KUOW's Swimming Upstream
![caption: Tynikki Arnold kisses her 5-year-old daughter Vay’s cheek while playing outside of their apartment on Friday, July 15, 2022.](https://kuow-prod.imgix.net/store/8a7aa1a1b7bc1f7f81ed168f9c989fdb.jpg?ixlib=rails-4.3.1&fit=clip&crop=faces&auto=format&w=924&h=634)
KUOW's three-part series "Swimming Upstream" details the mental health-focused journey of one Seattle-area family through crisis. This series is part of a collection of stories about children’s mental health solutions.
![caption: Tynikki Arnold sits with her 1-year-old son Messiah, and 5-year-old daughter, Vay, at their apartment in Lynnwood on Friday, July 15, 2022.](https://kuow-prod.imgix.net/store/44f41d59ebe73386a66346545f158f63.jpg?ixlib=rails-4.3.1&fit=crop&crop=faces&auto=format&w=924)
As parents, Tynikki Arnold and her partner Sean have set a clear goal to give their kids a more loving and protected childhood than what they experienced, and to break cycles of trauma that contributed to deep emotional wounds and a mess of bad decisions.
Tynikki and Sean know it will be a prolonged and challenging effort to reverse some of the childhood trauma of their daughter's early years, and they’ve come to understand how she’s at a critical age for forming her coping responses, to both past and future stresses.
![caption: Sean holds Vay, 5, as they wait for the school bus on the first day of school on Monday, September 12, 2022, outside of their apartment complex in Lynnwood.](https://kuow-prod.imgix.net/store/7cb4b84fd76f742bdf63d312b6a160be.jpg?ixlib=rails-4.3.1&fit=crop&crop=faces&auto=format&w=924)
Lynnwood couple Tynikki Arnold and Sean became parents to their two children without much of a roadmap, if any.
Now, they’re working to break the intergenerational cycles of trauma that scarred their childhoods and seeped into adulthood.
Part 3: A family’s newfound resolve is tested — again
![caption: Tynikki Arnold and Sean prepare ramen noodles for dinner for Vay, 5, and Messiah, 1, in their room at a Motel 6, on Friday, August 26, 2022. The family is staying at the motel after a fire tore through their apartment complex.](https://kuow-prod.imgix.net/store/688227993ea77559bd9236eddea05eb2.jpg?ixlib=rails-4.3.1&fit=crop&crop=faces&auto=format&w=924)
Tynikki and Sean spin through a cycle of scattered thoughts about what will happen to their family next following an unexpected loss.
Tynikki is especially pained to see her 5-year-old daughter revert to some of the same fears and questions she had a year ago, when they reunified after a nearly two-year separation.
For moms in recovery, these home visitors offer a lifeline
![caption: Toni Gardner, lead case manager at Sound Pathways, talks with a mother on her caseload while working on Friday, September 23, 2022, in Everett.](https://kuow-prod.imgix.net/store/9baa62a6c827d440e607942bbe1cc3e2.jpg?ixlib=rails-4.3.1&fit=crop&crop=faces&auto=format&w=924)
The pandemic left a lot of job vacancies in voluntary home visiting programs that assist parents with complex needs, including many who struggle with substance use or mental health.
Advocates are making a big push for the state to invest more in this workforce and expand capacity for families.
Reporter's notebook: tending to childhood scars in a pandemic, both old and new
![caption: The author's grandfather Rotchley Jones (left) and father Aaron Jones (lower right) around age two, likely photographed in Portland, Oregon in 1947.](https://kuow-prod.imgix.net/store/d918724b2cab40b4ec6bdf5edd84d8ab.png?ixlib=rails-4.3.1&fit=crop&crop=faces&auto=format&w=924)
For most of my life, I’d wondered about the adversity my dad faced as a child, including substance abuse in the home and time he spent in foster care. The questions got louder during the pandemic, as I started a reporting project about children’s mental health.
I knew I needed to rope my dad into an uncomfortable conversation — uncomfortable for me anyway. His response surprised me.
Reporter interview: The roots of mental health start younger than you think
![caption: Vay, 5, rides a bicycle outside of the apartment complex where she lives on Friday, July 15, 2022.](https://kuow-prod.imgix.net/store/26688f350cecaea58e070249611e9dda.jpg?ixlib=rails-4.3.1&fit=crop&crop=faces&auto=format&w=924)
Reporter Liz Jones discusses this series with Soundside host Libby Denkmann.