An engineer by trade, writing and publishing stories was an opportunity to help heal her family and help out those in similar circumstances.

Author Irma Goosen has 3 books available today with two more in the works all revolving around the difficult topics that often arise in our children's lives and even in our own when you start looking back on it. Her writing journey began after almost losing her daughter to bullies and anxiety at school.

"She's the reason I started writing. She was severely bullied. She was an easy target, you know, are quiet kids. The beautiful ones, the artistic ones, the ones who wouldn't harm a fly. They are the easy targets usually. So that was then how I wrote the first book."

Her Guardian Series is a set of novels inspired by real events to help kids and their families tackle challenging often difficult to understand issues that may come up in their lives.

"My books are probably in some sense a little bit controversial, they are written as fiction. However, that being said, the lesson in each book are real, the steps taken where the kids and their families go for help. They are real, and it takes a lot of research."

Goosen covers topics that are hard... Hard for teachers to connect about, hard for kids to understand and hard for parents to bring up. Suicide, bullying, drug use.
Her books only part of a bigger picture and a bigger conversation. Goosen is looking for more to step up and listen to our kids. 

"The attitude towards a child who might speak up. The attitude from our leaders in the institution who feel that someone like that is probably a drama Queen. They don't have the time to deal with the situation. They don't have the time to prevent the situation, they just want to make it go away and that is where I realized that this is not just happening at our school. It's also happening outside of school. And that's what my books are about." 

She notes that the COVID-19 pandemic has made this message clearer and louder as those who may have problems at home no longer have school or clubs to escape to.  

"Not only are they stuck at home, but even women and children or even men. They are stuck at home with their abusers and they don't always know the way out. The crisis Center and distress centers in our cities at the moment are overloaded with people calling in who cannot deal with it because you're stuck at home without help. You don't know where to turn."

Find More on Irma Gooses and her books here!

She owes part of her success to Toastmasters, the group has helped her reach further and connect with others that share her passion... including those that may have an IMDB page! 

"I was invited to go to Hollywood a week before the Oscars to talk about bullying, to talk about the situations and the issues our young adults are struggling with. The challenges they face every single day. I made many celebrities who were in the same boat and they are so successful today but when they were children they were treated horribly because they were different. Society doesn't like difference and toastmasters gave me tools and the platform to work even more with youth."

Join the movement and get in touch with Irma!

"Our youth of today, they are stronger than what any of you realize, and they will become the leaders that you would never have dreamed up that you could only want to become in your lifetime! That is my message."

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