An Open Letter to the Together Estranged Community from Alyssa Mullett, CEO

Since its inception in 2020, Together Estranged has been paving a path of understanding and support for its community. Our founder, Seth Forbes set this course intentionally, relaying, “Together Estranged was developed to provide the support and encouragement that so many estranged individuals so desperately need - to provide a glimmer of hope in an otherwise very dark tunnel.”

Over the course of the past six years, Together Estranged (TE) has grown from that glimmer to a shining beacon of safety and support for Estranged Adult Children (EAC). At times, the road of our growth has mirrored that of our experiences of healing within estrangement. The forthcoming report from our Community Needs Survey, well-states this journey;

‘The impact of estrangement changes over time: it is not linear. Estrangement doesn’t usually move in a neat arc from pain to peace. It’s more like a spiral staircase. You revisit the same themes—grief, anger, doubt, relief—but from a slightly different height.’

What is consistently clear in feedback and survey data is that TE’s community growth reflects our own members earnest aims to learn and understand through:

• regularly scheduled, peer-to-peer support groups

• free, professionally facilitated educational programming

We continue to be grateful and honored to be 100% volunteer-led. Our mission to support and empower estranged adult children while working toward destigmatization is achieved by a group of fewer than 25 individuals. Rising costs of systems, programs and resources requires further organizational commitment in fundraising and pursuit of intersectional partnerships. We will meet these challenges and the expressed community needs by actioning our mission in the following ways:

Support = People first led services, support groups, private FB & forum spaces

Empower = Programs events, workshops, socials, community deepening and growth activities

Destigmatize = Means & Methods our community blog/content, social media platforms, website messaging and research opportunities

Our growth humanizes and elevates the status and success of people living with estrangement.  We showcase and celebrate estranged individuals as accomplished professionals, experts and valued members of their community and society. As CEO, I am committed to deepening our community with this mindset and honored to be entrusted to carry out our collective mission.  

As a community member, my own estrangement journey has been profoundly impacted by the support, programs, and the people of TE.  I found a place of belonging at Together Estranged and now, I have the profound opportunity to witness others sharing that belonging - together.  

In Service,

Alyssa