Our Mission
Families Like ours offers connection, rejuvenation & support that normalizes the parent caregiver experience and protects them from the well-documented impacts of their caregiver burden.
Our Founder,
Dr. Amanda Leeder
Dr. Amanda Leeder has spent 20 years serving neurodivergent individuals and their families, and in 2020 she earned her doctorate in Applied Developmental Psychology. Amanda is now a parent caregiver to three beautiful neurodivergent children in Portland, Oregon. As a seasoned researcher, educator, advocate, and now parent, Dr. Leeder has a rare and multi-faceted understanding of neurodivergent families and their needs. Amanda is aligned with the mission of Families Like Ours and is fiercely committed to helping the organization achieve its goals.
"I have gotten to know and spend time with Dr. Amanda Leeder over the past few years, as she has attended our parent retreat weekend, both as a professional and a parent, and has participated in our retreat training. I have found Amanda to be a thoughtful and professional presence, engaging productively in our activities, sharing her own experiences, and supporting other parents and professionals at our retreat. Based on these experiences, I can recommend Amanda who brings a rare combination of lived experience, as well as professional training to her services".
Dr. Barry Prizant
Adjunct Professor
Department of Communicative Disorders, College of Health Sciences
University of Rhode Island, Kingston, RI
Our Board
Our Why
Families Like Ours supports the wellbeing of parents with special needs children by offering them relief from their overwhelming and stressful caregiving roles.
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Weekend retreats are designed to combat the well-documented negative effects of caregiver burden on physical and mental health. In this therapeutic environment, parents can cultivate a sense of peace, ease, normality, vitality, and courage to help them cope with the social isolation, stress, and exhaustion on their caregiving journey. Our founder, Dr. Amanda Leeder, was trained to run parent retreats with Dr. Barry Prizant (author of Uniquely Human, host of Uniquely Human podcast). While the need for such programming is high, Families Like Ours is still one of the only respite programs of its kind.