We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jennifer Celeste Briggs a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Jennifer Celeste, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to hear the story of how you went from this being just an idea to making it into something real.
My daughter has special needs and is on the autism spectrum. When she was four she was still non-verbal, still in diapers, and getting her to eat enough was a struggle. Her eye contact was becoming less connected. I decided to train at the Autism Treatment Center of America to learn how to run a Son-Rise Program for her. I learned how to set up a focus room, how to play effectively in a way followed my daughter Sarah’s lead while also working towards the goals I had for her, and how to find and train volunteers to help me with this venture. I called my program Sarah-Rise. I started by sending out an email to friends, family, and acquaintances, telling them about how I was going to be working with Sarah and asking for their help. Some friends brought us dinners, some played with my youngest daughter Amy so I could have one-on-one time with Sarah, and some people signed up to volunteer playing with Sarah two to four hours per week. Some people I knew and some I didn’t, but they all quickly became part of our family, lending their creativity, time, and love to Sarah. I sent an email to a friend who taught at Carnegie Mellon University, asking her to forward my email seeking volunteers to her drama students. I got one response, but that one person was so enthused by his time with Sarah that he told all of his friends and three of them became volunteers. We had a designated room in the house called the Sarah-Rise room where all of the playtime took place. I would explain to volunteers how to follow her lead, how to position themselves, how to challenge Sarah when she was ready and how to support her when she wasn’t ready for a challenge. I set up a camera in the room so that I could observe my volunteers and give them feedback to help them become ever-more impactful during their playtime. Over the course of five years, Sarah’s language exploded, she became potty trained, she learned to play imaginatively, to play board games, to eat healthily, to read, to write, and to make easy eye contact. It was a heart-filling journey for all involved. I wrote a book about our experience. It’s called Watching Sarah Rise: A Journey of Thriving with Autism, and it comes out January 21, 2025.
Jennifer Celeste, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
Professionally, I was a licensed massage therapist and taught massage therapy and the Alexander Technique at a massage school. Personally, I got into this venture of running a Son-Rise Program by having a daughter with special needs and doing whatever I could do help her thrive. There were many stressful, fraught moments in the early years of raising Sarah when I didn’t know if she would learn to sit, crawl, walk, talk, eat, use the toilet, or talk. Everything seemed impossible, and yet now she talks a blue streak, runs the Turkey Trot at Thanksgiving, swims, takes piano lessons, and has been part of three school musicals. Whenever something still feels challenging or unattainable, I remind myself of how far we have come and that I don’t really know what the future holds. I can just take the next step in this moment to be the cleanest, clearest, most loving version of myself so I can help both of my daughters feel supported and loved, which is the best way I know of helping them thrive.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
When regular speech therapy sessions weren’t succeeding, and when Sarah’s eye contact was ever more fleeting, I decided to take matters into my own hands. I arranged for childcare for Sarah at home while I attended a week-long training session in Massachusetts at the Autism Treatment Center of America. I took my youngest daughter with me because she was still nursing, and my mom came with me to take care of her when I was in class. When I got home the idea of setting up a Son-Rise Program felt daunting, but I simplified things to taking one small step at a time. I reread my notes. I wrote an email asking for help. I started spending half an hour a day working with Sarah in the Sarah-Rise room. I found one volunteer and then another. I trained them. I started writing emails to my family about Sarah’s progress. All of these small steps led to a program that eventually provided Sarah with 15-30 hours of one-on-one focused play time per week with incredibly loving and creative volunteers. The program grew and spanned five years of incredible growth and connection. It was life changing. All of this started from feeling lost and hopeless but deciding I needed to take one tiny step forward, and then the next tiny step, and then the next. There were no guarantees, but there was so much hope and determination.
Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?
My goal was to help my daughter Sarah thrive to the best of her ability. I knew that the Son-Rise Program sometimes helped children who were severely autistic change and grow so dramatically that they would no longer receive the autism diagnosis. I also knew that there was no guarantee and that each child was different. I wanted her to know she was loved and to give her every support possible for learning to speak and connect, while needing nothing from her for my own heart to be full. I wanted to help her express herself and share that sparkly self with others.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.watchingsarahrise.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jennifercelestebriggsauthor/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61553320125974
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/briggsjennifer/
Image Credits
Carl Wellington
Jennifer Briggs
Bonnie Culbertson