Embracing Hope

Two Dads. One Mission. Endless Coffee.

It started with a handshake at a conference in 2017… and picked up again six years later with a documentary camera rolling in Grand Forks, North Dakota.

Joel Sheagren (along with Justen Overlander, another Embraced team member) had driven from Minneapolis to interview Carl Young and researcher Larry Burd for the film Embraced: The Truth About Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders. What he didn’t expect was to find not just a compelling story—but a co-visionary. Carl wasn’t just knowledgeable—he was the real deal: a dad, a past professor, and business owner, and, as he’d later discover, someone with FASD himself—thriving while raising neurodiverse kids with both humor and wisdom.

After that interview, things took off.

Joel pitched Carl on turning his documentary interviews into CEU content (because why not use story to train professionals, too?). Carl replied, “That’s great—can you help me with these slide decks for social workers in North Dakota?” That small collaboration turned into weekly Zooms, lots of laughter, and at least 480 (1) gallons of coffee.

At first, they aimed for a college-level textbook. (Spoiler alert: it was brilliant… and totally unreadable for exhausted parents.)

So they pivoted. They scrapped the jargon, kept the depth, and built something real. Something raw. Something hopeful.

The result? Embracing Hope—a first-of-its-kind parent guide that connects the dots between FASD, ASD, ADHD, and trauma.

Carl’s name comes first on the cover because he’s the heartbeat on stage—a gifted communicator with lived experience, academic firepower, and a deep well of compassion. He read every research paper, chased down every citation, and grounded every insight for the intervention ideas in science, helping to shape every sentence.

Joel is the visionary and entrepreneurial spirit, orchestrating the broader, multilayered media project of the Embraced Movement. He shaped the book’s narrative and structure, providing out-of-the-box ideas for the interventions, distilling neuroscience into “kitchen table wisdom,” and weaving the fictional teen characters (with Jodee Kulp, another Embraced team member) that tie the whole Movement together, which includes a documentary and feature film.

Together, they’re building more than just a book. They’re creating online courses, launching companion books, and leading a movement parents have long searched for—but, until now, couldn’t find.

Welcome to the family.

1) Daily coffee for both people: 160 oz/days Total over 390 workdays: 160 oz/day × 390 days = 62,400 oz Conversion to gallons (128 oz = 1 gallon): 62,400 oz ÷ 128 = 487.5 gallons