A child’s desperate mental health struggles. A mother’s battles with addiction. A system that failed them both. And a woman determined to help other families avoid the tragedy that befell her own. No Saints Here tells the story of one family’s crisis and how others can avoid the same pitfalls.
Aaron Fette lived with mental illness all his life. At age 15, he envisioned himself as a modern-day Jack Kerouac, living an adventure on the road that he would chronicle in his writing. Instead, he found himself fleeing from paranoid delusions that drove him from city to city. As a victim of abuse and someone who perpetuated violence, as a drug addict and alcoholic, and as a survivor of the US justice system, Aaron’s story offers a unique perspective on some of the thorniest issues in our society today. He died of an opioid overdose in a homeless encampment under Interstate 35 in Fort Worth, Texas, on April 2, 2017.
His mother, Claudette, alternates his narrative with her own, walking through a clear-eyed self-appraisal as a teenage mom struggling to support her son, who started life with many adverse childhood experiences and her own failures throughout his life.
Aaron’s life illustrates the consequences of that abuse as it reverberated through the rest of his life. When he landed on the streets at fifteen years old after numerous ineffective interventions, Claudette became an occupational therapist, and later a college professor, seeking to better enable youth, families, and people living with mental illness in her community. She began to understand where systems had failed them, and the search led her to communities of family advocates and other professionals who were developing best practices in mental health.
Claudette weaves Aaron’s first-person accounts of his struggles together with her own. No Saints Here presents their experiences as a cautionary tale while offering better alternatives based on Claudette’s years as a scholar and therapist. They share their hard lessons to encourage us to reject ignorance and accelerate the development of a smarter, healthier culture for generations to follow.
Category: Mental Health, Nonfiction
Publication Date: June 24, 2025
ISBN (paper): 978-1-965766-06-4
ISBN (ebook): 978-1-965766-07-1
Pages: 474
Trim size: 6 x 9
William White, Author, Slaying the Dragon: The History of Addiction Treatment and Recovery in America“Filled with profound lessons for parents, care providers, and policy makers, No Saints Here is a must read—a healing journey--for parents of troubled children. No Saints Here is really two books—a poignant portrayal of the effects of trauma, mental illness and addiction on affected individuals and families and a manual of guidance drawn from scientific studies, cumulative clinical experience, and the voices of lived experience. It offers dire warnings of the risks of harm in the name of help proffered by exploitive and abuse institutions as well as effective alternatives.”
Mark D. Weist, Professor, Clinical-Community and School Psychology, University of South Carolina“In this compelling and beautifully written book, Claudette Fette and her son, Aaron share their challenging personal stories and as mother and son, contending with significant trauma, very difficult family circumstances, and struggles with mental health problems and addiction. The book underscores how our systems often fail families and young people, with multiple failures by education, health, mental health and justice systems, which instead of helping, added harm to a family that was clearly suffering. People with mental health and substance use issues are subjected to double stigmatization, and interaction with systems that shame and blame them and use damaging labels (like Severe Emotional Disturbance, Conduct Disorder) that lead to increased stigmatization and self-stigmatization. Through all of these challenges though, there is a hopeful message, powerfully demonstrated by Claudette’s recovery and going on to become a renowned national leader in occupational therapy and school-based services and influential advocate for systems improvement, and Aaron’s amazing poetry and words, with both making a contribution here that will inspire others and promote positive systems change for years to come. I extend my sincere condolences to the Fette family for Aaron’s passing, and my heartfelt congratulations for this extraordinary contribution.”
Susan Bazyk, PhD, OTR/L, FAOTA Director, Every Moment Counts, www.everymomentcounts.org“Heartfelt, honest, and creative. A must-read book for families dealing with mental illness and for the professionals and systems aiming to help. Written by Aaron and his mother, Claudette, this book takes the reader inside their life-long journey of love, persistence, and grit in dealing with Aaron’s serious mental health challenges. As a gifted poet and writer, Aaron describes the ups and downs of living with learning and emotional challenges in a world lacking the medical, educational, and family resources needed to help him thrive. As a young teen mother, Claudette describes the unending strategies used to provide a loving home and manage Aaron’s complex emotional, sensory, and behavioral challenges without early intervention and family supports. With escalating behavioral challenges, Aaron describes living in a residential coercive treatment program which caused further trauma and mental anguish. Despite the unending stress and chaos in helping Aaron create a life worth living, Claudette persisted in becoming an occupational therapist and advocate for families with children with mental health challenges. Comprehensive evidence-based chapters describe best practices known today for helping children and families such as multi-tiered systems of support (MTSS), restorative justice, trauma-informed care, wraparound services, and strength-based practices to name a few. Perhaps Aaron’s life trajectory would have been different if these services were available during his childhood and young adult years?”
William White, Author, Slaying the Dragon: The History of Addiction Treatment and Recovery in America“Filled with profound lessons for parents, care providers, and policy makers, No Saints Here is a must read—a healing journey--for parents of troubled children. No Saints Here is really two books—a poignant portrayal of the effects of trauma, mental illness and addiction on affected individuals and families and a manual of guidance drawn from scientific studies, cumulative clinical experience, and the voices of lived experience. It offers dire warnings of the risks of harm in the name of help proffered by exploitive and abuse institutions as well as effective alternatives.”
Mark D. Weist, Professor, Clinical-Community and School Psychology, University of South Carolina“In this compelling and beautifully written book, Claudette Fette and her son, Aaron share their challenging personal stories and as mother and son, contending with significant trauma, very difficult family circumstances, and struggles with mental health problems and addiction. The book underscores how our systems often fail families and young people, with multiple failures by education, health, mental health and justice systems, which instead of helping, added harm to a family that was clearly suffering. People with mental health and substance use issues are subjected to double stigmatization, and interaction with systems that shame and blame them and use damaging labels (like Severe Emotional Disturbance, Conduct Disorder) that lead to increased stigmatization and self-stigmatization. Through all of these challenges though, there is a hopeful message, powerfully demonstrated by Claudette’s recovery and going on to become a renowned national leader in occupational therapy and school-based services and influential advocate for systems improvement, and Aaron’s amazing poetry and words, with both making a contribution here that will inspire others and promote positive systems change for years to come. I extend my sincere condolences to the Fette family for Aaron’s passing, and my heartfelt congratulations for this extraordinary contribution.”
Susan Bazyk, PhD, OTR/L, FAOTA Director, Every Moment Counts, www.everymomentcounts.org“Heartfelt, honest, and creative. A must-read book for families dealing with mental illness and for the professionals and systems aiming to help. Written by Aaron and his mother, Claudette, this book takes the reader inside their life-long journey of love, persistence, and grit in dealing with Aaron’s serious mental health challenges. As a gifted poet and writer, Aaron describes the ups and downs of living with learning and emotional challenges in a world lacking the medical, educational, and family resources needed to help him thrive. As a young teen mother, Claudette describes the unending strategies used to provide a loving home and manage Aaron’s complex emotional, sensory, and behavioral challenges without early intervention and family supports. With escalating behavioral challenges, Aaron describes living in a residential coercive treatment program which caused further trauma and mental anguish. Despite the unending stress and chaos in helping Aaron create a life worth living, Claudette persisted in becoming an occupational therapist and advocate for families with children with mental health challenges. Comprehensive evidence-based chapters describe best practices known today for helping children and families such as multi-tiered systems of support (MTSS), restorative justice, trauma-informed care, wraparound services, and strength-based practices to name a few. Perhaps Aaron’s life trajectory would have been different if these services were available during his childhood and young adult years?”
Joanne Cashman, ED. D., executive director, National Association of State Special Education Directors“We meet the co-authors as a fragile teen and a child struggling with mental illness. The trajectory of their lives shows us in vivid detail how policy, practice and people combine to impact the lives of those in most need. One author chronicles the slog of a troubled child through the world of adults and their systems. The other shares a story of love and learning that helps us understand the better choices we can make in supporting families who have children living with mental illness.”
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