A.A.Y. (Preventing Long-term Anger and Aggression in Youth) by Dr. Howard C. Stevenson, as well as Nonviolent Crisis Intervention and Crisis Prevention.
He is also a nationally acclaimed spoken-word and teaching artist and a champion slam poet, using creativity and expression as tools for understanding and healing.
Serving YCG in an educational role only.
Kaleo
Social Media AssistantBased in Hawaii, Kaleo brings creativity, adaptability, and a strong grasp of social media β helping our content reach and connect with parents across Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook.
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He previously managed social media for a local business, developing skills in content creation, copywriting, graphic design, video editing, and digital marketing.
Kaleo is currently studying toward a future career in mental health care, and combines his technical skills with lived experience navigating mental health challenges β approaching the work with empathy and authenticity as we grow and support more families.
We bridge the gaps in the mental health system β so parents can navigate their child's journey with confidence.
Your Cultural Guide exists because families are facing a mental health crisis they're often unprepared for. With severe shortages of child and adolescent psychiatrists, parents are frequently left with long wait times, limited access, and more questions than answers. We step in with the knowledge, tools, and encouragement parents need to feel confident supporting their child β combining clinical expertise with real, lived experience.
BootCamp 4 Parents:
One Platform, Many Paths Forward
BootCamp 4 Parents is the learning-based platform that is clinically grounded, with condition-specific tools for parents, not a one-size-fits-all course. We're building it one mental health condition at a time, starting with one of the most frequently misunderstood diagnoses in young people.
More condition-specific tracks are planned as the platform grows.
