A Caregiver's Journey
Caregiving for someone in the grip of mental illness can feel like “showing up to a brawl with a butter knife.” In Moodshine: A Caregiver’s Journey, Liz Colvin tells the raw, hopeful story of what happens when a mother refuses to stop fighting for her daughter.
From ADHD and trauma through bipolar disorder, addiction, psychosis, and repeated hospitalizations, Liz walks readers through the real work of caregiving: battling stigma, navigating a broken system, setting boundaries, and starting over after each relapse. Along the way she offers practical tools, spiritual insight, and a rare kind of honesty that makes you feel seen instead of judged.
When Liz Colvin’s bright, funny, “hippie‑hearted” daughter Maggie began to unravel in her Austin apartment, it resembled a bad dream—a dead neighbor’s dog, sleepless nights, a growl “like a thousand ghouls,” and a mother suddenly fighting for her child’s life with nothing but love and a metaphorical butter knife.
Moodshine: A Caregiver’s Journey is Liz’s unflinching, deeply human memoir of learning—again and again—how to care for a loved one with serious mental illness without losing herself. From a traumatic birth and an early ADHD diagnosis, through psychosis, bipolar disorder, addiction, hospitalizations, and relapses, Liz pulls back the curtain on what caregiving actually looks like behind closed doors: sleepless nights, police at the door, dream‑crushing phone calls from Disney World and college, and even hauling her daughter’s belongings out of a Dumpster after a psychotic episode.
Interwoven in the heartbreak is a story of fierce joy. On her journey, Liz introduces readers to the village that helped keep Maggie alive—a tough grandmother wielding safety pins and scripture, a therapist who is herself living with schizophrenia, a gruff Nigerian stepfather, faithful friends, and a stubborn little rescue dachshund named Lolly. She shares the tools that helped them survive and the solace found in faith, humor, and the determination to keep showing up when walking away would be easier.
For caregivers drowning in guilt, fear, and isolation, Moodshine is a lifeline. It offers practical resources, hard‑won wisdom, and one powerful reminder after another that you are not alone, you are not failing, and healing is possible—even if “normal” never looks the way you imagined.
Category: Mental Health
Publication Date: November 3, 2026
ISBN (paperback): 978-1-965766-79-8
ISBN (ebook): 978-1-965766-80-4
List price: 23.95
Category: Mental Health
Pages: 180
Trim size: 6×9
Publication date: Nov. 3, 2026
Anna Johndrow, Content Creator, North Shore Voices“There is a fine line between sanity and mental illness but a broad chasm between treatment and recovery. Stradling that huge, menacing space is the caregiver; thrust into a journey both unexpected and terrifying. Ms. Colvin’s memoir describes in heart wrenching detail and emotion how devastating and confusing it can be to love so intensely a person who causes so much pain and suffering. This is an excursion of discovery as the author informs and instructs, uncovering the fiber of selfless devotion.”
Windy Goodloe, Copy Editor, Indian Voices“Liz Colvin has written intelligently and passionately about mental health, a subject that many are afraid to discuss openly. By making this the subject of Moodshine and because she has spent years learning about and actively dealing with ways to support and improve those suffering from mental health issues, Colvin's work is sure to bring about positive changes and healing.”
Elder Regine’ Y. Barlow, M.Ed.“Moodshine is not just a memoir — it is a courageous mirror held up to the sacred labor of caregiving. Liz Colvin gives language to the silent realities caregivers face; the moments of fear, advocacy, resilience, and hope that families often endure behind closed doors. This memoir reminds us that mental illness does not erase identity, and caregiving is not weakness - it is leadership in the most sacrificial form. As caregivers, educators, and community builders, we must create spaces where truth, compassion, and accountability coexist. Moodshine contributes meaningfully to that conversation.
Anna Johndrow, Content Creator, North Shore Voices“There is a fine line between sanity and mental illness but a broad chasm between treatment and recovery. Stradling that huge, menacing space is the caregiver; thrust into a journey both unexpected and terrifying. Ms. Colvin’s memoir describes in heart wrenching detail and emotion how devastating and confusing it can be to love so intensely a person who causes so much pain and suffering. This is an excursion of discovery as the author informs and instructs, uncovering the fiber of selfless devotion.”
Windy Goodloe, Copy Editor, Indian Voices“Liz Colvin has written intelligently and passionately about mental health, a subject that many are afraid to discuss openly. By making this the subject of Moodshine and because she has spent years learning about and actively dealing with ways to support and improve those suffering from mental health issues, Colvin's work is sure to bring about positive changes and healing.”
Elder Regine’ Y. Barlow, M.Ed.“Moodshine is not just a memoir — it is a courageous mirror held up to the sacred labor of caregiving. Liz Colvin gives language to the silent realities caregivers face; the moments of fear, advocacy, resilience, and hope that families often endure behind closed doors. This memoir reminds us that mental illness does not erase identity, and caregiving is not weakness - it is leadership in the most sacrificial form. As caregivers, educators, and community builders, we must create spaces where truth, compassion, and accountability coexist. Moodshine contributes meaningfully to that conversation.
Texas Rep. Vikki Goodwin“Moodshine provides insight into often misunderstood mental illness from the perspective of a mother caring for her daughter. This memoir is for anyone who wants a deeper understanding of relationships that are complicated by mental illness. Full of deep and intense emotion, this book will resonate with readers, especially those who have been caregivers.”
Jan Steele, Library Director“Moodshine: A Caregiver’s Journey, is a testament of love, endurance, and resilience that chronicles the challenges of caring for a loved one with mental illness while providing compassion, insight, and hope to the caregivers that shoulder this vital role.
Cindy Kluck-Nygren, author and poet“Liz Colvin’s Moodshine is a memoir that manages to be both heartbreaking and heartwarming. By weaving together, the tale of her own personal growth with Maggie's struggle, Liz shares a rare and intimate glimpse into the world of mental health advocacy and caregiving. Her account of Maggie’s journey, and her own, is a captivating – and enlightening—story that will inspire.
Gina Chambers, mental health advocate“It is refreshing to know that there is a book that discusses mental health and caregiving for a lay person. Moodshine is a fantastic read.”
The Rt. Rev. C. Andrew Doyle, IX Bishop of Texas, co-author of Disciplines of HopeMoodshine is a mother's witness from the underside of wellness culture. Liz Colvin refuses the lie that a mind outside neuronormative patterns is a mind diminished. What she gives us instead is theology from a solid ground: a daughter whose gifts teach her mother to walk the labyrinth, and a caregiver's vocation finally named.
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