Take the Next Step with Amy Julia Becker

Will your child with a disability truly belong at church—or simply be accommodated? How can you recognize genuine welcome? How could a church rethink accessibility, Sunday school, and worship so your family can fully participate? 

Nakoa Dantzler Merritt, the Community Engagement and Partnerships Coordinator for With Ministries, joins Amy Julia Becker to offer practical advice and real-life examples for families and churches. She invites families to approach imperfect churches with grace while still looking for a heart posture of welcome. 

00:00 Nakoa's Story and Advocacy
04:14 Questions to Ask About Welcome
07:03 Understanding and Designing for Accessibility
09:00 Examples of Churches Moving Toward Welcome
10:18 Adapting Sunday School for All Abilities
13:23 Designing Worship Services for Accessibility
17:09 Starting Points for Families in Unwelcoming Churches
21:24 Practical Tips for Families Navigating Church Challenges

MENTIONED IN EPISODE 33:

• With Ministries

Questions for families:

• Is my family welcome?
• Is my family included in decision making?
• Is the church willing to ask what my child needs?
• Is the church willing to meet us partway?

Questions for churches:

• How are we communicating welcome?
• Can people with different abilities actually participate?
• Are families affected by disability helping shape our ministry?
• Are we creating belonging, rather than simply accommodation?

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ABOUT:

Nakoa Dantzler Merritt is the Community Engagement and Partnerships Coordinator for With Ministries. She is also the Board Secretary for the Black Down Syndrome Association and an Advisory Board Member for the North Texas Disability Chamber. She combines professional leadership with lived advocacy to advance accessibility, inclusion, and equitable services both in churches and across communities. Nakoa is a devoted mother of twin boys and an advocate at heart. She enjoys encouraging others, spending time with her family, and creating meaningful opportunities for people to connect, contribute, and participate fully.

Socials

FB/IG: withministriesorg

LinkedIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ndmerrittmba/

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Take the Next Step is a resource from the Hope Heals Network, a collective of thought leaders offering honest and hopeful wisdom to help people flourish in the good and hard parts of their stories. To learn more about the work of Hope Heals, visit hopeheals.com or follow @hopeheals on Instagram.

We want to hear from you. Send us a text!

Are you exhausted from caregiving? Anxious? Burned out? Do you find yourself resenting your spouse or keeping score in your marriage over who does most? Therapist Monica DiCristina joins Amy Julia Becker to help parents of children with disabilities recognize the signs of chronic stress, understand how it can affect marriage and family life, and discover small, meaningful ways to respond differently, even when the circumstances themselves don’t change.

00:00 Introduction to chronic stress and its effect on families & marriages
03:45 Understanding the physical and emotional signs of chronic stress
05:46 How chronic stress affects marriage dynamics
08:01 Common coping behaviors and their pitfalls
13:02 Practical ways to normalize and manage stress
17:14 Choosing connection when circumstances can’t change
21:47 Next steps for couples in chronic stress situations

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MENTIONED IN EPISODE 32:

• Research mentioned in this episode: Coan, Schaefer, & Davidson, “Lending a Hand: Social Regulation of the Neural Response to Threat.”
• Your Pain Has a Name: A Therapist’s Invitation to Understanding Your Story and Sorting Out Who You Are From What Hurts by Monica DiCristina

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ABOUT:

Monica DiCristina is a therapist in Atlanta, where she runs a private practice serving individuals and couples. She became a therapist after one changed her life. Monica shares therapeutic content through her Still Becoming podcast, newsletter, speaking, and her book, that is being translated into 9 different languages: Your Pain Has a Name: A Therapist’s Invitation to Understanding Your Story and Sorting Out Who You Are From What Hurts.

• Website: https://monicadicristina.com/
• Instagram: @monicadicristina/
• Substack: The In-Between
• Book: Your Pain Has a Name

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Take the Next Step is a resource from the Hope Heals Network, a collective of thought leaders offering honest and hopeful wisdom to help people flourish in the good and hard parts of their stories. To learn more about the work of Hope Heals, visit hopeheals.com or follow @hopeheals on Instagram.

We want to hear from you. Send us a text!

How can we help a child grieve when they may not have the words to tell us they’re hurting?

Therapist Sissy Goff joins Amy Julia Becker to explore how children with disabilities experience and express grief. Grief doesn’t always look like sadness; it can show up through regression, anger, anxiety, changes in behavior, and more.

Sissy shares practical ways parents and caregivers can help children express their emotions, set loving boundaries around difficult behaviors, use play and memory-making to process loss, and move toward hope without leaving grief behind.

00:00 Grief and kids with disabilities
05:13 Understanding regression as a coping mechanism
06:48 The stages of grief and their cyclical nature
10:25 Checking in on kids and their emotions
13:28 The role of play in healing
15:17 Helping children process complex emotions and behaviors
18:43 Fostering hope and remembrance in children
22:11 Next Steps to Process Grief

MENTIONED IN EPISODE 31:

• Helping Kids Through Grief: A Parent's Guide for Making Sense of Death, Processing Loss, and Finding Hope by Sissy Goff
• Take the Next Step: Ep2 Parenting Kids with Disabilities: The Power of Delight with Sissy Goff

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ABOUT:

Sissy Goff is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author, speaker, and Executive Director of Daystar Counseling in Nashville. With more than three decades of counseling experience, she helps children, teens, and families navigate anxiety, build resilience, and grow in confidence and connection. She’s the author of more than twenty books, including her newest, Helping Kids Through Grief, and co-host of the Raising Boys & Girls podcast, which has been downloaded more than 14 million times. You can connect with Sissy at raisingboysandgirls.com or find daily encouragement on Instagram at @sissygoff and @raisingboysandgirls.

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Take the Next Step is a resource from the Hope Heals Network, a collective of thought leaders offering honest and hopeful wisdom to help people flourish in the good and hard parts of their stories. To learn more about the work of Hope Heals, visit hopeheals.com or follow @hopeheals on Instagram.

We want to hear from you. Send us a text!

What happens when the rhythms of caregiving make it difficult to establish any rhythms at all? 

That’s the question guiding author Jen Pollock Michel as she considers what spiritual practices can look like in the midst of caregiving for a family member with a disability. Drawing on her own experience caring for her mom who has Alzheimer’s, Jen shares with Amy Julia Becker how caregivers can create space for meaning, connection, and faith even when days rarely go according to plan. 

00:00 Understanding the Rule of Life
04:09 Caregiving and Its Challenges
10:01 Receiving Our Lives as They Are
14:58 A Personal Rule of Life: Tenderness, Gentleness, Gratitude
21:58 Finding Spiritual Rhythms in Chaos
28:32 Inviting Help and Community Support

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

• A Rule for the Rest of Us: An Ancient Practice for Making the Daily Decisions that Shape Faithful Lives by Jen Pollock Michel
• Every Moment Holy: Death, Grief, and Hope
• Psalm 100
• Psalm 90

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ABOUT:

Jen Pollock Michel is the award-winning author of six books: A Rule for the Rest of Us, Teach Us to Want (Christianity Today's Book of the Year), Keeping Place, Surprised by Paradox (Christianity Today's Book of the Year Award of Merit—Beautiful Orthodoxy), A Habit Called Faith, and In Good Time (Canada's Word Guild Book of the Year Award). Jen is a sought-after contributor to publications like Christianity Today, The Christian Century, The Gospel Coalition, Mockingbird, and The Dispatch, among others. She is also a first-year mentor in Whitworth University's MFA in Creative Writing program, and she travels to speak at churches, conferences, and retreats. Over the past several years, she has been teaching rule-of-life workshops to hundreds of people across various life stages. The mother of five children, she is married to Ryan, and they live in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Social handles:

Instagram: @jenpmichel

 Substack: A Habit Called Faith

 X: @jenpmichel

Website: JenPollockMIchel.com

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Take the Next Step is a resource from the Hope Heals Network, a collective of thought leaders offering honest and hopeful wisdom to help people flourish in the good and hard parts of their stories. To learn more about the work of Hope Heals, visit hopeheals.com or follow @hopeheals on Instagram.

We want to hear from you. Send us a text!

Do you have to fight everyone around the table to advocate well for your child? Many parents feel intimidated by disability advocacy. They worry they're not doing enough and don't know enough to be a good advocate for their child and a good teammate to the other people in their child's life. Researcher Meghan Burke joins Amy Julia Becker to share what non-adversarial advocacy looks like—from special education and IEPs to the transition into adult disability services—and where to find support along the way.

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00:00:00 Introduction and Meghan Burke background
00:02:56 Defining advocacy and its levels
00:06:18 Barriers in advocacy and meetings
00:09:00 Strategies to overcome barriers
00:11:16 Resources for advocacy training and support
00:15:31 Non-adversarial advocacy and partnership with schools
00:18:54 Navigating adult disability services
00:23:49 Next steps and practical advice for parents
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MENTIONED IN EPISODE 29:

• TNS episode 22: Disability + Siblings: What the Research Says with Meghan Burke, PhD
• Parent Input Statement Samples created by Meghan Burke
• Volunteer Advocacy Project (VAP) training
• Parent Training and Information Center (PTI)—find your PTI: https://www.parentcenterhub.org/find-your-center/
• Advocating for SupportS to Improve Service Transition (ASSIST): https://www.illinoislifespan.org/toolbox-transition/ (follow the link and scroll down to the section with YouTube videos; also available in Spanish)

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ABOUT:

Meghan Burke is a professor of special education in Peabody College at Vanderbilt University. Her research interests include advocacy, families (i.e., parents and siblings) of individuals with disabilities, and disability policy. Her research examines how families advocate for services with their family members with disabilities. She also conducts research examining how siblings of individuals with disabilities transition to caregiving roles.

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Take the Next Step is a resource from the Hope Heals Network, a collective of thought leaders offering honest and hopeful wisdom to help people flourish in the good and hard parts of their stories. To learn more about the work of Hope Heals, visit hopeheals.com or follow @hopeheals on Instagram.

We want to hear from you. Send us a text!

Overwhelmed, isolated, afraid of the future? You don't have to figure it all out at once. Author Misty Coy Snyder joins Amy Julia Becker to talk about family life and disability. She shares practical encouragement for parents and caregivers, including ways to:

• Find community and build meaningful connections
• Focus on what matters right now
• Make room for joy

00:00 Introduction to Misty and Her Family
03:09 Why "Happiness is Down Syndrome"?
07:17 The Role of Community in Parenting
11:02 Creating Connections and Resources
15:10 Planning for the Future Without Fear
22:45 Take the Next Step: Be Present

MENTIONED IN EPISODE 28:

• Down Syndrome Diagnosis Network
• Caring Tide
• Team Iron Will

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ABOUT:

For over twenty years, Misty has been inspiring people through storytelling. Whether she is onstage taking the audience on a journey through her acting, transporting people through her vocal performance or challenging and edifying her readers through her writing, Misty relishes communication, connection and community. Misty utilizes her gifts as a performer, entrepreneur and content creator to advocate for and lift up the disability community. Upon receiving a Down syndrome diagnosis for her second son, Jed, she created a worldwide platform to promote inclusion and awareness called, Happiness is Down syndrome. In addition to creating content for this page, she launched her own podcast called, Bold Voices, Soft Hearts, featuring stories of those who have discovered their passion through pain. For World Down Syndrome Day in March of 2025, Misty spoke on a panel at the UN discussing community support for the Down syndrome community and frequently travels globally sharing her story of hope. She is currently the Creative Director at RODS Heroes where the mission is to uncover the superpowers of Down syndrome.

Website: mistycoysnyder.com

Social Media: @mistycoysnyder @happinessisdownsyndrome on Instagram

Misty Coy Snyder and Happiness is Down Syndrome on FB

@mistycoysnyder on TikTok

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Take the Next Step is a resource from the Hope Heals Network, a collective of thought leaders offering honest and hopeful wisdom to help people flourish in the good and hard parts of their stories. To learn more about the work of Hope Heals, visit hopeheals.com or follow @hopeheals on Instagram.

We want to hear from you. Send us a text!

How can my child with a disability learn and grow? What does it look like to cultivate capability while honoring their limitations? When am I wrongly making life easier for them? When should I let them struggle? And what if I feel incapable as a parent? Therapist David Thomas joins Amy Julia Becker to discuss:

• parenting in an anxious age
• building resilience
• helping children develop coping skills and confidence

00:00 Introduction to David Thomas
03:13 Why Now? The Rise of Anxiety and Youth Mental Health Crisis
09:09 The Three C's: Coping, Confidence, and Competence
13:37 Naming and Navigating Emotions in Children
19:28 Characteristics of Capable Parents
22:38 Rituals of Affirmation and Security
25:28 Next Steps for Parents and Kids

More: https://amyjuliabecker.com/capable-parenting-david-thomas-raising-resilient-kids/

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MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

• Capable: How to Teach Your Kids the Strengths, Skills, and Strategies to Build Resilience by Sissy Goff and David Thomas
• Daystar Counseling Ministries

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ABOUT OUR GUEST:

David Thomas, LMSW, is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author and Executive Director of Daystar Counseling in Nashville, Tennessee. For more than thirty years, David has helped children, teens, and families navigate the challenges of growing up with confidence, resilience, and hope.

Known for his humor, engaging storytelling, and practical wisdom, David is one of the country’s most trusted voices on parenting, child development, and family relationships. He is the author of fifteen books, including his newest release, Capable: How to Teach Your Kids the Strengths, Skills & Strategies to Build Resilience. David is the co-host of the Raising Boys & Girls podcast, which has been downloaded more than 15 million times.

David is a frequent speaker at conferences, schools, churches, and organizations across the country. His work has been featured on the TODAY Show and NBC News and in publications including The Washington Post and USA Today.

David and his wife, Connie, live in Nashville and are the proud parents of three adult children, along with a yellow lab named June.

You can connect with David at raisingboysandgirls.com or find daily encouragement on Instagram at @raisingboysandgirls.

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Take the Next Step is a resource from the Hope Heals Network, a collective of thought leaders offering honest and hopeful wisdom to help people flourish in the good and hard parts of their stories. To learn more about the work of Hope Heals, visit hopeheals.com or follow @hopeheals on Instagram.

We want to hear from you. Send us a text!

When your child needs support now, “just wait” isn’t good enough. Chris Cipriano, mom and developmental psychologist, helps parents of children with disabilities move from frustration and apology to confident advocacy. She shares with Amy Julia Becker how to:

• navigate waitlists
• work with teachers and providers as partners, not opponents
• see disability as a different vantage point and a source of value

Discover how an asset-based mindset can help you advocate for your child and create change that benefits every family. 

00:00 Introduction to Chris Cipriano
02:19 The Concept of Being Unapologetically Impatient
06:32 Reframing Disability: A Different Vantage Point
09:37 Navigating Waitlists and Access to Services
14:31 Building Community and Collaboration
21:07 From Reaction to Prevention: A Mindset Shift

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

• Be Unapologetically Impatient by Christina Cipriano, PhD

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ABOUT:

Christina Cipriano, PhD, is the inaugural Joseph W. and Alma W. Keilty Endowed Chair in Education and Professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where she directs the Education Collaboratory at the College of Education. Drawing on her decade of research at the Yale Child Study Center, where she maintains a secondary appointment, Dr. Cipriano's work advances inclusive and equitable social and emotional learning so all students are seen, served, and safe to learn, in schools worldwide.

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Take the Next Step is a resource from the Hope Heals Network, a collective of thought leaders offering honest and hopeful wisdom to help people flourish in the good and hard parts of their stories. To learn more about the work of Hope Heals, visit hopeheals.com or follow @hopeheals on Instagram.

We want to hear from you. Send us a text!

Parenting a child with a disability can feel overwhelming, isolating, and uncertain, but you don’t have to figure it out alone. Take the Next Step offers encouragement and practical guidance for navigating disability parenting, finding connection, advocating for your child, and creating more joy at home. Join Amy Julia Becker and fellow parents, therapists, researchers, and disability advocates for short, hope-filled conversations and meaningful, manageable steps toward a thriving future for your whole family.

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SUBSCRIBE to Amy Julia's weekly Substack newsletter: amyjuliabecker.substack.com

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LISTEN to more episodes: amyjuliabecker.com/shows/

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ABOUT:

Amy Julia Becker invites people to reimagine the good life through her writing and speaking on disability, faith, and culture. She is the author of To Be Made Well, White Picket Fences, Small Talk, and A Good and Perfect Gift. She is a guest opinion writer for national publications and hosts two podcasts: Take the Next Step and Reimagining the Good Life. Becker is a graduate of Princeton University and Princeton Theological Seminary (MDiv). She is a member of the Disability Ministry Network, as well as the Alliance for Disability Justice and Ethics in Reproductive Genetics. She lives with her husband and their three children in western Connecticut.

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Take the Next Step is a resource from the Hope Heals Network, a collective of thought leaders offering honest and hopeful wisdom to help people flourish in the good and hard parts of their stories. To learn more about the work of Hope Heals, visit hopeheals.com or follow @hopeheals on Instagram.

We want to hear from you. Send us a text!

E25—What do you do when the child you imagined isn’t the child you have? Pastor Mike Erre experienced the slow dismantling of achievement-based parenting when his son with Down syndrome was born. If you’re exhausted by comparisons and milestones, this conversation invites a different way forward: noticing, delighting, and being with your child as they are.

00:00 Introduction and Personal Stories
03:06 Connecting with Your Child
06:54 Redefining Success and Celebration
11:40 Navigating Grief and Emotions
16:16 Building Connections and Community
19:01 How Dads Can Help Create a World of Belonging

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

• Voxology podcast
• Hope Heals Camp

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WATCH this conversation on YouTube: Amy Julia Becker on YouTube

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ABOUT OUR GUEST:

Mike Erre is the lead pastor of Journey Church in Tennessee and speaks on faith, culture, and spiritual formation. He is also the author of several books and cohost of the Voxology podcast. He is a dad to three children, including their youngest son who has Down syndrome.

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Take the Next Step is produced in partnership with Hope Heals Camp. Hope Heals creates sacred spaces of belonging and belovedness for families affected by disabilities to experience sustaining hope in the context of inclusive, intentional, inter-ability communities. Find out more about our resources, gatherings, and inter-ability communities at hopeheals.com. Follow on Instagram: @hopeheals and @hopeheals.camp

We want to hear from you. Send us a text!